LA Kings Salary Cap: How much space do they have over the next three years?

The NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement will be expiring prior to the 2026-27 season and the two sides are expected to begin discussing a new deal, if they haven't already started that process. However, last week Elliotte Friedman provided some news that should certainly help the negotations.

According to Friedman, the NHL and the NHLPA released cap estimates for the next three seasons with next season going up to $95.5 million. However, it continues to grow from that point and in 2026-27, the potential first year of a new CBA, it would be $104 million and then $113.5 the season after that.

This season the salary cap is around $88 million and over three seasons it will grow over 20%. This is good news for every team in the NHL, including the Los Angeles Kings. Let's take a look at what cap space the Kings might have over the next few seasons.

Breaking down the Los Angeles Kings salary cap through the 2027-28 season

This season, the Los Angeles Kings have very limited cap space but this upcoming offseason they should have some more flexibility. As it currently stands, the Kings have 15 players under contract and the biggest unrestricted free agent is defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. The bump in the salary cap should help their chances to retain him if that is the direction they want to go.

The offseason leading up to the 2026-27 season is when the Los Angeles Kings could drastically change their franchise with players like Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar set to be unrestricted free agents and Drew Doughty the offseason following that. My guess would be the Kings make a real effort to re-sign Adrian Kempe while players like Kopitar and Doughty look to retire at the end of their current contracts.

In fact, the Kings only have five players under contract currently for the 2027-28 season. This group includes Joel Edmundson, Mikey Anderson, Quinton Byfield, Trevor Moore, and Kevin Fiala.

It will be interesting to see how the Kings approach the next few seasons but they should have plenty of flexibility to re-imagine this roster and what this team will look like.