Around the NHL — Episode XLXVI

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Vegas is an unbelievable spot to play.

Fantastic weather, fantastic facilities, all you could want to do in your downtime, fantastic places to live, Southern Highlands is an unbelievable spot and is 10 minutes from the rink and strip, there are probably 40 NHL/MLB/NBA/NFL/Golf players living there, great taxation from your earnings, unbelievably run and managed team.

Sure is. Ottawa looks like the Salvation Army next to them.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

A couple years later, 2000-2001 was one of my favourite Jagr seasons ever. They had that killer offensive juggernaut with Jagr, Lemieux, Straka, Kovalev, Lang and even Hrdina could bring it on occasion and Kevin Stevens was still hanging on. 4 guys in the top 20 league scoring plus Lemieux with 76 in 43 games.

Made it to the conference finals with Andrew Ference as their best dman and Johan Hedberg in net. Then the worst era of hockey took over as the Devils trapped and bored everyone to sleep until they got smacked down by Ray Bourque's swan song. What a fun season that one was.

 

[OD99]

Vegas is an unbelievable spot to play.

Fantastic weather, fantastic facilities, all you could want to do in your downtime, fantastic places to live, Southern Highlands is an unbelievable spot and is 10 minutes from the rink and strip, there are probably 40 NHL/MLB/NBA/NFL/Golf players living there, great taxation from your earnings, unbelievably run and managed team.

While true I have to say that is a lot of "unbelievable"s. Perhaps an excessive amount.

Very good representation of a pro athlete interview.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Vegas is something, for sure.

But I also think there's a bit of unusual pressure on that organization. Both unrealistic expectations from their unbelievably successful start in the league, but also the pressure of living up to the who concept of Las Vegas. You go to Vegas for a fun time, for excitement, to take risks and be a baller. I don't think the Knights have the luxury of being conservative. At least, not for a long while.

 

[JD1]

Vegas is playing by a different set of rules. They identified the difference and they are taking advantage of it. I'm not talking LTIR.

Ufa arrives earlier than it used to. Players are hitting Ufa with in some cases a lot of quality years left. Vegas is perhaps THE destination location for players. So what does that mean? It means there is a steady stream of quality hockey players that will sign there every year.

Look at Hanifan. He is just the latest example. Acquire him relatively cheap. Sign him long term. Maybe 4 years from now they pay to get rid of him, but the next Hanifan will come along.

Just look at their roster. They had unbelievably favourable expansion terms and McPhee schooled his GM colleagues. But there's only 3 players on the roster from expansion.

Look at the players they signed. Could we have signed those players? Look at what they acquired via trade? How many of those guys were acquired with an NTC? But would only waive meaning for select destinations (like Tarasenko just did)

Fact is they can:
1. trade for players cheap because players waive trade protection to go there
2. Sign players cheap because players want to go there as a destination location
3. Sign players cheap because of the tax situation

They're just not playing the same game we are. Or the same game that more than half the league is playing

 

[Icelevel]

Big day of hockey today could shuffle things around in the east.

 

[Tuna99]

Nice to see Wayne Simmomds retire with the Flyers. My 2nd favorite hockey Wayne.

Gunna suck at the press conference when Torts reams him out for not having that dawg in him for the playoffs

 

[Icelevel]

Panarin just tied it up with 4 to go but man are NYI playing well lately. 6 in a row
Looks like it’s going to ot

Patty Roy

Islanders streak ends at 6
Rangers have too many weapons. Take it in the shootout.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

I said this on the main board once, but Vegas had fortuitous timing- Young #1 centres like Eichel are rarely available by trade, and #1 defensemen like Pietrangelo rarely make it to UFA, but both thing happened right when Vegas was getting good AND had assets to trade.

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

I said this on the main board once, but Vegas had fortuitous timing- Young #1 centres like Eichel are rarely available by trade, and #1 defensemen like Pietrangelo rarely make it to UFA, but both thing happened right when Vegas was getting good AND had assets to trade.

And was a place players wanted to go

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

New Jersey Devils Eye Brady Tkachuk Trade | Bold Summer Move?

Could the Devils land Brady Tkachuk? Explore potential trade packages and the latest on this blockbuster NHL trade rumor.

www.nhltraderumor.com

 

[Golden_Jet]

New Jersey Devils Eye Brady Tkachuk Trade | Bold Summer Move?

Could the Devils land Brady Tkachuk? Explore potential trade packages and the latest on this blockbuster NHL trade rumor.

www.nhltraderumor.com

Must of read the main board thread, people actually go to that web page, as useful as Eklund.

 

[bicboi64]

I love how close the WC2 race is right now. Would love to see some upsets and have Philly make it

 

[Micklebot]

Detroit with the favourable schedule to finish the year, back to backs against the Habs, hopefully the habs will embrace the role of spoilers and win at least one.

Capitals have Boston (they'll be hoping the Bruins rest some guys) and Flyers, they control their destiny but no easy games there.

Flyers have only the game against the Caps, so they're hoping for some help from Bos and Mtl to even have a chance.

 

[BankStreetParade]

Vegas is playing by a different set of rules. They identified the difference and they are taking advantage of it. I'm not talking LTIR.

Ufa arrives earlier than it used to. Players are hitting Ufa with in some cases a lot of quality years left. Vegas is perhaps THE destination location for players. So what does that mean? It means there is a steady stream of quality hockey players that will sign there every year.

Look at Hanifan. He is just the latest example. Acquire him relatively cheap. Sign him long term. Maybe 4 years from now they pay to get rid of him, but the next Hanifan will come along.

Just look at their roster. They had unbelievably favourable expansion terms and McPhee schooled his GM colleagues. But there's only 3 players on the roster from expansion.

Look at the players they signed. Could we have signed those players? Look at what they acquired via trade? How many of those guys were acquired with an NTC? But would only waive meaning for select destinations (like Tarasenko just did)

Fact is they can:
1. trade for players cheap because players waive trade protection to go there
2. Sign players cheap because players want to go there as a destination location
3. Sign players cheap because of the tax situation

They're just not playing the same game we are. Or the same game that more than half the league is playing

There's a handful of teams that have unbelievable advantages over all the other teams. Guys can't wait to go to Vegas, Florida, Tampa Bay and other no/low tax, great weather places. Plus there's the usual spots where players love to go like New York, LA, Chicago, etc. Leaves most of the league in no man's land and at a complete competitive disadvantage. If you have to outbid a Vegas by, say, $1.5M per year on a contract, just to make it somewhat of a choice for the player, then you're already f***ed.

The salary cap needs to be reimagined. I can't believe that the owners of small(er) market teams are happy with the idea that they have to spend 10%-20% more than some of their counterparts to get the same player. That's a big problem. It means that the cost certainty of the salary cap is not real anymore. If the whole point was to balance out the playing field to allow poor teams the ability to somewhat compete with the rich teams while also capping player expenses every year, then we don't have that anymore. Time for a luxury tax. Or a modified cap where teams get x amount of dollars based on local tax situations.

 

[bicboi64]

There's a handful of teams that have unbelievable advantages over all the other teams. Guys can't wait to go to Vegas, Florida, Tampa Bay and other no/low tax, great weather places. Plus there's the usual spots where players love to go like New York, LA, Chicago, etc. Leaves most of the league in no man's land and at a complete competitive disadvantage. If you have to outbid a Vegas by, say, $1.5M per year on a contract, just to make it somewhat of a choice for the player, then you're already f***ed.

I'm pretty ignorant of a lot of these cities, but why's Chicago considered a top destination in a similar tier to the other cities you mentioned? Not hating on chicago, I'd love to go cuz my favourite punk band (Rise Against) has a festival there every year and I wanna try authentic deep dish pizza

 

[Micklebot]

There's a handful of teams that have unbelievable advantages over all the other teams. Guys can't wait to go to Vegas, Florida, Tampa Bay and other no/low tax, great weather places. Plus there's the usual spots where players love to go like New York, LA, Chicago, etc. Leaves most of the league in no man's land and at a complete competitive disadvantage. If you have to outbid a Vegas by, say, $1.5M per year on a contract, just to make it somewhat of a choice for the player, then you're already f***ed.

The salary cap needs to be reimagined. I can't believe that the owners of small(er) market teams are happy with the idea that they have to spend 10%-20% more than some of their counterparts to get the same player. That's a big problem. It means that the cost certainty of the salary cap is not real anymore. If the whole point was to balance out the playing field to allow poor teams the ability to somewhat compete with the rich teams while also capping player expenses every year, then we don't have that anymore. Time for a luxury tax. Or a modified cap where teams get x amount of dollars based on local tax situations.

So, I stumbled across a company that does wealth management targeted for professional hockey players... which is odd in terms of how targeted they are. They're actually the ones that partnered with Capfriendly for their tax calculator.

All that said, what I found on their site is was interesting, they have a "lifestyle" ranking for NHL cities. Guess where Ottawa ranks... 9th. If I'm being honest, I think the factors they chose, and the weighting they used, might not be the most appropriate given the demographics of their clientele.

NHL City Lifestyle Rankings - Gavin Group

 

[GCK]

My LTIR solution is to rethink how the salary cap works.

Step 1 - Lower the upper limit by 3 x ((min league contract + buried contract amount)/2)

Step 2 - Upper limit applies to top 20 contracts in the system).

Step 3 - Teams must carry a 23 man roster at all times.

Step 4 - LTIRetired players are removed from tagging calculations, etc.

Step 5 - LTIR can only be used for season ending injuries. If player is placed on LTIR they are ineligible to play until the start of the next league year.

Problems solved.

 

[BankStreetParade]

So, I stumbled across a company that does wealth management targeted for professional hockey players... which is odd in terms of how targeted they are. They're actually the ones that partnered with Capfriendly for their tax calculator.

All that said, what I found on their site is was interesting, they have a "lifestyle" ranking for NHL cities. Guess where Ottawa ranks... 9th. If I'm being honest, I think the factors they chose, and the weighting they used, might not be the most appropriate given the demographics of their clientele.

NHL City Lifestyle Rankings - Gavin Group

Yeah, pretty bizarre set of rankings they chose. Are traffic and cost of living something NHLers are worried about at all? Seems like climate and taxes would be considerations #1 and #2. In climate we're 29th and in taxes we're tied for last. In my mind, that puts us near the bottom of the list all other variables being equal.

 

[Micklebot]

Yeah, pretty bizarre set of rankings they chose. Are traffic and cost of living something NHLers are worried about at all? Seems like climate and taxes would be considerations #1 and #2. In climate we're 29th and in taxes we're tied for last. In my mind, that puts us near the bottom of the list all other variables being equal.

Traffic makes sense to me (everybody experiences traffic the same) but groceries?

Id say restaurant prices shouldn't matter, but listening to Meth talk about how cheap he was wrt that, maybe it is???

Safety makes sense, weird that groceries, Rent, cost of living, and restaurant prices aren't all one category...

 

[BankStreetParade]

I'm pretty ignorant of a lot of these cities, but why's Chicago considered a top destination in a similar tier to the other cities you mentioned? Not hating on chicago, I'd love to go cuz my favourite punk band (Rise Against) has a festival there every year and I wanna try authentic deep dish pizza

High end metropolis on par with the others as far as culture, dining (a step ahead of LA but a bit behind NYC), shopping, etc. Plus, the ownership group is rich as shit, the franchise is one of the wealthiest/most valuable in the NHL and it's one of the largest media markets in the country.

 

[BankStreetParade]

Traffic makes sense to me (everybody experiences traffic the same) but groceries?

Id say restaurant prices shouldn't matter, but listening to Meth talk about how cheap he was wrt that, maybe it is???

Safety makes sense, weird that groceries, Rent, cost of living, and restaurant prices aren't all one category...

I think the only reason it doesn't is because the times they arrive and leave the arena are non-peak, which means it shouldn't be much of a consideration. Also, how many players in Ottawa don't live near the rink? I've heard lots of interviews where the players are usually 10-20 minutes away from the arena. It probably matters for their spouses, to some degree, but even then is that enough to sway someone?

Also, wrt restaurant prices, I would say the quality of restaurants would matter a lot more than the prices. Ottawa's culinary scene lacks in quality and depth. Sure, there's plenty of good spots but they're mostly in the upscale casual category and there's a distinct lack of really great spots, like you see in most of the larger cities.

Safety definitely makes sense, especially if it's a UFA with a young family. I think the most jarring thing to me from the index is that taxes aren't taken into consideration and that climate doesn't have a much stronger weighting. It's the 2 things you constantly hear players talking about.

 

[JungleBeat]

And was a place players wanted to go

If they were a bottom feeder I doubt players would want to go there anyways

 

[Micklebot]

I think the only reason it doesn't is because the times they arrive and leave the arena are non-peak, which means it shouldn't be much of a consideration. Also, how many players in Ottawa don't live near the rink? I've heard lots of interviews where the players are usually 10-20 minutes away from the arena. It probably matters for their spouses, to some degree, but even then is that enough to sway someone?

Also, wrt restaurant prices, I would say the quality of restaurants would matter a lot more than the prices. Ottawa's culinary scene lacks in quality and depth. Sure, there's plenty of good spots but they're mostly in the upscale casual category and there's a distinct lack of really great spots, like you see in most of the larger cities.

Safety definitely makes sense, especially if it's a UFA with a young family. I think the most jarring thing to me from the index is that taxes aren't taken into consideration and that climate doesn't have a much stronger weighting. It's the 2 things you constantly hear players talking about.

I think for the same reason safety makes sense, traffic makes sense. It's not just about the player, but their family too.

I do wonder how much "really great spots" matters for a player that's on the road half the time, when you are home, are you hitting up the restaurants or are you spending time with the fam? Idk, it's a different lifestyle than I live, so I won't try to guess how much it matters to them but I agree that the cost shouldn't really be a huge factor either way given that even the lowest paid athlete makes enough that they shouldn't be too worried if they have to drop a couple hundred bucks a head on a nice meal when they do partake.