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Around The League - 2024-25 Regular Season

WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
Yes, they're called untalented stiffs with no better options available. All Canadian teams are basically the Last Chance Saloon for players who'd rather be someplace else. As soon as players got real free agency (not the bullshit free agency they had when Eagleson was colluding with the owners) Canadian teams were doomed as far as competing for the best players and winning Cups. If Matthews and McDavid hadn't been drafted by the Leafs and Oilers neither one of them would ever play for those teams, at least not until they were basically washed up.
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Again - players who own US resident status and can get a heavy bonus structured contract end up choosing a Cdn market a significant % of time.

Gionta, Cammalieri, Cole, Petry, Huberdeau etc..

Notice how almost all “named” UFAs signed by Habs are US resident players…
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
Yes, they're called untalented stiffs with no better options available. All Canadian teams are basically the Last Chance Saloon for players who'd rather be someplace else. As soon as players got real free agency (not the bullshit free agency they had when Eagleson was colluding with the owners) Canadian teams were doomed as far as competing for the best players and winning Cups. If Matthews and McDavid hadn't been drafted by the Leafs and Oilers neither one of them would ever play for those teams, at least not until they were basically washed up.
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Elite players in their prime don’t hit free agency anyway, you need to trade for them.
 
Sal_Butera said:
Again - players who own US resident status and can get a heavy bonus structured contract end up choosing a Cdn market a significant % of time.

Gionta, Cammalieri, Cole, Petry, Huberdeau etc..

Notice how almost all “named” UFAs signed by Habs are US resident players…
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if it were the advantage you claim, top stars would come more readily
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
if it were the advantage you claim, top stars would come more readily
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first off as Waz noted earlier, how many “top stars” ever hit UFA?

Matthews did not exercise his UFA option in the prime of his career, a key factor… he’d never make as much take home in any US market - his second heavy bonus contract w Leafs BTW

Tavares signed as UFA, and is in process with revenue Canada over taxation from his heavy bonus structured contract - I’m guessing Revenue Canada is saying he’s physically been in Canada for 6-months + 1-day so he’s a Canadian resident vs US but that’s another matter….a critical decision looming

Why did Huberdeau immediately after the trade was announced, reup in Cgy of places where he has zero ties? Heavy bonus contract + Alberta having lowest Cdn provincial taxes …. double bonus!!

Most players want nothing to do with pressures & daily microscope of a Cdn market, nothing can change that as Bieksa said Sat on HNIC “no one cares in Anaheim if an offensive player goes into a slump for a couple of weeks, that not the case in a Cdn market”

I’m glad the discrepancy is finally being talked about openly, never understood why it was so hush-hush, it’s been blatantly obvious since post 94 lockout, heck Serge Savard even said a couple of years back on Melnick’s show, he & Corey had to fly to NYC to meet with Bellows in summer 1992, and promise him they’d trade him to his desired location if he just agreed to come to Mtl for 2-seasons, because he refused to come after the trade was agreed upon
 
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Krustchev said:
Sal is way overthinking this. Some guys don't mind playing in Canada if you throw enough money at them, others want nothing to do with Canada no matter how much you offer them.
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Throwing enough $$$ is the key and mechanism allowing a more even playing field to do so is the bonus methodology for a subset of players who now makeup more than 50% of the league
 
Sal_Butera said:
Throwing enough $$$ is the key and mechanism allowing a more even playing field to do so is the bonus methodology for a subset of players who now makeup more than 50% of the league
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This much I do agree with. There needs to be a system in place where a dollar is a dollar whether you earn it in Montreal or Minnesota or Miami. There needs to be a formula whereby every financial discrepancy between markets is leveled. Taxes, deductions, exchange rates, the lot. Take away the financial excuses used to explain why players won't come to Canada. You can't change the weather or the media fishbowl or the fact that Winnipeg is and always will be a shithole, but you can do something to address the prohibitive financial inequities which exacerbate the situation.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
This much I do agree with. There needs to be a system in place where a dollar is a dollar whether you earn it in Montreal or Minnesota or Miami. There needs to be a formula whereby every financial discrepancy between markets is leveled. Taxes, deductions, exchange rates, the lot. Take away the financial excuses used to explain why players won't come to Canada. You can't change the weather or the media fishbowl or the fact that Winnipeg is and always will be a shithole, but you can do something to address the prohibitive financial inequities which exacerbate the situation.
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That’s simply not realistic or possible.
 
You can have a flexible cap, but also you can give out compensation in picks like the NFL and MLB to help teams that can’t retain or attract players.
 
GEEMAN said:
NHL revenue would need to put aside a % for dollar adjustments
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Dollar adjustments per team would be complicated and I would expect quite a bit of pushback. Compensationary picks are already a known concept in professional sports and would be easier to implement.
 
GrandWazoo said:
Dollar adjustments per team would be complicated and I would expect quite a bit of pushback. Compensationary picks are already a known concept in professional sports and would be easier to implement.
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I would think just saying Canadian based teams can spend 10-15% more on salaries would do the trick,,,
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
I would think just saying Canadian based teams can spend 10-15% more on salaries would do the trick,,,
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It would if the league decides to acknowledge that Canadian teams are disadvantaged and need help to compete. But if they start adjusting on a team by team basis, it quickly gets nightmarish. Like would it make sense to also boost NY and California teams because of their high taxes?
 
GrandWazoo said:
It would if the league decides to acknowledge that Canadian teams are disadvantaged and need help to compete. But if they start adjusting on a team by team basis, it quickly gets nightmarish. Like would it make sense to also boost NY and California teams because of their high taxes?
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oh I know, it is impossible.

Our issue is always we get CDN revenue and pay out in yank dollars
 
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