Do NHL fans overrate the importance of 'depth'?

[coolboarder]

If you are talking about depth as in having a pre-cap superteam, certainly. But then again, depth is relative; meaning that once you have your bottom six clearly outperform their opponents' depth players, and maybe even saw off the opponent's top players, you're truly a powerhouse. Usually that happens when you have bargain contracts on your team. Sometimes that's prudent signings, but most often it is drafting well and having young players come in and contributing before getting their payday - as you say. This is what the Blackhawks and Lightning did so well. Boston had Marchand on the third line when they won, Giroux was the same when the Flyers went to the finals. But it is hard to keep replenishing when you have to shed players in order to get under the cap - but this is what the cap is all about. The Hawks did it really well for years and stayed competitive, same with the Bolts.

In some sense, depth is about having the fewest weaknesses - which is cleary a relative measure, no matter how "diluted" the league is as such.

My NHL Salary Cap Idea: Reward Home-Grown Talent
Here’s my proposal to tweak the NHL salary cap to reward teams for drafting and developing players, while keeping the free market and player movement intact:

• Cap Exemption for Drafted Players: Players you draft and keep through their UFA years get a partial cap hit exemption. The exemption depends on their draft round:
  • 1st round: 10% of their cap hit is exempt.
  • 2nd round: 20% exempt.
  • 3rd round: 30% exempt.
  • 4th round or later: 50% exempt.
  • Example: A 4th-round pick signs a $6M UFA deal. Only $3M counts against the cap, but they still earn the full $6M.
• No Exemption for Other Teams: If a drafted player signs with another team as a UFA, the full cap hit applies. This stops teams from offering crazy contracts to steal talent. Especially to a drafted college UFA that choose to sign with other teams after August 15 of year 4.
• Preventing Cap Tricks: Traded players lose the exemption, even if they return to their drafting team as UFAs. This stops teams from gaming the system.
• Why It Works:
  • Rewards teams for scouting and developing gems, especially late-round picks who become stars.
  • Lets teams keep home-grown players for their whole career, freeing up cap space to sign UFA depth players.
  • Keeps the 50-50 owner-player revenue split. Owners who want to keep players with exemptions might pay more, but that’s their choice.
  • Makes drafting a priority, not a throwaway.
  • This exemption only apply to all players that is in UFA age, not RFA which is still 100% of the cap hit to all RFA..
  • If you buy out players with exemption, all of their remaining years will be 100% buyout cap hit.

This system encourages teams to invest in their draft picks, makes them more valuable than UFAs, and still lets players get their market-value payday. It’s just an idea—what do you think?