The salary cap is a meme issue compared to the cancerous concept of the entire franchise system

[gstommylee]

Btw nhl doesnt have the authority to regulate the sport and force a change to the system. A voilation of anti trust laws if they tried to.

 

[LMFAO]

WE WANT AND NEED CHANGE!!! - HFboards after every season ever.

 

[kaiser matias]

Btw nhl doesnt have the authority to regulate the sport and force a change to the system. A voilation of anti trust laws if they tried to.

While true, that is literally what they did in the 1920s. It's why the AHL exists today as the top minor league, the NHL forced out the competition.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

As cool as it would be to have a relegation system, the problem is that the lower leagues (AHL, ECHL, etc.) are feeder leagues to the NHL. Those teams would have to become fully independent, same with the league, for that to happen.

Now it might have been easier in the 90s when the IHL was (mostly) independent, but it’s impossible now. Everything is on a tier system. Even the biggest AHL team isn’t in a market that can’t support an NHL team (or in the case of Chicago, a second one).

That being said, I wish the IHL still existed. I actually liked it more than I did the NHL.

 

[CupsOverCash]

It's mostly bigger markets that want to do away with it because if a player becomes available they can easily get them over another who is not going to offer as much money. Smaller markets and owners who don't have as deep a pocket have a harder time contending too. Hard to please everyone.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

It's mostly bigger markets that want to do away with it because if a player becomes available they can easily get them over another who is not going to offer as much money. Smaller markets and owners who don't have as deep a pocket have a harder time contending too. Hard to please everyone.

Cash is indeed King. For the life of me, I don't see how small-market teams such as Columbus continue to exist financially. Move them to Houston and they'd probably take off like crazy.

 

[tarheelhockey]

This thread ends at “European soccer models are not financially feasible for North American professional hockey”.

It’s actually rather common-sense if you simply acknowledge the market differences involved. The core issue here isn’t a lack of competition, it’s a lack of paying customers. As it stands, pro hockey in NA only has two stable tiers, and a third tier held together by bubblegum and duct tape. That’s not the basis for any sort of pyramid system, and it’s not as though there are a bunch of viable markets left unserved.

There just aren’t that many places where pro hockey is feasible, and only maybe three dozen places where it’s feasible as a major-league entity. Promotion and relegation won’t change that, so there’s nothing at all to be gained from having Boston in the AHL and Wilkes-Barrie in the NHL.

 

[Toene]

I envy the football fans of the rest of the world. You cheer for your club in their respective league, and then, once in a while, your favorite players take part in international games. I wish I could see a Canadiens vs CSKA Champion's league final. What a sport event it would be.