NHL commissioner Gary Bettman offered a bullish assessment of the NHL's financial health during his "State of the Game" speech on Wednesday, and, in an analysis of Evgeni Malkin's contract, the Globe and Mail's James Mirtle suggests that the NHL's revenues are likely to continue climbing to the extent that the salary cap is going to stabilize for a few years, and then rise dramatically:

By my estimates, hockey-related revenues will only have to reach $3.4-billion next season in order to have an upward effect on the cap, a 3-per-cent revenue bump that shouldn’t be hard to attain.

Heck, they might sell $100-million more in popcorn at the half dozen outdoor games they’ve scheduled.

From there, however, continued growth will push the cap up more dramatically, with $80-million a very reasonable target by 2018 when Malkin is only halfway through his deal.

By that point, a $9.5-million cap hit will look far more reasonable than it does now, even if it’s dedicated to a 31-year-old player.

Mirtle provides a chart of educated revenues-versus-payroll-ranges which suggest that the upper limit may exceed $90 million by the time the current CBA expires.