Speculation: What If The Salary Cap Goes Down?

Legion34

Registered User
Jan 24, 2006
17,986
8,088
It will go down

it has never gone down.

the league is owed 50% of HRR this year. lowering the cap next year doesn’t change anything.

In fact. If they lower it and the players take less than 50% next year. The owners have to pay it back
 

Habsrule

Registered User
Jun 13, 2004
3,475
2,332
My very strong guess is that they will work it out to have the cap stay the same next year.

No way that the cap is rising.

If the cap lowers then each team would have to get a free buy out. It is the only fair way to do so.

If the cap stays the same then the league doesn’t need to worry about buyouts or rollbacks.
 

TheTechNoir

fall 2021 bull, probably
Feb 18, 2013
4,647
1,781
If the cap lowers then each team would have to get a free buy out. It is the only fair way to do so.

I mean. I'm not disagreeing that each team should get a free buy out. But calling it the only fair thing to do, is a stretch in my opinion. On the contrary, despite what GM's actions would lead us to believe, the salary cap *ceiling* is not the salary cap requirement. The salary cap is set each season, and has the potential to rise or fall. Yes, this IS a pretty exceptional, unpredictable circumstance. But still - even if the cap were always the exact same, the ceiling represents the ceiling. It represents the absolute maximum you can budget. Not the suggested amount to budget, until you have pennies left to work with. If a GM wants to put his team to within mere dollars of the absolute spending limit in this system, they take on and accept responsibility and risk associated. The league has already intervened on multiple occasions to save GMs from themselves.

And again, I do agree about a free compliance buy-out in this exceptional situation. But, I have limited sympathy for a GM if he wants to try and hit the cap ceiling with a bullseye.
 
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SML2

Registered User
Jan 1, 2018
4,759
6,816
If the cap goes down, the owners agree to stop pretending and they get rid of it. Most owners turn into Melnyk because their hobby got too expensive and the rest pick up stars like it's a rummage sale. The end.
 

crowi

Registered Loser
May 11, 2012
8,174
2,821
Helsinki
I would love to see this happen just due to chaos.

Then again I'm one of those who goes for Miracle-space in Mario Party every time just to see madness occur.
 

justafan22

Registered User
Jun 22, 2014
11,629
6,249
it has never gone down.

the league is owed 50% of HRR this year. lowering the cap next year doesn’t change anything.

In fact. If they lower it and the players take less than 50% next year. The owners have to pay it back

If it goes down, there will be compliance buyouts.

It'll either be the same as this year, or the above happens.
 

Junohockeyfan

Registered User
Dec 16, 2018
13,669
11,268
it has never gone down.

the league is owed 50% of HRR this year. lowering the cap next year doesn’t change anything.

In fact. If they lower it and the players take less than 50% next year. The owners have to pay it back

it has to go down. The cap is always based on prior year’s revenues.
 

Legion34

Registered User
Jan 24, 2006
17,986
8,088
it has to go down. The cap is always based on prior year’s revenues.

50/50 each year is guaranteed. They don’t half to base it on it. They can choose whatever they want. Think about the last lockout. They didn’t base it on 48 game revenues.

Daly just came out and said that they can make it whatever they want as long as it’s agreed to
 

captainpaxil

Registered User
Dec 2, 2008
4,645
1,194
It will be like the lockout year where they project revenue over 82 games. I don't think we'll see buyouts
 

Merc29

Sid ney Cr os by
Jul 3, 2006
2,597
145
Minot, ND
could be a good time for Seattle to start buying, thinking the addition of a 32nd team probably came at the right time for both teams and the players
 

Hunter368

RIP lomiller1, see you in the next life buddy.
Nov 8, 2011
26,934
23,503
Some teams will be in trouble and forced to make moves which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a thing. From a Jets POV no issues with the cap going down, Jets currently have a bunch of cap room considering Buff deal will be terminated if no trade is found (likely no trade will happen). Jets end up still with a bunch of cap room and any cap teams will be forced to trade talent which levels things out. All good
 

SotasicA

Registered User
Aug 25, 2014
8,489
6,402
If the cap lowers then each team would have to get a free buy out
The players owe money so the owners can get to 50%, so I don't think using buyouts is the solution. A buyout just adds to salaries.

The reason the cap goes down is because the players need to make up for the overflow in salaries they received this season. They'd count a dollar amount the teams need to receive, and deduct that from next year's estimate HRR (and thus salary cap estimate).

A free buyout is an artificial way for teams to get under the cap, but the cap itself is an artificial way for players and teams to reach a 50/50 split. The latter (the split) needs fixing by adjusting the former (the cap), so the solution cannot just be to adjust the split again to fix the cap.
 

Alberta_OReilly_Fan

Bruin fan since 1975
Nov 26, 2006
14,331
3,941
Edmonton Canada
I think the least painful solution to this cap going down issue is...

to borrow whatever the projected loses were going to be... the league assumes 1/2 the 'debt' and the union assumes 1/2 the 'debt

2020-21 goes off as intended with the cap that was being projected

now... everyone and their dog says there will be greater revenues coming with gambling kicks in and the new tv deal gets done... plus there going to be a big juicy expansion fee from seattle on the owners side of things

so... as this new money rolls in the next 2-3 years, instead of increases in the cap at that time... the union will claw back some player salaries to pay off their 50% of the loan and the nhl will collect some hrr from the owners to pay back their 50% of the loan

net effect... we borrow from tomorrow to make everything ok today.
people have been doing this for year and years

its a lot better than having guys loose their jobs, and having teams forced to rip themselves apart upsetting the fan base
I mean... the money was going to be there... so just make it so
 
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Just Linda

Registered User
Feb 24, 2018
6,632
6,506
I'm under the impression that the salary cap is effected by the revenue from the year before. So next season wouldn't go down, it would be the year after.
 

sittler rules!!!

Registered User
Feb 9, 2004
1,196
643
I think y'all better get ready for no hockey for ' at least the next 2 years'.
This crisis is not going to peak for at least another 3 months, dissipate and then resurface in the fall, according to WHO. An NHL season and how much millionaires are going to make will not be an issue as hundreds of thousands around the world are sick and dying. Maybe some of these ' community spirited millionaires ' will ante up and support the people and communities who need all hands on deck now. City of Toronto, 50% of salaries for the TML, that is $42million. Poor little Mitchy and Matty will have to get by on $5.5 million a year.Donate it to the hospitals, food banks, community services. Boston Red Sox, 50% of player salaries = $105 million. You don't think the City of Boston could use that money right now.
 

Ola

Registered User
Apr 10, 2004
34,597
11,595
Sweden
Which teams would be screwed the most if the Cap remained flat for a couple of years?

I have a hard time seeing the cap actually going down significantly unless they allow compliance buy-outs -- and I can't see a majority of the current owners agreeing on that. Its as simple as this: Being competitive is prosperous and sucking cost you a lot of money. By using compliance buy-outs you all teams can gain an competitive edge by spending money outside the system. Odds are that most would gain about, more or less, the same competitive edge and that it in essence just would allow the owners to spend more.

The curent cap and a player's contract is just a mechanism to divide the player's share between the players. The owners could care less, they get their 50%. Within the current system, they stand to gain the most by just accepting whatever the PA proposes (compliance buy-outs excluded, they are not within the current system).

If the PA brings the cap down it just hurts all free agents more a lot more than the rest of the players. Its true that a voting majority of the players are not free agents, but they have previously adhered to some sort of loyalty towards each other and tried to do what is best for everyone (like with the inflator).

Hence, I think a flat cap (or a minor downwards adjustment) is what is interesting to discuss. I don't at all buy the 60m cap and bunch of compliance buy-out dreams out there.
 

Number1RedWingsFan52

Registered User
Mar 17, 2013
40,243
6,036
Winter Haven Florida
Doesn't bother me one iota, Even if the cap goes down to $80 million with one CBO Detroit is still going to have around $35 million to $40 million to spend including with Zetterberg on LTIR So Stevie needs to get on the phone with his buddy down in Tampa JBB and get one of their decent players or two.
 

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