NHL

[Efcjake]

Salary cap is a bigger issue. Teams lock up players on bad contracts are are crushed for years unable to get out*. Sure, maybe FA don't want to sign for Winnipeg or Ottawa, but Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal should have absolutely no excuse for signing players because they are world class cities. Ok, the tax issue hurts and I have an extreme fondness for Texas, but no Canadian kids grow up playing in a backyard rink or laboring in junior hockey to fulfill their lifelong dream of playing in Vegas, Dallas, or Miami. Pure nonsense applied to cover up gross ineptitude managing the front office of these big Canadian teams.

And while I'm at it, if they cared about the future of sport they'd all make sure Toronto gets a 2nd team.

/back on topic, Dallas Stars 2026 Stanley Cup Champions, who's in with me?

*I'm not anti-cap, but every other sport except maybe NBA has was for teams to get out of burdensome contracts. All NHL teams can do is trade bad contracts to teams that are even worse who'll eat a contract while accumulating draft picks. That's a broken system.

Living in Ottawa I would absolutely not call it a World Class city It's known colloquially as the city where fun died. It's more government focused than DC.

The tax rate makes the Canadian teams the bottom of the list. Every year. Canadian kids would much rather earn an extra third of their income on top of their earnings and not have to deal with Canadian winters.

Trust me, they'd rather be at the beach in Miami or LA, or at shows in Vegas than dealing with Canadian taxes. No front office is going to cover this massive earnings gap, that's farcical to suggest.

Hamilton and Quebec City could easily support another team but instead we've moved a hockey team from Phoenix Arizona to Salt Lake City. It's a joke.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Living in Ottawa I would absolutely not call it a World Class city It's known colloquially as the city where fun died. It's more government focused than DC.

The tax rate makes the Canadian teams the bottom of the list. Every year. Canadian kids would much rather earn an extra third of their income on top of their earnings and not have to deal with Canadian winters.

Trust me, they'd rather be at the beach in Miami or LA, or at shows in Vegas than dealing with Canadian taxes. No front office is going to cover this massive earnings gap, that's farcical to suggest.

Hamilton and Quebec City could easily support another team but instead we've moved a hockey team from Phoenix Arizona to Salt Lake City. It's a joke.

Well, I'm not really sure what to say. I didn't suggest Ottawa was a world class city, you might want to read again what I wrote. And although I'm not an accountant, I can read well enough to know that what's being talked about and what's real are not the same thing. At the very least, until I hear McDavid or Marner (we'll exempt Matthews because he's a Yank and... yano, taxes...) blame the tax rate for not delivering in the playoffs, I'll keep my view that winning and losing is a roster construction issue. And yes, Bettman and the owners deserve blame for placing teams in poor locations (I'm not advocating for Hamilton or Quebec City) but the obvious remains: Toronto needs a second team, and even if you stuck it in Mississuaga it's got to have the "Toronto" label.

 

[Efcjake]

Well, I'm not really sure what to say. I didn't suggest Ottawa was a world class city, you might want to read again what I wrote. And although I'm not an accountant, I can read well enough to know that what's being talked about and what's real are not the same thing. At the very least, until I hear McDavid or Marner (we'll exempt Matthews because he's a Yank and... yano, taxes...) blame the tax rate for not delivering in the playoffs, I'll keep my view that winning and losing is a roster construction issue. And yes, Bettman and the owners deserve blame for placing teams in poor locations (I'm not advocating for Hamilton or Quebec City) but the obvious remains: Toronto needs a second team, and even if you stuck it in Mississuaga it's got to have the "Toronto" label.

The roster construction issues is because of the tax issue. It's chicken and egg.

 

[Efcjake]

There is a real anti-canadian bias that the NHL needs to address.

 

[mmmmsnouts]

View attachment 314072

There is a real anti-canadian bias that the NHL needs to address.

Remember you’re asking this question to 18 year old kids. Winnipeg is barren and frigid and there’s not much to do.

Toronto and Montreal pile insane and unwanted amounts of pressure on players.

Calgary, Ottawa, and Vancouver are all poorly run franchises. The same reason people also mentioned Anaheim, Buffalo, and Seattle.

The only team on that list that doesn’t make immediate sense is Dallas, unless kids don’t want to deal with the overwhelming churchiness around here. Everything else would line up great with the average hockey player’s uncurious mindset.

 

[marsh]

So is there no more Ice Hockey till around September time?

Also what's the deal with the winter Olympics, do NHL teams just play games without some of there players while they compete for their country?

 

[Efcjake]

Remember you’re asking this question to 18 year old kids. Winnipeg is barren and frigid and there’s not much to do.

Toronto and Montreal pile insane and unwanted amounts of pressure on players.

Calgary, Ottawa, and Vancouver are all poorly run franchises. The same reason people also mentioned Anaheim, Buffalo, and Seattle.

The only team on that list that doesn’t make immediate sense is Dallas, unless kids don’t want to deal with the overwhelming churchiness around here. Everything else would line up great with the average hockey player’s uncurious mindset.

There's all that.

And the tax issue....

 

[Efcjake]

So is there no more Ice Hockey till around September time?

Also what's the deal with the winter Olympics, do NHL teams just play games without some of there players while they compete for their country?

They go on break during the season.

This is the first time in nearly a decade the NHL has released the players to play.

 

[mmmmsnouts]

There's all that.

And the tax issue....

The tax issue isn’t that important for players getting drafted since they don’t get huge contracts to start with. It’s a much bigger deal in free agency.

They go on break during the season.

This is the first time in nearly a decade the NHL has released the players to play.

It was because the last two were in South Korea and then China, which is too far for them to travel in the middle of the season. They did it once when the Olympics were in Japan, and the players were a mess when they came back.

 

[Connor]

Schagens.

 

[Connor]

Schagens.

Shame they couldn’t get a trade sorted to get Hagens but come away with a cracking haul there, the Isles

Could be a rapid rebuild