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2025 NHL UFA/Trade Thread

not sure about that, NBA players run that league, as do NFL ones. MLB players actually fight the owners and refuse to cave to a cap.

NHL players act like they will fight but then caved on the cap. They sign 8 year deals at 21 years old and are stuck with that team. NBA and NFL guys go hard for free agency but NHL players do their utmost to avoid it.
NBA and NFL dont have a hard cap with limited flexibility

Top NBA players get max cap after their ELC and teams can go over the cap if they are willing to pay luxury bills

You can work around the cap in the NFL with most having partial guarantee contracts and your paying 53 players with 275 mil to work

Their careers are limited so they chase the bucks in free agency , its the best run sports league where flexibility

NHL is a totally different animal paying 20+ players with a 90 mil cap , the revenues simply arent there like other sports
 
We’ll probably wind up signing Jonathan Toews.
And despite the disappointment of some, he will over perform, deny expectations and be a big surprise to many around the league EXCEPT for Pee-hair McGuire who will use the word MONSTER a lot in between all of his I toad you toes.
 
What kills me are the ones that go hide discretely in non traditional markets and shy away from any external pressure. Entitled bullshit.

In no other big money sport allows for such a lack of accountability. Try doing that, for big money, playing soccer in Europe.
There's no place to hide in European soccer. Every team's fanbase is like Toronto's and Montreal's combined and on meth.
 
not sure about that, NBA players run that league, as do NFL ones. MLB players actually fight the owners and refuse to cave to a cap.

NHL players act like they will fight but then caved on the cap. They sign 8 year deals at 21 years old and are stuck with that team. NBA and NFL guys go hard for free agency but NHL players do their utmost to avoid it.
The NBA players have a two tier system. The stars do whatever they want, play wherever they want, choose the coach, etc. The rank and file just exist. In MLB, players' salary demands ensure that only a half dozen teams are ever relevant.

The NFL is an antebellum plantation. A few "house n-words" get nearly all the perqs and big money, while those in the "field" make peanuts. None of the contracts are guaranteed and any player can get cut at a moment's notice, never to play again. And even star players, if they step out of line like Kaepernick, can be frozen out of the league for good.

It's also no coincidence that the NFL is tops in fan engagement and TV revenues. They have that, in large part, to cost certainty. Nothing can get in the way of the cash flow when the players are slaves. The one time the players tried to be tough, the owners hired scabs and the fans and television networks largely went along until the players caved. The NHL shut down for a whole year rather than give in to the players. Only MLB doesn't dare to go that far.

I hate to say it but from a fan perspective, sports was better when the players had no power and played where, when and how they were told.
 

View: https://x.com/frank_seravalli/status/1932485628589183436?s=46&t=a3HPp5YfHU2XDo78oSJMFA

Will Cuylle
Left Wing, New York Rangers
Age: 23
Stats: 82 GP, 20 G, 25 A, 45 Pts
Projected Contract (per @AFPAnalytics): 3 years x $3.4 million AAV

Offer Sheet: 5 years x $7,020,113

Compensation: 2026 1st and 2026 2nd Round Pick

Teams Capable (meet pick requirement): Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, Columbus, Calgary, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montréal, Nashville, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Utah, Winnipeg.

Scoop: Is it possible that Cuylle is a lower-cased version of Knies? Cuylle has turned heads as a physical player with tons of compete, a burgeoning player who has added layers to his game and can play up and down the lineup with versatility. We know the Rangers have some interesting decisions to make this summer, starting with a few difficult contracts to try and move to create salary cap flexibility. GM Chris Drury has done a great job with that so far, having teams take on deals without any dead cap space residual dinging New York. Clearly, Cuylle would be in New York’s plans – and at $3.4 million for the next three years as projected, he’d be a bargain. If Cuylle can net a half dozen more goals next season, cresting 25, he’ll be in the $6 million AAV range or more. So it wouldn’t be a crazy reach for him to think that at some point with the cap continuing to increase that he plays at a level commensurate with a $7 million value – even if it isn’t in Year 1 or Year 2 of this offer sheet deal. But it would be a stretch to think that the Rangers could make that bet on their own cap right now.
 
Oh jesus christ, what drivel.

@GEEMAN The NHL should have a system where you can have 1 or 2 players be out of the cap like NBA and put in a luxury tax
It's truth. The NFL rules the sports world because the players are slaves, the cap is hard, and contracts are not guaranteed. Do you think a team based in Green Bay Wisconsin would or could even exist in MLB, the NBA or the NHL? You think Winnipeg is an undesirable market? It's 7X bigger than Green Bay.

And the Packers don't merely "exist", like the Miami Marlins or the Buffalo Sabres or the Memphis Gizzlies merely exist. They are a Super Bowl contending team with star players. In any other league, star players would laugh in the face of any Green Bay GM.

If you want the Habs to be great again, forget about luxury taxes and franchise player exemptions. Do what the NFL does: enslave your workforce.
 
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