wanna show me the rule that says any of these big teams can't sign a player to the contract they want?
Definatly a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. Right now? There is no rule. That's why Dany Heatly made $8 million as a rookie. That's why Ilya Kovalchuk made $10 million as a rookie. Quite frankly, in the old system, it was "ok" to make an 18 year old the highest paid player in the league. Maybe you disagree, but I hope that the new NHL-NHLPA CBA fixes that. In fact, I can almost guerentee it. Out of all the things being debated (salary cap, UFA, arbitration ect) this will be the easiest for the NHL to win over - since nobody in the union is a rookie fighting for rookie contracts. It already seems that the NHLPA is more then willing to make concessions on rookie contracts (as evident in all their proposals) which cap both the rookie base salary as well as performance bonus's.
hell.. do you want the teams that have all the stars to bench a couple when they play small market teams? so its fair for them?
Huh?
if your team can't handle other teams spending and who they have on there team then just fold em now.. the owners can go buy an ahl team or something if they want to
Once again, definatly a Leafs fan. According to the Levitt report, 18 teams lost money last year. Another audit done showed that at least 10 NHL teams are guerenteed to close its doors should the CBA not be resolved in their favour. I don't know about you, but I personally think for the NHL to be a credible professional league, they should have more then 10-15 teams.
But hey, I'm talking to a Leafs fan, right? Its quite evident that you don't give a damn about other teams in the league. You guys (in general) only care about yourself, so I'm probably wasting my breath anyways.
i'm sure there small market ways would fit in well there
Well I think I speak for most NHL teams fans (Flames, Oilers ect) in that I'd rather see NHL hockey then AHL hockey. Once again, you show how many Leaf fans don't give a damn about a healthy NHL, only about your own team; a league with only a handful of competitive teams, while the rest of the teams farm NHL talent for them (which, as you just showed, is a-ok).
Not that it would change anything. We've already been a farm team for the Leafs, Wings ect ect for the past decade, right?