and last year Florida and Phoenix not only made the Playoffs but even won their division
and the final four in the Playoffs was:
NY Rangers
New Jersey
Los Angeles
Phoenix
none of which had even made it past the first round once in the 3 prior years
you really shouldn't judge this kind of thing on just one season,especially a shortened season
I'm confident that if you aggregate points of established vs unestablished markets or, the totals would support my idea.
A $20M difference in cap hit obviously doesn't guarantee anything - but it's a major advantage, obviously for any franchise who can support to max out the cap.
If you don't think $20M is meaningful -- how much better would your capgeek roster look if you were given an extra $20M to play with.
And to pretend that everyone has equal chance is kind of silly.
Nashville had a two year window and then they had to blow it up. Phoenix relies on a coach with a great defensive system and hopes it's enough.
Here are the goofy markets since the cap was installed
Phoenix
5 times miss the playofffs
Lose round 1 twice
Lose round 3 once
Atlanta
5 times miss the playofffs
Lose round 1 once.
Carolina
6 times miss the playoffs
Won the cup once
Lost in round 3 once
Florida
7 times miss the playoffs
lost in round 1 once
Tampa
Dallas
5 times miss the playoffs
lost in round twice
Lost in round 3 twice
Columbus
7 times miss the playoffs
lost in round once
Even a team like Colorado -- which has started to act like a small market team--has started to perform like a small market team.
There is no parity in the NHL.
It's a myth.
It's more level than it once was. But it's not level.