NHL should remove the salary cap

[Peltz]

These threads nearly always make for a good guessing game - is the OP a Leafs or Rangers fan?

Rangers have been a far more consistent and higher quality organization since the cap. The team was trash for a decade straight prior to it.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Rangers have been a far more consistent and higher quality organization since the cap. The team was trash for a decade straight prior to it.

Plus, Dolan gets to PRINT money and play more music every year by not having a Pres/GM spend irresponsibly.

 

[cowboy82nd]

cap caters to teams that barely make any money anyways. teams that actually make profit cant use it to their advantage. too many teams in the league anyways, Id be fine with some dying

Teams that make a profit can definitely use it to their advantage. They can upgrade their facilities, out bid anybody for head coaches and assistant (associate) coaches, buy the GM of their dreams, and even pay for their own stadium if they please.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Teams that make a profit can definitely use it to their advantage. They can upgrade their facilities, out bid anybody for head coaches and assistant (associate) coaches, buy the GM of their dreams, and even pay for their own stadium if they please.

I wouldnt call that much of an advantage, I mean I get the salary cap but hard to really care. havent seen any success at all since the cap came into place.
Why should I really care about teams like Arizona, like I said there are too many teams in the NHL already the dead weight can make more money or kick rocks

 

[AvroArrow]

Has Tampa not kept it's core together now while using the current system?

They benefit the most from the current cap system. Tampa, Florida and Dallas. They can pay their guys about 15-20% less than other teams because of state tax laws. State tax is state tax though, I'm against making some sort of amendment to adjust for that. It's law and should be respected as law. But also should be recognized that they do have an advantage in that matter.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

The NHL almost went under until the cap came. So you think theyre gonna bring it back??

That's been proven to be rather overblown; the owners were shunting and hiding money hand over fist to argue that they were going out of business. That's why as soon as the first year after the cap was introduced it shot up so high so fast: the owners couldn't hide and move money anymore.

 

[Bozo Nicholson]

The last thing we need is Yankees on Ice.

 

[Lt Dan]

Do we really want to see teams suck for 10+ year straight? How’s that good for the sport or fans.

LOL 10 years straight

It doesn't take that long to rebuild

 

[Silky Johnson]

Big market fans: Cap is bad wah wah wah...

Small market fans: Cap is good wah wah wah...

Reality Check

Owners: Cap is staying, because we are willing to lock out the players as long as it takes for cost security and this is the only league in the world that pays players anything substantial. Period. End of debate. Mic drop. I'm out!

 

[GrumpyKoala]

Team wont be better, some team will.

Doing this ensure that instead of the 5 perennial irrelevant team we currently have there will be 20.

We already have aberration like the yotes that are essentially cap dump bank for rich teams.

Even if I tease them constantly, I have nothing but admiration for theirs thick skin and resolve encouraging a team they know won't win anything because theirs owner won't put the money necessary to be competitive. (Yotes fan, I am sorry for all the tease, you are beautiful!)

I am rooting for one of thoses team with an owner with deep pockets that can probably afford spitting another 20-30 mill in exchange for a 50cent increase on every hotdog beer and pizza slices. But I belive this is a stupid idea and the best way to make hockey unwatchable.

 

[Golden_Jet]

They benefit the most from the current cap system. Tampa, Florida and Dallas. They can pay their guys about 15-20% less than other teams because of state tax laws. State tax is state tax though, I'm against making some sort of amendment to adjust for that. It's law and should be respected as law. But also should be recognized that they do have an advantage in that matter.

Leafs are paying their top players 95% in signing bonuses, where a large portion of that is taxed at 15%.
So that’s a huge advantage for those players.

 

[Face Of Bear]

Salary cap is the worst thing to ever happen to the league. Hurts everyone, benefits no one.

 

[Silky Johnson]

The salary cap isn't working when there's teams like Arizona who take on bad contracts just to hit the cap floor.

If the point of the salary cap was for teams to be competitive, what the heck are the Coyotes doing?

The NHLPA needs to file a grievance against Arizona because by refusing to hit the cap floor without injured players on LTIR, there is less money for players in this league. The idea was every team has to spend at least a minimum amount of money on NHL talent to remain competitive, so Arizona took on LTIR and players with less salaries remaining than their cap hit to avoid it. That's cheating the cap just as much as someone who goes over the cap.

The cap ceiling and floor should be based on active roster, including in the playoffs. That way teams like Arizona can't just take every LTIR'ed player to avoid paying healthy NHLers, and teams like Tampa can't sit out Kucherov for the whole regular season only for him to be magically 100% healed on Game 57 of the season.

Do you think that your narrative around Arizona applies to 31 other teams...or even a majority?

Or maybe it's a "Strawman" argument that your peddling...

Salary cap is the worst thing to ever happen to the league. Hurts everyone, benefits no one.

Care to expand on why it hurts everyone?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Salary cap is the worst thing to ever happen to the league. Hurts everyone, benefits no one.

Wow

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Salary cap is the worst thing to ever happen to the league. Hurts everyone, benefits no one.

It hurts the players for sure. But I'm pretty certain artificially restricting players' salaries benefits the owners because they make a lot more money.

 

[pth2]

The cap rules could definitely be improved, and as such there would be many ways.

Just making contracts non-guaranteed would be one take, and would kill off much of the shenanigans around bad contracts. Not saying it's the best way, just that there's room for improvement.... while keeping the spirit of the cap in place. I'd like to see minor league tweeners and minimum salary NHLers get a bigger share of the pie, myself.

But the cap principle as a whole is what keeps this league interesting and forces some measure of equality, and thus, competitiveness. I mean, if you're a fan of a small market team that keeps on selling off expensive players, and that just can't recover from an asset management mistake, the sport as a whole will lose interest, fast.

 

[Golden_Jet]

The cap rules could definitely be improved, and as such there would be many ways.

Just making contracts non-guaranteed would be one take, and would kill off much of the shenanigans around bad contracts. Not saying it's the best way, just that there's room for improvement.... while keeping the spirit of the cap in place. I'd like to see minor league tweeners and minimum salary NHLers get a bigger share of the pie, myself.

But the cap principle as a whole is what keeps this league interesting and forces some measure of equality, and thus, competitiveness. I mean, if you're a fan of a small market team that keeps on selling off expensive players, and that just can't recover from an asset management mistake, the sport as a whole will lose interest, fast.

The only team that has non guaranteed contracts is the NFL, and the players want to dump it,

 

[Face Of Bear]

Do you think that your narrative around Arizona applies to 31 other teams...or even a majority?

Or maybe it's a "Strawman" argument that your peddling...


Care to expand on why it hurts everyone?

Teams get ruined by bad contracts all the time. So much hurt can be done by one bad contract. Game becomes more about getting players that 'fit' under the cap instead of building good teams. Less room for trades. Fans lose their favorite players because their team cant get them under the cap. Good teams who develop well get punished for having too many good players. Players become burdens because of their contracts even when they can still play. The list goes on an on.

Overall it decreases entertaining scenarios and increases boring/painful ones.

It hurts the players for sure. But I'm pretty certain artificially restricting players' salaries benefits the owners because they make a lot more money.

Owners can tell their GMs how much to spend so no.

 

[Number8]

Nice discussion to have. Should we talk about eliminating taxes next?

 

[sxvnert]

Then half of the ponzi league will fold overnight.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Just making contracts non-guaranteed would be one take, and would kill off much of the shenanigans around bad contracts.

This past week or so is like a Who's Who of "Ideas That Will Never See the Light of Day in a CBA Negotiation." It's like people are rooting for a lockout that wipes out 2, 3, 4 seasons completely as if everything will be magically fixed in the end and there won't be any damage to the sport.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Owners can tell their GMs how much to spend so no.

That's not how it works, so yes.

All teams now have the same absolute limit on how much they can spend on players salaries so it's not an arms race anymore.

In the season before the cap, the highest paid players in the league were making $11 million. Almost 20 years later, the highest paid player in the NHL this season is making $13 million.

The NHL total revenue in 2004 was $2.24 billion. Last season according to Bettman revenue would exceed $5.2 billion.

The league is bringing $2.96 billion more than the season before the cap but its largest expense, players salaries, have barely increased.

 

[Face Of Bear]

That's not how it works, so yes.

All teams now have the same absolute limit on how much they can spend on players salaries so it's not an arms race anymore.

In the season before the cap, the highest paid players in the league were making $11 million. Almost 20 years later, the highest paid player in the NHL this season is making $13 million.

The NHL total revenue in 2004 was $2.24 billion. Last season according to Bettman revenue would exceed $5.2 billion.

The league is bringing $2.96 billion more than the season before the cap but its largest expense, players salaries, have barely increased.

...so what?

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

...so what?

So... back to my initial point. The salary cap has greatly benefitted the owners.

 

[Face Of Bear]

So... back to my initial point. The salary cap has greatly benefitted the owners.

Owners can always spend EXACTLY the $ amount they want to on players without the cap. In fact, the cap FORCES some owners to spend more than they want.