And that was at roughly $36.4 million in salary and is part of my biggest gripe about this CBA mess. While it could lower salary costs a bit (though, I'm betting few teams will come in at the floor level and most will hit between $28-33 million) it still won't help the Canadian franchises flourish as they deserve because they will likely still be heavily hampered by the exchange rate.
Calgary pulled in around 16,500 fans per home game that season, while Edmonton pulled in over 17,000. Both teams had payrolls in the mid-$30 million range and both teams still have a difficult time making the playoffs. It's not like attendance is hurting in either place. Their payrolls are not exorbitantly high. Yet they still can't make a profit without going deep into the playoffs.
This CBA will not be of great help to them unless there are some added benefits for Canadian teams. As it stands, capping salaries is not going to help them generate more revenue or combat their exchange rate problem.