It would be one thing, defensible even, if the NHL’s hard-cap system simply acted as a mechanism to prevent power-revenue teams from buying all the best free agents on the market and instead promoted the organic construction of teams through the entry draft and player development system.
But no. Instead, this unyielding system — whose only core principle is enforcement of percentage-of-the-gross — acts as a roadblock to internal development and punishes teams that draft too well, and thus own a stable of high-end youngsters.
Instead of being able to bask in the glory of having Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on their side for years and years to come, the Oilers already are being forced to consider whether to trade Draisaitl — a brilliant 21-year-old who is Edmonton’s second-best player other than goaltender Cam Talbot — in order to accommodate No. 97’s anticipated contract extension of $13.25 million per year.
Already, there is angst in Toronto — but to be fair, that is a common atmospheric condition up there — over just how long the Maple Leafs will be able to keep their special youth brigade of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner intact under a cap that has increased by merely 5.04 percent over the past three summers.
It is unfortunate, is it not, that Matthews is not as superstitious as Sidney Crosby, whose marriage to his No. 87 extended to his signing of a long-term deal worth an annual $8.7 million cap hit? But even the sorcerer, Toronto general manager Lou Lamoriello, won’t be able to get No. 34 to sign on the bottom line for $3.4 million per.
Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Denny Potvin, Clark Gillies? The Islanders’ dynasty would have been stillborn under this system. Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri? The powerhouse Oilers as we know them never would have existed under this system. Does anyone think that would have been good for hockey?
Now, you can put some of this on teams league wide who have refused to use the second-contract hammer they’ve been granted under the CBA. This all would have been workable under the bridge-contract equation. But teams abandoned the commitment on bridge deals into arbitration years after calculating that buying out arbitration-eligible seasons eventually would be more economically prudent. So they have become largely a thing of the past.
So now there is the squeeze on both ends. Successful teams cannot keep their teams together. (Again, the Blackhawks were able to maintain their stance at the top of the league largely because of the since-outlawed front-loaded deals to Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa while the Kings won twice, largely because of a similar contract with Jeff Carter.) And teams on the way up won’t be able to maintain their core for a meaningful period of time.
It’s not the Cup. It’s the Cap.
It is a good thing the 18-person Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee, which operates behind closed doors, is bound to secrecy. Otherwise, each and every one of them would have to explain just how and why Boston owner Jeremy Jacobs was elected in the “builder” category in the vote held last Monday.
Jacobs, who has owned the Bruins since 1975, is among the most hawkish members on the Board of Governors and, in conjunction with commissioner Gary Bettman, was the driving force behind Owners’ Lockout III in 2012-13 after lending a militant presence through the prior one that wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.
In fact, Jacobs’ lone claim to hockey fame more accurately is noted as infamy. Because he is the owner whose miserly ways ultimately forced the iconic Raymond Bourque to ask out of Boston in 2000 after 20-plus seasons in order to seek a Stanley Cup elsewhere.
Yet, in November, Jacobs will be honored by the hockey establishment with induction into the Hall of Fame. The 18-member committee is spared explanation by the gag order, but that does not mean rational minds aren’t gagging over this unfortunate folly.
The cap supposedly levels the playing field. But it does no such thing, given the disparity in taxes across the continent. The Lightning, Panthers and Stars — who play in no-tax states Florida and Texas — have considerably more true dollars with which to work and offer free agents. Those that play in high-tax precincts in Quebec, Ontario, California and New York are at a disadvantage.
As per a chart on the website of the Canadian-based Gavin Management Group, a player under a $4.5 million contract with the Rangers would owe approximately $566,600 more in annual taxes than a player earning the same amount with the Panthers, Lightning, Stars or Predators.
This not only is unfair to teams in high-tax states, it is unfair to those players drafted onto those clubs and who have no choice about their place of residence. This is an issue ignored during every CBA negotiation not only by the league, but by the NHLPA. Unfortunate.
The sadness of the premature passing of 59-year-old Dave Semenko is surpassed only by the outpouring of love for this universally popular and respected gentle giant of the Edmonton dynasty.
Godspeed.