If there was no salary cap….
- Thread starter the_fan
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gojetsgo
Registered User
- Nov 1, 2015
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idk, depends where we would be relocated...
ACLEVERNAME
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- Jan 6, 2010
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I feel like there will be considerable split in answers to this. Like 90% to 10%. I wonder why that is?
peconcan
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- Apr 24, 2020
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The rich teams, Toronto Montreal New York will be super teams where the poor teams, Utah Buffalo Columbus will only get the guys who can’t get big contracts anywhere else
There no salary cap 20 years ago. The Rangers spent a whole lot of money. 2002-03 .$74 million. Dallas was second $64 million. Last was Minnesota with $19 million. Missed the playoffs for seven straight years as Glen Sather thought high powered offenses still won in the era of the trap.
Drury would pick up every aging player he could and reward him with a 5 year contract. Much like his predecessors brought in Hodge, Kurri , LaFontaine, Messier 2.0, Gomez, Holik, Lafleur (although they did draft Zubov with the pick they got from Quebec,..and made an ill advised trade a couple years later), Dionne, Lindros
Drury would pick up every aging player he could and reward him with a 5 year contract. Much like his predecessors brought in Hodge, Kurri , LaFontaine, Messier 2.0, Gomez, Holik, Lafleur (although they did draft Zubov with the pick they got from Quebec,..and made an ill advised trade a couple years later), Dionne, Lindros
ACLEVERNAME
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- Jan 6, 2010
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Toronto will always be shit, doesn't matter what perks they get. Nothing but poo-poo since before my granddaddy were born. Cursed franchise
behemolari
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- Dec 1, 2011
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JeffreyLFC
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- Sep 29, 2017
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Based on History.
New York Rangers/Toronto Maple Leafs would sign every top free agents and have 3 or 4 times more spend than the league average. All left over would go to Dallas or Los Angeles.
Basically it will be like MLB.
New York Rangers/Toronto Maple Leafs would sign every top free agents and have 3 or 4 times more spend than the league average. All left over would go to Dallas or Los Angeles.
Basically it will be like MLB.
Taro Tsujimoto
Registered User
norrisnick
The best...
- Apr 14, 2005
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They weren't super teams the last time there wasn't a salary cap...
TheLegend27
Registered User
The heated rivalry Toronto vs first round would get very spicy with their new additions of UFAs.
Call me crazy but I would say their biggest problem is actually developing their talent.
DamonDRW
Registered User
Good teams like Colorado would be able to keep their talent and would be afloat a bit longer. Otherwise, no big changes.
Devilmademedoit
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- Feb 23, 2019
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Yep. Rich teams would play with stacked teams. Anyone who watched hockey in the 90s knows just what would happen
Bounces R Way
Registered User
The Calgary Flames dream is just a roster of 23 Blake Colemans. All guts and B talent. The TV handsome underdog story.
The 2004 team nearly grit grapple grinded their way to a Stanley Cup and the franchise has been trying to do it again ever since.
The 2004 team nearly grit grapple grinded their way to a Stanley Cup and the franchise has been trying to do it again ever since.
Chet Manley
Registered User
Combining today's lower UFA age with no salary restrictions may write a different story than last time.
BigBadBruins7708
Registered User
Like before the cap existed where Toronto had zero cups in 57 years and NY had 1?
Yeah pretty much. The Lightning would basically be the same as their 2021 cup winning roster for better or worse, i.e. still have Palat, Killorn, Coleman, Sergachev, Gourde, etc. Maybe they'd still get Guentzel and move Stamkos to the 3rd line or something lol.
Panthers would have last year’s team back, with some other additions.
If there was never a salary cap, Toronto wouldn’t have the Matthews, Marner, etc. They would’ve brought in UFAs to keep them competitive.
If there was never a salary cap, Toronto wouldn’t have the Matthews, Marner, etc. They would’ve brought in UFAs to keep them competitive.
JPT
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- Jul 4, 2024
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Unrestricted free agency age was 32 then 31 the last decade before the salary cap. Now it’s 27 at most, with top players (people who start playing at 18) going UFA at 25.
The rich teams could scoop up all the olds (and they did!) but they were still mostly kept from using their cash advantage for getting players in their 20s. The only players they could acquire with their wallet were already well past prime and declining. That wouldn’t be the case now if ufa rules of today coincided with a no-cap league.
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In the 1990s, it was the Rangers that seemed to buy all of the aging veterans, and it did pay off with a cup in 1994. Then Detroit gobbled up a bunch of aging veterans and won a couple of cups in early 2000s. Seems like when there was no salary cap, some teams spent a ton of money not on prime superstars, but instead a good handful of veterans who knew how to win the Cup.
DaveG
Noted Jerk
the real question for Carolina is if Tom Dundon ever buys in if there's no cap.
no Tom Dundon and the Canes are back to being a farm team for the rest of the league under cheap-ass Karmanos. They probably squeeze into the playoffs with the core around Aho in 2019 or 2020, but it's short-lived success.
if Tom still comes onboard, that's where things get fun. Some stuff still happens like the Hamilton trade, Trocheck trade. Some doesn't like the retaliatory offer sheet to KK because Montreal wouldn't have to worry about the cap on their end. The Burns trade never happens because they don't need to moneyball a replacement for Hamilton.
But given an environment where a team in a market like Carolina probably can't compete I'm not sure he does buy in.
no Tom Dundon and the Canes are back to being a farm team for the rest of the league under cheap-ass Karmanos. They probably squeeze into the playoffs with the core around Aho in 2019 or 2020, but it's short-lived success.
if Tom still comes onboard, that's where things get fun. Some stuff still happens like the Hamilton trade, Trocheck trade. Some doesn't like the retaliatory offer sheet to KK because Montreal wouldn't have to worry about the cap on their end. The Burns trade never happens because they don't need to moneyball a replacement for Hamilton.
But given an environment where a team in a market like Carolina probably can't compete I'm not sure he does buy in.
- Nov 8, 2008
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Just look at MLB. There's a half dozen teams or so where you know the biggest superstars will end up. A dozen teams or so that have almost zero chance with rare exceptions.
