Does the hard cap hurt or benefit the Oilers?

[RandomGuy79]

So in recent discussions with other Oiler fans online I found myself defending the cap and how it has helped pretty much save the Oilers. Seems like there is a newer generation of fans who long for the days before the cap era. Being an older fan, I just remember us being a small market team always on the verge of being sold off to some American and losing guys like Joseph, Weight, Guerin, and so on. That once any player got too good, we basically lost them. Not even going to talk about Gretzky...

Even though the Oilers being one of the top revenue teams in the league now compared to the 90s/early 2000s. I still think we would be worse off with no cap/soft cap. Can you imagine if the Rangers/Kings could just throw $50 million at McDavid or Drasaitl?

But it seems to be a losing battle amongst younger fans who cannot see beyond these couple years.

But maybe I am old and senile and there is some long term benefit for the Oilers to move into a softer cap era.

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[Drivesaitl]

I think it would be specious and selective for fans of the Oilers to now want a soft cap or no cap. Would be hypocritical in that the Oilers wanted this cap in first place.

Also of the opinion that the whole sporting world shebang of highest paid athletes is in for a spiral at some point. Can't see player values and ticket prices just keep increasing. At some point people just say goodbye to paying for it all. Lots of people, myself included, already have years ago.

I think the NHL is actually a little refreshing NOT having the highest paid sporting athletes. I completely dissociate from leagues where players are paid even more. Can't relate to those leagues in the slightest.

 

[TheNumber4]

We had NO chance against Dallas in the late 90s. Not even a fair league and kind of a sham at that point. Like what's the point of even watching without a fair shot, up against a team with triple our roster value.

Hard cap has been good for the Oil.

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

Obligatory $18M over the cap meme.

 

[oXo Cube]

Edmonton as the franchise is today would probably benefit from a softer cap, though I'm not sure that's as much of a slam dunk as some others do.

Would I want that change to be made? Absolutely not.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

LTIR works to circumvent the cap so keep it a hard cap. We might need it this year.

 

[Mr Kot]

LTIR works to circumvent the cap so keep it a hard cap. We might need it this year.

>We win next year due to abusing LTIR
>HEY MAYBE WE SHOULD KEEP THE LTIR SYSTEM!

I would love it, people think the systems is bad when Vegas does it, imagine the Oilers winning with it too. Would make the boards meltdown.

 

[iCanada]

As of today the hard cap hurts us, no question.

But as Drive noted - the hard cap is a big part of the reason we still exist.

 

[alanschu]

Keep it. We may "suffer" now but ultimately I feel it is good for the league.

 

[AlanHUK]

Only change to the cap structure is that cap hit should be based on 'net' salary instead of 'gross'

Remove the tax variance from the equation, and get balance back in that area as the higher the cap goes the bigger an impact it will have

 

[Fourier]

Only change to the cap structure is that cap hit should be based on 'net' salary instead of 'gross'

Remove the tax variance from the equation, and get balance back in that area as the higher the cap goes the bigger an impact it will have

In theory this sounds good but it would be virtually impossible to implement. The calculation for each team would be very complex and would vary year to year with the schedule and how players contracts were structured. These complexities would make planning almost impossible.

I think that the hard cap is good for the Oilers on the whole.

 

[tiger_80]

We had NO chance against Dallas in the late 90s. Not even a fair league and kind of a sham at that point. Like what's the point of even watching without a fair shot, up against a team with triple our roster value.

Hard cap has been good for the Oil.

With no cap, McDavid or Draisaitl would probably be winning cups with the Rags or Leafs. lol.

 

[Kamus]

With no cap, McDavid or Draisaitl would probably be winning cups with the Rags or Leafs. lol.

Known for all their cup wins in the past almost 60 years

 

[tiger_80]

Known for all their cup wins in the past almost 60 years

They would win with McDavid and Draisaitl and no salary cap. They were just an extraordinarily badly managed team even before the cap. I remember circa 2002-2004, they had the declining Sundin and Gary f***ing Roberts as their stars. They could certainly do better in the league with no salary cup.

 

[Kamus]

They would win with McDavid and Draisaitl and no salary cap.

Just like they won all those cups between 1967- 2005 in a no cap era.
Last time they won a cup there were only 6 teams. Not sure that’s the team you want to use as a potential cup winner with no salary cup.

 

[tiger_80]

Just like they won all those cups between 1967- 2005 in a no cap era.

At least Auston Amtthews crashed it. Don't get me wrong, I love them to stay the perennial losers and the joke of the league, even though at some point I lived in Toronto for 10 years+ and even watched the Loser Laughs on the HNIC in the cable tv era.

 

[WaitingForUser]

I think it would be specious and selective for fans of the Oilers to now want a soft cap or no cap. Would be hypocritical in that the Oilers wanted this cap in first place.

Also of the opinion that the whole sporting world shebang of highest paid athletes is in for a spiral at some point. Can't see player values and ticket prices just keep increasing. At some point people just say goodbye to paying for it all. Lots of people, myself included, already have years ago.

I think the NHL is actually a little refreshing NOT having the highest paid sporting athletes. I completely dissociate from leagues where players are paid even more. Can't relate to those leagues in the slightest.

The only thing I do like about those leagues is only a certain amount is guaranteed salary. In the NFL for instance they can just cut an underperforming player and be rid of his contract. I know the PA would never agree to that though.

 

[oobga]

Don't think the cap matters if you have poor management. With a cap it gets used poorly, without you get all kinds of waste and hit the ceiling the owner is willing to pay for mistakes.

But if you have good management, I think it hurts a bit, because it's not equal how teams can use cap space because of tax differences. I guess it helps us a bit vs teams in higher tax areas, but the teams in low tax areas are winning cups and stacking their teams lately.

 

[Kirby]

As of today the hard cap hurts us, no question.

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But as Drive noted - the hard cap is a big part of the reason we still exist.

I'm shocked that LA is so high. I don't know why but I didn't think they would generate that much revenue given the other sports in the market, as well as the weather in general

 

[K1984]

The Oilers arguably wouldn't have ever achieved this position financially without a hard cap, so good in that sense.

I think that now the hard cap is starting to be bad for the league in general, however. I think there needs to be a "special player" exemption of some sort, or alternatively a way for teams to access some form of cap savings for players that they draft and develop specifically. Teams are getting punished by arbitration for basically any player that isn't star level, but still a contributor.

 

[Slats432]

The hard cap is why there is a team in Edmonton. If not you would be watching Connor and Leon on the Houston Oilers.

 

[JordanGalhanth]

The hard cap is why there is a team in Edmonton. If not you would be watching Connor and Leon on the Houston Oilers.

Catching passes from Warren Moon?

 

[Perfect_Drug]

alw

Catching passes from Warren Moon?

Always loved how Warren Moon played for Edmonton Eskimos then the Oilers.

 

[alanschu]

The Oilers arguably wouldn't have ever achieved this position financially without a hard cap, so good in that sense.

I think that now the hard cap is starting to be bad for the league in general, however. I think there needs to be a "special player" exemption of some sort, or alternatively a way for teams to access some form of cap savings for players that they draft and develop specifically. Teams are getting punished by arbitration for basically any player that isn't star level, but still a contributor.

I'd be open to "bird rule" type of thing that the NBA has for drafted players and whatnot. Though I would need to see the details.

 

[WaitingForUser]

I think a major solution to the cap issues facing the NHL would be to introduce franchise tags like the NFL has. Let’s say each team was able to tag one player as a franchise guy who would only count as say half the cap hit. In our case let’s say we tagged McDavid. Instead of costing 12.5 against the Cap he would only cost 6.25 against the cap. It would allow for more flexibility for teams to surround the best players with talent. This inturn would create actual parity in the league rather than the illusion of parity it has now.