Some fine print buried in the league's freshly ratified CBA is set to add to Tom Wilson's deal a sum on par with the retail price of 222 PS5 Pro consoles. That agreement, ratified a year ago, doesn't formally begin until Sept. 16 of 2026, remaining in force until Sept. 15 of 2030.
Through the deal's concluding five seasons, the cap charge for the Washington winger climbs $40,000 as of 2026-27, since the league's wage floor will exceed the sum he had been due to collect across the pact's last two campaigns.
Wilson had been penciled in to earn a $900k base wage across both 2029-30 and 2030-31, totals that now fall $100k short of the loop's revised $1 million floor in those years. Consequently, the league is bumping his pay by $100k in each year, lifting the overall worth of his deal from $45.5 million to $45.7 million.
For anyone finding this hard to track, which is entirely understandable, the two tables below use color-coded cells to spotlight what changed.
Tom Wilson's 7-year, $45.5 million deal as originally structured
| Year | Base Pay | Bonus | Charge Against Cap | | :-- | --: | --: | --: | | 2024-25 | $4.0M | $5.0M | $6.5M | | 2025-26 | $4.5M | $3.0M | $6.5M | | 2026-27 | $3.625M | $2.0M | $6.5M | | 2027-28 | $4.3M | $2.0M | $6.5M | | 2028-29 | $4.275M | $2.0M | $6.5M | | 2029-30 | $0.9M | $4.5M | $6.5M | | 2030-31 | $0.9M | $4.5M | $6.5M |
Figures sourced from CapFriendly
Tom Wilson's 7-year, $45.7 million deal under the revised structure
| Year | Base Pay | Bonus | Charge Against Cap | | :-- | --: | --: | --: | | 2024-25 | $4.0M | $5.0M | $6.5M | | 2025-26 | $4.5M | $3.0M | $6.5M | | 2026-27 | $3.625M | $2.0M | $6.54M | | 2027-28 | $4.3M | $2.0M | $6.54M | | 2028-29 | $4.275M | $2.0M | $6.54M | | 2029-30 | $1.0M | $4.5M | $6.54M | | 2030-31 | $1.0M | $4.5M | $6.54M |
Figures sourced from PuckPedia
Wilson had inked his extension during the summer of '23, well ahead of the labor deal gaining approval, and skated through the contract's opening year in 2024-25.
PuckPedia notes the changes reach several hundred skaters — a group of 78 on standard pacts plus another 298 working under entry-level terms. The two names enjoying the steepest jumps in deal worth are Carolina's William Carrier, whose pact grows $600k, alongside the Rangers' Igor Shesterkin, up $475k.
In sum, this wrinkle in the labor pact will cost the Capitals roughly $475k more, shared across 14 ELC skaters plus five players holding standard deals who get raises. Beyond Wilson, the additional foursome on full contracts seeing a bump features Dylan McIlrath, Louie Belpedio, Justin Sourdif, and Spencer Smallman.