vanlady said:I disagree with you I think that owner arbitration is far more valuable in hold out situations.
Agents are not stupid, there going to use the Score system to derive player contract information and use comparables which would put Jerome Iginala's salary between 5 -5.5 million. Agents know that no matter what they do unless there is a flurry of stupidity from one team, the owners arbitration clause is going to bring some sanity back.
I cant believe how many are not seeing this. This line that there is no mechanism to prevent the same things from happening again, is just not looking properly.
Arbitration is now available to all teams to keep salaries in line. It also allows Calgary to take Iginla to arbitration to not only guarantee he gets about the 5-7mil the new marketpalce is set at, but also guarantees that he will be signed for the start of the season. He cant hold out, nor can he get an unfair reward. This is a huge change. The arbitration system is not only not inflationary, it can be used to maintain RFA salaries, the ones arbitration applies to, down. Since ther ewill be no Sakic offer sheets, explain how this can possibly be in a an inflationary spiral.
It doesnt control UFA salaries, agreed, but it no longer needs to. Since it is quite evident that no longer is the need to buy UFAs a determinant of success, the luxury tax doesnt need to prevent big UFA spending, but rather just use it to raise enough taxes to support the needy. Its not the owners that want a higher tax number. They want to share less. But you have to look at the tax number that raises the desired amount of money, not the one that attempts to prevent spending.