Report: Cap could dip below $70M should players not use escalator

The NHL has apparently given its players fair warning.

Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday that the NHL informed the NHLPA this week that next season's salary cap could dip below $70 million should the players not exercise the escalator clause built into the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The escalator was designed to have the cap rise five percent every year - something that would ordinarily be in the players' best interest. But current economic factors, like the revenue downturn and weak Canadian dollar, may impact escrow in a manner that might ultimately cost the players, should they vote in favor.

That said, and regardless of whether or not the proviso was a scare tactic, the threat of the salary parameters sinking below $70 million might be motivation enough for the players to vote in the five-percent escalator - especially the ones entering free agency.

The salary cap for the 2015-16 season was $71.4 million.