Let’s even the playing field…after tax payroll cap

[yababy]

Not a coincidence that the states with no income tax are consistently icing teams that excel:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
Las Vegas
Dallas

Also not a coincidence that Canadian teams, with a much higher income tax rate aren’t coming close to winning a Stanley Cup, a 29 year drought.

Time for the NHL to even the rather lopsided playing field and consider after tax income when setting the payroll cap

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[Elysian]

Dallas???

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Toronto has no state income tax.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Yeah no

 

[jigglysquishy]

LA won two Cups this past decade and California has basically the highest taxes in the States. And higher taxes than Alberta (maybe other provinces too).

Low income tax isn't why Tampa could draft Kucherov and Vasilevsky "late" and have them turn into superstars.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Not a coincidence that the states with no income tax are consistently icing teams that excel:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
Las Vegas
Dallas

Also not a coincidence that Canadian teams, with a much higher income tax rate aren’t coming close to winning a Stanley Cup, a 29 year drought.

Time for the NHL to even the rather lopsided playing field and consider after tax income when setting the payroll cap

100% agree with this. There should be a cap-adjustment for tax differential, made on the basis of the previous year's US vs Can tax codes and based on the average NHL salary.

 

[Chadstudsky]

Players are paid in USD, so factor that in too as a pro for players playing in Canadian markets.

Someone making 1mil walks away with 1.28 CAD.

Tax loopholes, charity etc. Thered ways to minimize the discrepancy.

Also, I believe when Tampa plays in OTT, MTL, TOR, they get taxed by the canadian tax code.

There is a slight difference but not as big as people make it out to be. I think weather and media and quality of life play more of a role. The States are just a better place to live if you're rich.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

What a novel idea.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Dallas???

Florida???

 

[M88K]

Not a coincidence that the states with no income tax are consistently icing teams that excel:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
Las Vegas
Dallas

Also not a coincidence that Canadian teams, with a much higher income tax rate aren’t coming close to winning a Stanley Cup, a 29 year drought.

Time for the NHL to even the rather lopsided playing field and consider after tax income when setting the payroll cap

We don't even make the po consistently And our only significant po run in over a decade was a fluke.

You're also forgetting nashville for some reason.
This whole tax thing is so overblown for instance Florida has been garbage for 90% of their existence.

What hurts teams is poor management.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Bro just build better teams, weve had nincompoops in charge of canadian teams for a quarter century

 

[lettuceAA]

I would say high cost of living, shitty weather and overall quality of life are a bigger issue than taxes. As mentioned above players get taxed on road games.

I mean Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton are all terrible compared to the majority of US cities in the NHL.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

The salary cap should have always been tax adjusted to begin with but lets be real while taxation and quality of cities are significant advantages, they are not the reason Canadian teams have struggled.

The reason Canadian teams can't win Cups is because their teams employ some of the worst front offices in all of hockey year after year. Just this past decade alone: Chiarelli, Tambellini, Holland, MacTavish, Feaster, Burke, Lamoriello, Nonis, Benning, Bergevin, Cheveldayoff, Dorion. All of these guys ranged from anywhere from bottom 10 to outright being in discussion for worst GM in the NHL (some like Chiarelli it wasn't even a discussion, that man was the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion of brain damage). Freaking Brad Treliving and Kyle Dumbas might be some of the best Canadian franchise GMs in recent years.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Players are paid in USD, so factor that in too as a pro for players playing in Canadian markets.

Someone making 1mil walks away with 1.28 CAD.

Tax loopholes, charity etc. Thered ways to minimize the discrepancy.

Also, I believe when Tampa plays in OTT, MTL, TOR, they get taxed by the canadian tax code.

There is a slight difference but not as big as people make it out to be. I think weather and media and quality of life play more of a role. The States are just a better place to live if you're rich.

I always see this currency conversion argument but it makes no sense, it’s not like the cost of things are on par and what costs $1 in Canada would cost $1 in the US. You can see this on the micro level just by looking at the price on the back of books it’ll say something like $8USD/$12CAD. The cost of things in Canada are often even worse than the exchange rate. Why would companies just sell things to Canadians at a 30% loss? That makes no sense, plus the shipping, duties and everything that make things more expensive.

 

[JoVel]

Other than Tampa, those aren't exactly great examples of teams that have been "constantly great".

 

[zodiacbiller]

The cap isn't about leveling the playing field, it's about suppressing salaries and lowering costs. Besides, a lot of cap stuff is luck. Besides, a lot of teams that seem to be succeeding because of cap management have gotten lucky with timing (Leafs' situation is a lot less grim if the cap kept increasing as usual, but Covid happened). Some guys came up for extensions before major breakouts, some right before big cap bumps, etc. And some guys just take less sometimes to play where they want, particularly for contenders.

It's also worth noting that if you're the Leafs or Habs, they may be higher tax cities, but the bigger thing is probably that there's more media there to ramp up the pressure. The heat around Marner's extension relative to comparable players like Rantanen was just insane. And both Marner and Nylander have notoriously involved fathers when it comes to contract talks.

 

[PK Cronin]

100% agree with this. There should be a cap-adjustment for tax differential, made on the basis of the previous year's US vs Can tax codes and based on the average NHL salary.

Seems like a good way for teams to get screwed based off political decisions.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Seems like a good way for teams to get screwed based off political decisions.

That's already happening to teams that burdened by high taxes.

 

[AvroArrow]

State laws are state laws and should be treated and respected as such. Yes it is an advantage/disadvantage, but it has nothing to do with the NHL. It applies to everyone living there. No need for this.

 

[Sundinisagod]

LA won two Cups this past decade and California has basically the highest taxes in the States. And higher taxes than Alberta (maybe other provinces too).

Low income tax isn't why Tampa could draft Kucherov and Vasilevsky "late" and have them turn into superstars.

So why did Stamkos sign for 8.5 after fielding offers of 10 on the open market.

Vasilevsky takes 9.5 after Price gets 10.5.

Pretty sure Kucherov settled for 9.5 after the Matthews and McDavid contracts.

Point took 9.5 after Marner’s 10.9 with less term.

Hedman has a 7.875 cap hit.

 

[Bob and 200 others]

Not a coincidence that the states with no income tax are consistently icing teams that excel:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
Las Vegas
Dallas

On what planet?

 

[Icarium]

Too bad no one has had the bright idea of buying the Leafs and moving them to South Dakota or Wyaoming, they would have been unstoppable! No state income tax, baby, guaranteed win. Florida Panthers? I know no such franchise, sir!

 

[PK Cronin]

That's already happening to teams that burdened by high taxes.

You're talking about a further adjustment, year to year, based off the increase or decrease of taxes and having it directly connected to the salary cap. Teams in heavily taxed areas might have to pay players more in order to sign them currently, but the cap itself doesn't fluctuate because of this.

In this scenario Toronto could spend more money to even out with Florida, so they do. What happens if the tax rate drops in Toronto the following year? Conversely, Florida signs a bunch of players and is at their max. Now Florida institutes a state income tax, so now they can spend more money? Seems like Florida just got the better end of that deal, again.

Am I missing something?

That's before factoring in that players pay income tax in whatever state they play in, so it isn't a flat rate on their entire salary. Are we adjusting based off schedules too? Seems like a nightmare.

 

[Bob and 200 others]

So why did Stamkos sign for 8.5 after fielding offers of 10 on the open market.

Vasilevsky takes 9.5 after Price gets 10.5.

Pretty sure Kucherov settled for 9.5 after the Matthews and McDavid contracts.

Point took 9.5 after Marner’s 10.9 with less term.

Hedman has a 7.875 cap hit.

Team culture. Do Florida, Dallas ect. consistently sign their stars for discounts? Did Tampa before they started this run 2015?

 

[Winston Wolf]

So why did Stamkos sign for 8.5 after fielding offers of 10 on the open market.

Vasilevsky takes 9.5 after Price gets 10.5.

Pretty sure Kucherov settled for 9.5 after the Matthews and McDavid contracts.

Point took 9.5 after Marner’s 10.9 with less term.

Hedman has a 7.875 cap hit.

Maybe because they're not all greedy and didn't follow the lead of Captain Pajamas?

Lots of these Tampa players could've priced themselves out (Stamkos specifically) but they probably decided a few million wasn't much to lose when you can have a potential dynasty and still have enough money to pass down to your next five generations. Go ask Matthews and Marner what their priorities are.