hockeytown9321 said:
Here's how I break down what theBob said: older and marginal players are currently sacrificing their careers during the lockout in order to prevent a salary cap, becuase the PA wants to ensure that guys like Pronger will continue to make superstar money.
Pretty much everyone will get hit. The stars will get hit at least as hard as everyone else. The only players that will get badly hit are the UFAs who cash in on their FA status, guys like DeVries who are decent but nothing exceptional. They'll have to settle for the same amounts of money they made before UFA status.
Here's how I break down what I said: superstar players will get superstar money, whether there's a cap, whether there's a tax, or wheter there's any other system. If there's a cap, that means there is a fixed limit of what a team can spend. If superstars still get superstar money, that means there's less money to be paid to non superstars, which includes the 3rd and 4th liners theBob talked about. It is my belief that a cap would hurt marginal players much more than it would hurt superstars. Therefore it is in the best interests of those marginal players to support the union in its efforts to avoid a salary cap.
Hockey is a team game that needs depth from top to bottom. The only key position is goal. Even the best forwards only manage 20 minutes a game, that leaves 40mins for the rest. Anyone who forks out $10m to forward or a defense is going to have a very weak players backing that player up in a capped system. One star quality player and two marginal 4th liners is going to be a worse line than 3 quality players.
Which starting 5 would you rather
One that pays Pronger and Forsberg $10m deals and hires scrubs
Muckalt + Forsberg + Hendrickson
Pronger + Bert Robertsson
Snow
or solid lineup without elite stars
Lehtinen + Madden + Satan
Ohlund + Schneider
Khabibulin
As I said, hockey is a team game, and it possible to put together a hardworking team that can be successful if its well balanced. Some teams might throw $10m at elite players, but these teams should expect other teams to throw that $10m at 3 quality players. The team with expensive elite player will find all of the good middle tier players have been taken by other clubs, so now they'll be left in a bidding war best of tier 3 players. That's why I see every player taking a roughly equal hit.