If the NHL decides to shut down, no more 2019/2020 season this is what they stand to lose. 189 regular season games, along with all revenue. All playoff games, along with all revenue. All revenue associated with NHL games, vendors, apparel, ect.
Since the salary cap is based on revenue, all the lost revenue puts them out a lot of money. As per the CBA salary cap is based on revenue, if your revenue take a hit, in this case could be about 20% the NHL cannot stay at the same salary cap. If they go with worse case numbers on lost revenue, you would be looking at a 2020/2021 season with a salary cap around 60 - 64 million dollars. Could you imagine the problems teams will face dropping 20 million off their current rosters. Compliance buyouts, players not being signed that deserve to play in the NHL.
If the NHL decides, hey we will just keep the cap at where it is, take the loss for now, the players will end up paying for it in the long run. I know there are endless possibilities of how this could all play out, and maybe the league, owners and players all come to some sort of agreement, but previous history doesn't make me believe that will happen very easily
Vyn