Which team would be the best in a league with no cap

[Ford Prefect]

NYR, Chicago, Toronto and Montréal would just throw money to the players until they accept a deal

Funny thing is that in the pre-cap era, Montreal had as much success signing UFAs that they do now. Though to be fair, I don't think that they had the resources they do now. Remember, they were bought by an American in '01 (80% stake for $185 million USD). No one in the city even made an offer, tabarnak.

 

[jetsmooseice]

The Leafs never even tried to, Ballard was too cheap, and Stavros was too broke. They could have outbid McNall for Gretzky without breaking a sweat, but they chose not to, even though he would have made them a better team.

From Ballard's standpoint the games were sold out whether he ponied up for a high-end world beater of a team, or paid a minimal amount for a bunch of rejects.

So from the perspective of an old man wanting to maximize short-term profitability, it made sense.