Ideas to improve the free agency market

[Jeremy2020]

When has free spending ever benefited the Rangers? I just wanna keep Derek Stepan without it banning us from free agency for 8 years.

Yes, let's screw up one of the good things the entire league has going for it so the rangers can benefit with one player.

 

[Sens Rule]

Basketball and baseball do not have a day like July 1st where most free agents sign in a frenzy. And they have some of the rules suggested in the OP. They might have more movement of big names but I am not sure they really have the excitement of the NHL July 1st.

The NHL is not perfect... But I would easily pick it's free agency, draft, and cap system
over the NFL, NHL, MLB or euro soccer.

What... In three years we need a Connor McDavid hour long prime time special, "Where will McDavid... McGo?" Brought to you by McDonald's.

I like most good players resigning with their own teams. Would the league be better if Perry and Getzlaf and Kane and Toews and Malkin and Crosby were switching teams every 3 or 4 years?

 

[ImIdaho]

Basketball and baseball do not have a day like July 1st where most free agents sign in a frenzy. And they have some of the rules suggested in the OP. They might have more movement of big names but I am not sure they really have the excitement of the NHL July 1st.

Lebron James being a free agent both times garnered more of a media frenzy and excitement than any NHL free agency in the last 10 years could.

 

[Sens Rule]

Lebron James being a free agent both times garnered more of a media frenzy and excitement than any NHL free agency in the last 10 years could.

Is that what the NHL needs? Ridiculous hype? I am thinking Lebron himself regrets that... Besides if Crosby did it only Canadians and those in Pittsburgh would care... It would not even be a blip on the radar. CNN would not even mention it, ESPN would...for 30 seconds. HF and TSN would go crazy. But they go crazy about literally anything that happens. Wow Rinaldo ran another guy from behind... Lets talk about it for 12 minutes.

 

[ImIdaho]

Is that what the NHL needs? Ridiculous hype? I am thinking Lebron himself regrets that... Besides if Crosby did it only Canadians and those in Pittsburgh would care... It would not even be a blip on the radar. CNN would not even mention it, ESPN would...for 30 seconds. HF and TSN would go crazy. But they go crazy about literally anything that happens. Wow Rinaldo ran another guy from behind... Lets talk about it for 12 minutes.

I'm just pointing how these other sports not only can replicate the same excitement for the free agency as the NHL but they also easily best the NHL. James is just one big example of that.

 

[Sens Rule]

I'm just pointing how these other sports not only can replicate the same excitement for the free agency as the NHL but they also easily best the NHL. James is just one big example of that.

Look at Lebron dragging on his move back to Cleveland.

You want one day of excitement... For hockey fans anyway as no one else cares about the NHL offseason. You have July 1st. It is epic. Like 60% of guys sign in a few hours including all the best players. Doesn't happen like that in other sports.

The fact Lebron and Kobe and Brady and Manning are massive celebrities and Ovechkin and Crosby are not even remotely close to as well known has nothing to do with making free agency more exciting.

My crack about a McDavid special was meant to show how bad it would be to have guys like him free agents after 3 years... Like NBA players are. That would be awful for the NHL... And was brought up in the OP.

 

[ImIdaho]

Look at Lebron dragging on his move back to Cleveland.

You want one day of excitement... For hockey fans anyway as no one else cares about the NHL offseason. You have July 1st. It is epic. Like 60% of guys sign in a few hours including all the best players. Doesn't happen like that in other sports.

The fact Lebron and Kobe and Brady and Manning are massive celebrities and Ovechkin and Crosby are not even remotely close to as well known has nothing to do with making free agency more exciting.

My crack about a McDavid special was meant to show how bad it would be to have guys like him free agents after 3 years... Like NBA players are. That would be awful for the NHL... And was brought up in the OP.

This free agency took a while in the NBA because everything revolved around James. Everything. Once Lebron decided to join Cleveland, almost like dominoes, both Bosh and Wade resigned with the Heat, Anthony signed with the Knicks.

 

[roto]

There should be no draft, ELCs and RFAs at all. That would be real sports. Of course that sounds terrible to NA sport fans, who've got used to artificially balanced teams where any team can win any game. Talking about rebuilding teams is funny too.

In sports teams usually try to be successful, but in NHL teams can be happy with being bad, because that way they get better drafting positions, and they claim that they're just "rebuilding". That's just an excuse for being a bad team. How long Edmonton is going to "rebuild"? It's no wonder no UFA wants to go to Edmonton because they're just continously "rebuilding" with bunch of kids.

It's true that the ultimate business machine of NHL has been built around these rules, so removing them would decrease the revenues and possibly eliminate some franchises. In sports, however, it's very uncommon that teams are balanced so that every team is supposed to be equal. That basically happens only in NA sports.

Removing draft and all related restrictions would allow players making contracts freely. Not all top players would be stacked in same team. Top players want top role and top minutes, and there's limited amount of those roles available in one team.

It would be easier for Edmonton to get top players if it would not be a pathetic rebuild team. Young players could also select Edmonton because the primary target for young players is to get to play in NHL and show you're worth it. You can't prove your worthiness for bigger salary and role if you're grinding 4th line minutes in some stacked team.

Of course we know NHL will be NHL also in the future, so there's no point in even suggesting anything like that to Bettman. Still I'm sure many Europeans at least would like to see "NHL of the free world": real underdogs, stacked teams falling from year to year and so on.

 

[XX]

There should be no draft, ELCs and RFAs at all. That would be real sports. Of course that sounds terrible to NA sport fans, who've got used to artificially balanced teams where any team can win any game. Talking about rebuilding teams is funny too.

It's true that the ultimate business machine of NHL has been built around these rules, so removing them would decrease the revenues and possibly eliminate some franchises. In sports, however, it's very uncommon that teams are balanced so that every team is supposed to be equal. That basically happens only in NA sports.

"hockey should be more like soccer!"

Completely glossing over how drastically different soccer is in every respect, and that the goal is to have more than a dozen or so relevant teams. Forced parity is key. The NBA and MLB don't have enough of it, in my opinion. The NHL and NFL have hit the sweet spot.

I really wouldn't want to see some small market team desperately trying to hold a big market team like Toronto or New York to a draw. It's just not a concept that works well with hockey.

 

[td_ice]

It's horrible..........this idea.

 

[roto]

"hockey should be more like soccer!"

Completely glossing over how drastically different soccer is in every respect, and that the goal is to have more than a dozen or so relevant teams. Forced parity is key. The NBA and MLB don't have enough of it, in my opinion. The NHL and NFL have hit the sweet spot.

I really wouldn't want to see some small market team desperately trying to hold a big market team like Toronto or New York to a draw. It's just not a concept that works well with hockey.

You brought up soccer, not me. Soccer is, of course, a prime example. Each Premier League game gets globally 12 million spectators on average, the teams are not even and there are no even playoffs to add parity. Attendance numbers are typically more than 90% of total capacity even for bottom teams.

Players are not drafted (let alone some ELC/RFA/UFA rules) in other sports either, including ice hockey (except that KHL has tried to imitate NHL in drafting). In Finnish Liiga worst team has 45 points while top team has 85 points, and there you get 3 points for regular time win. Despite that the gap is still smaller than in NHL western conference. Top teams in Liiga spend ~80% more money on players than the lowest spending teams. Jokerit was one the most stacked teams for years and it still won only one championship in last 15 years. In last 10 seasons there's been 6 different champions.

It's just not true that not having draft (and all kinds of other restrictions) leads automatically to blowouts and uninteresting sports. Well, definition of 'uninteresting' is quite subjective.

 

[XX]

You brought up soccer, not me. Soccer is, of course, a prime example. Each Premier League game gets globally 12 million spectators, the teams are not even and there are no even playoffs to add parity. Attendance numbers are typically more than 90% of total capacity even for bottom teams.

They get those numbers because soccer is simply a more popular sport. It has a much broader appeal. It's not more popular because there are a handful of powerful teams in each league that command 95% of the attention. If soccer were to suddenly find itself having a ton of parity, it'd be even more popular.

The way soccer is set up allows the teams to best fit their own individual market while still forming leagues and having international competitions. That doesn't translate to NA, where nearly every team is in a major metropolitan area with the arena facility to match. A cap and parity makes sense in that situation.

Would hockey suddenly be more popular if every team from the ECHL level on up was thrown into a pool with relegation and promotion? Do you really want to watch the Bakersfield Condors try to play an uncapped Rangers or Leafs team? No, because it will literally never be competitive or close.

Your argument boils down to "let the powerful teams be even more powerful" when that's nothing but a surefire way to kill a sport.

 

[TheNumber4]

The whole premise of this topic is Pejorative Slured. Free agency contracts are not designed to make your off season a little less boring they are there to make things fair for teams and players as agreed upon in the CBA. This has to be one of the stupidest topics I've seen in a long time. And the fact that there are 4 pages of discussion makes it sadder. What the next topic some genius will come up with?

"Ideas to make injuries more entertaining?" - I just do t think injuries have the oomph that they need, can we get rid of helmets and maybe put some razor blades on the end of the sticks. I think bloodier accidents will be a little bit more entertaining and give my hockey some real EDGE

 

[roto]

Would hockey suddenly be more popular if every team from the ECHL level on up was thrown into a pool with relegation and promotion? Do you really want to watch the Bakersfield Condors try to play an uncapped Rangers or Leafs team? No, because it will literally never be competitive or close.

Your argument boils down to "let the powerful teams be even more powerful" when that's nothing but a surefire way to kill a sport.

I don't even care to continue arguing more about soccer, which you brought up.

Your post pretty much represents the typical NA view on sports: business first. In Europe it's sports first. European leagues (in whatever sport) could be more popular if they had salary caps, drafting, contract restrictions etc., but business comes second.

I don't understand your example. If Bakersfield Condors make to NHL, it means that it's good enough to play there. Your logic is based on assumption that teams like Rangers would spent many times more money than some other teams and all the best players would go and play there. It doesn't work like that.

Actually salary cap is not problem, so it could still exist, but players could still play wherever they want. How could Rangers get all the best players if they couldn't use more money than others? We should never underestimate the greediness of the players. Even though fans and players only talk about how SC is the dream of the players, still very few players make contracts which are under the "market price".

 

[Sens Rule]

There should be no draft, ELCs and RFAs at all. That would be real sports. Of course that sounds terrible to NA sport fans, who've got used to artificially balanced teams where any team can win any game. Talking about rebuilding teams is funny too.

In sports teams usually try to be successful, but in NHL teams can be happy with being bad, because that way they get better drafting positions, and they claim that they're just "rebuilding". That's just an excuse for being a bad team. How long Edmonton is going to "rebuild"? It's no wonder no UFA wants to go to Edmonton because they're just continously "rebuilding" with bunch of kids.

It's true that the ultimate business machine of NHL has been built around these rules, so removing them would decrease the revenues and possibly eliminate some franchises. In sports, however, it's very uncommon that teams are balanced so that every team is supposed to be equal. That basically happens only in NA sports.

Removing draft and all related restrictions would allow players making contracts freely. Not all top players would be stacked in same team. Top players want top role and top minutes, and there's limited amount of those roles available in one team.

It would be easier for Edmonton to get top players if it would not be a pathetic rebuild team. Young players could also select Edmonton because the primary target for young players is to get to play in NHL and show you're worth it. You can't prove your worthiness for bigger salary and role if you're grinding 4th line minutes in some stacked team.

Of course we know NHL will be NHL also in the future, so there's no point in even suggesting anything like that to Bettman. Still I'm sure many Europeans at least would like to see "NHL of the free world": real underdogs, stacked teams falling from year to year and so on.

So hockey should be like soccer where there are a handful of teams with ridiculous payrolls and a bunch of weak teams?

Is that "real sports" to you?

If that happened the NHL would be about a 12-15 team league with a half dozen teams buying the best players. I would say those teams would have $150 million payrolls but actually I don't think they would. Without any rules at all and a straight free market the interest in hockey would drop to a point that few would pay $100-$200 a seat for 18k seats 40 times a year. Few players would make what they do now and NA hockey would be a $400 million a year business instead of a many billions a year business.

If the NHL was like "football" it would be awful.

It wouldn't be like taking the current parity and going back to the 80's era or even the 70's... Of really good and bad teams... It would be an absolute joke.

But soccer is "real" sports.

 

[Sens Rule]

"hockey should be more like soccer!"

Completely glossing over how drastically different soccer is in every respect, and that the goal is to have more than a dozen or so relevant teams. Forced parity is key. The NBA and MLB don't have enough of it, in my opinion. The NHL and NFL have hit the sweet spot.

I really wouldn't want to see some small market team desperately trying to hold a big market team like Toronto or New York to a draw. It's just not a concept that works well with hockey.

Baseball does not have a cap and it does end up with drastically polar opposite franchises. However with Pittsburgh and the Royals in the playoffs it does show that long term the ability for small market teams to benefit from getting draft picks from free agents leaving and trading expensive players for prospects and picks does sort of work in allowing wisely managed small market teams to have some success.

I would not want the NHL to be like that though...just saying that some things about the MLB systemdo work to support some parity even in a sport where the top payroll team spends 3-4 the $$$$ of the bottom teams.

 

[Cult of Hynes]

Lebron James being a free agent both times garnered more of a media frenzy and excitement than any NHL free agency in the last 10 years could.

I'm just pointing how these other sports not only can replicate the same excitement for the free agency as the NHL but they also easily best the NHL. James is just one big example of that.

This is a response to both quotes. The NHL does not have the media coverage the NBA has. The sport is not as big as Basketball.

If you are going by what ESPN is saying, then you clearly are going to get the NBA James hype train thrown in your face.

A hair falls out of place on James and ESPN would spend 4 hours a day talking about it and then turn it into a live media coverage event with an interview from Lebron.

This thread is pretty asinine IMO. Free agent excitement? jesus.......

 

[Sens Rule]

I don't even care to continue arguing more about soccer, which you brought up.

Your post pretty much represents the typical NA view on sports: business first. In Europe it's sports first. European leagues (in whatever sport) could be more popular if they had salary caps, drafting, contract restrictions etc., but business comes second.

I don't understand your example. If Bakersfield Condors make to NHL, it means that it's good enough to play there. Your logic is based on assumption that teams like Rangers would spent many times more money than some other teams and all the best players would go and play there. It doesn't work like that.

Actually salary cap is not problem, so it could still exist, but players could still play wherever they want. How could Rangers get all the best players if they couldn't use more money than others? We should never underestimate the greediness of the players. Even though fans and players only talk about how SC is the dream of the players, still very few players make contracts which are under the "market price".

Lol! So european football is about "sports" first and not "business" first?

Might want to reexamine that thesis.

 

[roto]

So hockey should be like soccer where there are a handful of teams with ridiculous payrolls and a bunch of weak teams?

Is that "real sports" to you?

I already answered to another poster that I didn't bring up soccer. Soccer is just one sport played in Europe and I don't know why you guys always start to write about it.

 

[Syrinx]

Eliminate automatically guaranteed contracts. Allow players to negotiate for them like NTCs and NMCs. That is the only major tweak I believe they need to make with player contracts.

Oh and by the way - What's wrong with free-agency? It's not about being exciting for the fans.

 

[roto]

Lol! So european football is about "sports" first and not "business" first?

Yes, when compared to NHL or other similar NA sport leagues.

 

[Captain Mountain]

There should be no draft, ELCs and RFAs at all. That would be real sports. Of course that sounds terrible to NA sport fans, who've got used to artificially balanced teams where any team can win any game. Talking about rebuilding teams is funny too.

In sports teams usually try to be successful, but in NHL teams can be happy with being bad, because that way they get better drafting positions, and they claim that they're just "rebuilding". That's just an excuse for being a bad team. How long Edmonton is going to "rebuild"? It's no wonder no UFA wants to go to Edmonton because they're just continously "rebuilding" with bunch of kids.

It's true that the ultimate business machine of NHL has been built around these rules, so removing them would decrease the revenues and possibly eliminate some franchises. In sports, however, it's very uncommon that teams are balanced so that every team is supposed to be equal. That basically happens only in NA sports.

Removing draft and all related restrictions would allow players making contracts freely. Not all top players would be stacked in same team. Top players want top role and top minutes, and there's limited amount of those roles available in one team.

It would be easier for Edmonton to get top players if it would not be a pathetic rebuild team. Young players could also select Edmonton because the primary target for young players is to get to play in NHL and show you're worth it. You can't prove your worthiness for bigger salary and role if you're grinding 4th line minutes in some stacked team.

Of course we know NHL will be NHL also in the future, so there's no point in even suggesting anything like that to Bettman. Still I'm sure many Europeans at least would like to see "NHL of the free world": real underdogs, stacked teams falling from year to year and so on.

That's not how the NHL worked before the draft, or how other sports outside NA work. Without the draft or UFAS, money rules all. The teams that own the development systems, the teams that make the most money would rule. So you'd have the likes of Toronto, Montreal and NYR ruling the NHL. Parity is fun.

The system as is works fairly well. We don't need drastic changes, perhaps only minor ones. Lower the age of UFA eligibility or introduce a franchise tag system.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Why do we want star players moving around like it's the NBA again?

I wish we had more players that stayed with one team for their whole career.

 

[412 Others]

no you cannot have Crosby or malkin. thank you salary cap.

signed -

fan of a small market team that thinks the system is fine.

 

[Sens Rule]

Yes, when compared to NHL or other similar NA sport leagues.

Hmmmm the Europeans sure seem to have a lot of ads on those jerseys... But that is about "sports" right?!? Not business.

I won't be happy when a beautiful Habs or Wings jersey that has remained almost the same for 3 generations has PEPSI or HONDA on them. Sadly it may come.