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

[seanlinden]

I think the extent of difference after Bettman came in and the changes that were made to the league have certainly made it challenging for Canadian teams to build good teams. The cap was the nail in the coffin because tax variances. You can look at expansion teams and tax rates and see less and less Canadian teams in deep runs for the Cup. It's a thing.

You realize that before the cap, only 2 of the Canadian teams could actually compete / contend with the big US markets, right?

The Cap is what made a team like Winnipeg viable.

 

[Stephen]

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

Rogers is also part of the previous/existing ownership group.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

The luxury tax would have to be weighted for taxes though. The player themselves need to be paid more while in a certain town. Then some players would flock to high tax, sign and demand a trade with their new overpay.

Do EXECS not have families?
Politicians? Sales people?
Specialists?
Professionals?
Musicians?
Actors?

The amount of money being earned exceeds that of most the above people who have harder jobs. It is absolutely silly to think that being a well paid pro athlete should come without sacrifice.

They have the means to fly back to family whenever they need. Their spouses know what they are getting into.

Families is a non excuse.

FYI, the way employment law works in Ontario, to release any of the professions you named, you have to pay out severance and the more qualified the person is (like a professional hockey player), the higher the severance. As a small business owner, I don't like it but those are the court established rules. It's actually not much different than the NHL buyout rules.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

Can't think of a time a Sales person was traded form one company to another and had to move across North America tbh.

Correct. They would just be fired and free to go find new employment.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

You realize that before the cap, only 2 of the Canadian teams could actually compete / contend with the big US markets, right?

The Cap is what made a team like Winnipeg viable.

What if I don't care if Winnipeg is viable? Either make it work or don't. It's not my team's problem. And you're wrong anyway. Calgary, Vancouver (x2) both made it to the Cup final in the 10 years preceding the salary cap, unlike the 2 teams I think you're talking about.