[hockey216]

Originally posted on 09/27/2012:

Disagree with this.

The Salary Cap has helped small market teams and successfully strangled big market teams from creating dynasties that were once part of the lore and history of hockey.

What the cap did was actually keep the big market teams down by not enabling them to spend as much as they want.

The small market teams were thus advantaged because each team being limited in the amount they could spend meant that no one could have a financial advantage over the other.

The absurdity in the results we now have is that poorer teams like Columbus, Nashville, Phoenix, Florida, Winnipeg, etc. etc. that traditionally never spent anywhere near the cap limit have, mathematically, the same chance to win the Stanley Cup as Philadelphia, Montreal, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, Boston, Detroit, and Chicago.

Why should this ridiculous system exist? The reality of it should be that the teams that spend the most for talent and want to win most badly should have the best chances of winning the Cup.

Bettman is also the ONLY commissioner in NHL history to not have a year in which the Cup was not awarded, in 2005. This is the 3rd lockout of his tenure.

He has been a DISASTER for the game.

As far as the financials go, the game, it can be argued, would have grown just as much or more with a more competent hockey mind running the show.

Furthermore, because of the expansion that has happened under Bettman, the talent level has been watered down and thus, the game is less competitive than it would have been without expansion.

I could go on forever about contraction being needed right now but, for the purposes of saving time, I'll limit my comments to this...

The next time the NHL seeks a commissioner, it would do well to have someone who actually understood the game's history and the fan's point of view as well as the financial aspects of it and also someone who actually played the sport.

Maybe then we'll stop having these fukking lockouts and no-Cup seasons.

umm... dynasties are a bad thing. For the overall health of the league and teams at least. It would be good for the 5 teams that can spend like crazy. But it would be a disaster for the other 80% of the league. If you have 5 monster teams and everyone else sucks... you have 5 profitable teams and 25 teams that are losing money. that is big problem for the league. Franchises would go bankrupt. Competitiveness is a good thing in my opinion. The same team shouldn't win every year. Every team should have a fair chance. Without salary cap, teams can just buy world titles. They wouldn't have to earn them. That's not fair. I feel like franchises should have to EARN championships with incredibly hard work.

If the league is not competitive, you have a big problem. Nobody would want to invest money to own a bad franchise just to intentionally lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Small market franchises would collapse, go bankrupt, and end up having to be saved by the league. The league would end up owning a significant number of teams in the league. The ability for small market teams to compete is essential for the success of the nhl. since they can't make money with media contracts, franchises need to make money by selling tickets. How do you do that? Winning Games. If you take away small market teams ability to compete on an even playing feel, you'd be setting up all the small markets to fail. If small market teams are losing games every night, they are going to lose a ton of money. Selling tickets and merchandise is the only way nhl franchises make money. They don't make anything off media rights. If teams are losing every night, they are going to sell 0 tickets. They would collapse. The small market teams would fail if you allow the top 5-10 teams to just spend like crazy to distance themselves talent wise.

A system where only 5 teams have a chance to win, and the other 25 teams have no chance and are just "playing to lose" would be more rediculous. Why even have the other 25 teams? Arenas would be empty in small markets. Franchises would be going bankrupt. And after franchises go bankrupt, and nobody wants to buy franchises because they would be losing investments, the league would fail. we would end up right back to the point where we are right now: realizing the necessity of the salary cap. It is essential for the survival of small market teams. It is essential for the survival of the league.