Salary Cap: The three things ruining the NHL (Especially Canadian Teams)

[Folignos Helmet]

i'm all for one compliance buyout a year, there should be more mechanisms for the wealthy teams to sidestep the cap, keeps a range of competitive balance and still gives a bit of wiggle for the high value franchises. To keep the PA happy you might need a buyout that pays the player more on a compliance buyout, which again would favour the wealthy teams.

 

[nsleaf]

Shouldn't there be a "it's Marner's fault" option in this poll?

 

[rumman]

I’d love to see NTC/NMC eliminated, maybe one per team for a designated franchise player to appease the player’s association. I’m not sure how to make a level playing field for the tax situation on par between States/Provinces, but the more parody between teams the better imo……

 

[ULF_55]

I’d love to see NTC/NMC eliminated, maybe one per team for a designated franchise player to appease the player’s association. I’m not sure how to make a level playing field for the tax situation on par between States/Provinces, but the more parody between teams the better imo……

Watching Leafs in the playoffs is parody.

Rather than eliminate NMC/NTC's just make contracts limited to 3 years.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Only point 1.

No one is forced to give out NMC's or terrible contracts and teams should not be rewarded when they do so.

Point 1, however, is a legit issue that makes the playing field unequal regardless of how well your team is managed.

 

[rumman]

Watching Leafs in the playoffs is parody.

Rather than eliminate NMC/NTC's just make contracts limited to

Shorter terms won’t save the Leafs from paying too much for too little, it’ll just mean moving on to fresher mistakes imo…..

 

[ULF_55]

Shorter terms won’t save the Leafs from paying too much for too little, it’ll just mean moving on to fresher mistakes imo…..

Yes, but it means the new recycled GM has less baggage to deal with.

 

[thewave]

Shorter terms won’t save the Leafs from paying too much for too little, it’ll just mean moving on to fresher mistakes imo…..

Rogers is taking ownership in June I think. Why does that new owner need to be saddled in with a mess made by something a previous owner created?

It needs to change not only for Canada but for fan interest. Big trades are fun in sports and this cap business is all a scam. They know about the tax angle as well and how it negatively impacts Canada too.

I don't know the answer. Maybe it's 5 year term limits. Maybe a cap kicker exemption for luxury tax that gets automatically adjusted if the high tax contract is traded to a low tax area.

Maybe it has to be like. You have a 10m contract in the lowest tax district. Normalized for Toronto you now make 12m or 11.5m in NY but your official cap is 10m

 

[therealkoho]

I think there should be a total blackout on Diamond and Diamond commercials, the sleaziest, greaseiest and most untrustworthy looking people on the planet.

They're probably hockey player agents

 

[Legion34]

Seeing Canada win made me think to myself, why is it that Canadian teams struggle to win? How long can we go without a cup before a course correction is made?

These are the things I identified.

1. The Cap vs Canada's higher taxes. Some sort of resolution must be made at the govt level for pro athletes. It needs a pro sport competitive fairness lobby to ensure that leagues which allow betting have a level playing field.

2. The NMC should not exist. No teams should be bound to a player. It does not make sense and a limited NMC generally should suffice. This obviously again affects cap if you are stuck with a non performing player.

3. The buyout should be a one and done final option with no cap penalty. 1 a year at the very least, why are teams bound to this crazy concept.

Made it a poll to see how others feel.


[[[If you borrow this for your tv segment wave at the camera or something]]]

You don’t have to change the money. You could just allocate cap differently

( high tax teams get 100 low get 90 etc) or. Just charge cap hits based on market.

The cap hit isn’t a real thing.

A 10 million dollar salary could easily be a 9 million hit in Toronto or 11 in Tampa.

 

[baton elevated]

I'd like to see 1 exemption contract per team. The rule would be, it has to be your own drafted player. We of course could choose from many. It's the reward for drafting well. Tavares would not qualify but AM, MM Willy and Rielly all would.
Edmonton would have just as many, 97, 29, 25 and 2.
All that extra money could bring in a very good player or two.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

• Cap hit should be for a standardized, 'after tax' amount and teams should have a say whether they want to pay it regardless of their tax situation
• Teams as well as players should have the option to re-negotiate their contracts to stay on their current team (like the NFL)
• Luxury tax up to 15% of the cap, Leafs pay for every other fledgling team already...may as well get some benefit out of it
• 1 junior player exception should be allowed to make the jump to the AHL per year (Cowen is a prime example)
• Teams should have an extra spot for a 3rd string/AHL goalie without waiver rules
• Max 5 year contracts

 

[seanlinden]

I see guaranteed contracts as a major problem too.

If a player signs a contract that is financially favorably to him, and fails to produce and perform appropriately, then an NHL team should have the ability to 'terminate' his contract without getting his permission.

I'd also like to see the ability of the team and player to re-negotiate their contract any time during it's duration. If a player deserve a pay raise, give it to him. If he is not living up to his pay grade, lower his pay if both parties agree. If the player doesn't agree to lower his pay, the team can just terminate the contract releasing the player to be a free agent.

JMHO.

The NHL had the ability to hold out / renegotiate contract prior to the salary cap.

As I recall, it was the PLAYERS who wanted things fully guaranteed / locked down... for better or worse.

Again though, this isn't going to "help" small market teams (which most of the Canadian teams are). It'll mean that a big market team can go out and sign players to terrible long term deals, taking them away from their team, only to "get rid of them easily" in a couple years time.

 

[thewave]

• Cap hit should be for a standardized, 'after tax' amount and teams should have a say whether they want to pay it regardless of their tax situation
• Teams as well as players should have the option to re-negotiate their contracts to stay on their current team (like the NFL)
• Luxury tax up to 15% of the cap, Leafs pay for every other fledgling team already...may as well get some benefit out of it
• 1 junior player exception should be allowed to make the jump to the AHL per year (Cowen is a prime example)
• Teams should have an extra spot for a 3rd string/AHL goalie without waiver rules
• Max 5 year contracts

I think a lot of that would help

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

No amount of special rules will help people that are inept.

 

[bax]

I despise the no move clause. These guys make millions. Their families will be fine if they have to move a time or two over a career.

 

[seanlinden]

This sounds like a cop out and a way to ignore the real issue. Imbalance in sport. How can sport be equal under a cap structure that tax varies from state to state?

It sounds like you support a sport that is not on a level playing field. I find that troubling. Why even call it a sport? It's entertainment not a sport and you must also the feel that Canada not winning a cup in decades is OK. There is nothing suspicious even though it's statistically impossible to happen on a level playing field.

Bottom line. NHL HAS MAJOR ISSUES WITH FAIR PLAY AND BALANCE.

Don't get me wrong, the tax structure is a problem... but your suggestion that "governments should fix this" is somewhere between completely ridiculous and completely unrealistic.

As for why a Canadian team can't seem to win a cup, there's quite a few reasons (beyond taxes) that are for the most part, unchangable.

1. Weather, in most of Canada, sucks during hockey season. The last truly cold-weather team to win a cup was the Blackhawks 10 years ago. Even Denver, isn't all that bad these days.

2. Hockey players tend to be pretty humble, under the radar, type of people. The best ones don't want to be the centre of attention. They don't want to get recognized walking down the street or grabbing a coffee.

3. Young hockey players in on Canadian teams get lauded as the 2nd coming, and don't neccessarily have to "earn their stripes"... look at the post-ELC contracts handed out to the Maple Leafs trio, even Elias Pettersson in Vancouver. To win a cup, you need a lot to line-up right, and that includes getting guys on bridge deals to outperform.

4. Getting into the "micro-details"... possibly because of the fan pressure, only the Oilers and Leafs have really been able to "bottom out" over a number of years to be able to get the pieces that you need to win. Edmonton has the 2nd worst weather in the league, and Toronto grossly mismanaged the contracts of those 3, along with running into some bad luck with respect to COVID.

NMCs, buyout penalties, that's all level playing field already. Allowing "Free" buyouts is what would create a imbalanced playing field.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Seeing Canada win made me think to myself, why is it that Canadian teams struggle to win? How long can we go without a cup before a course correction is made?

These are the things I identified.

1. The Cap vs Canada's higher taxes. Some sort of resolution must be made at the govt level for pro athletes. It needs a pro sport competitive fairness lobby to ensure that leagues which allow betting have a level playing field.

2. The NMC should not exist. No teams should be bound to a player. It does not make sense and a limited NMC generally should suffice. This obviously again affects cap if you are stuck with a non performing player.

3. The buyout should be a one and done final option with no cap penalty. 1 a year at the very least, why are teams bound to this crazy concept.

Made it a poll to see how others feel.


[[[If you borrow this for your tv segment wave at the camera or something]]]

What does #3 have to do with the disparity between US and Canadian teams?

 

[seanlinden]

I despise the no move clause. These guys make millions. Their families will be fine if they have to move a time or two over a career.

So lets say Winnipeg offers a guy $11m, and Tampa offers that same guy $9m....

Guy thinks to himself "I'd rather play in Tampa nad I'm willing to give up $2m to do so"... we should create a situation where he cannot protect himself from being traded to Winnipeg 2 days later?

 

[bax]

So lets say Winnipeg offers a guy $11m, and Tampa offers that same guy $9m....

Guy thinks to himself "I'd rather play in Tampa nad I'm willing to give up $2m to do so"... we should create a situation where he cannot protect himself from being traded to Winnipeg 2 days later?

That’s just part of the business. The player is still getting millions. I would be ok with a limited trade clause I guess so the players can have a bit of a say but these no move ones really bother me.

 

[Gabriel426]

I never realise there is no NMC or NTC in NBA contracts.

Think thats something NHL needs to do.
Then set Franchise player or have a luxury tax on the cap for teams who can afford it.

Another thing that will probably help is transfer fees. Let teams pay for transfer fees for players and draft picks.

Lastly, teams that trade for a player can offer another contract even if there are years remaining. Like if Leafs trade for Player X who is at 4mil/yr and 2 more years. Leafs can offer the player a new contract as a condition for the trading to the Leafs. Like a new contract of 6 mil and 6 years.