NHL analyst calls for 3 game changing modifications to the CBA.

These would all be game changers.

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HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
NHL analyst calls for 3 game changing modifications to the CBA.

There has been plenty of discussion regarding the National Hockey League's salary cap this season thanks in large part to the fact that the cap is expected to remain flat for several years to come, and many analysts around the league have brainstormed about changes that could be made to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that could benefit the league and its teams in the long run.

The latest comes to us courtesy of TSN's Gord Miller who recently proposed 3 game changing changes to the CBA, all of which I believe were conceived with the game's competitive integrity in mind. Today we will take a look at the changes proposed by Miller and why they might improve the game moving forward.

1) Players can no longer be placed on LTIR without having previously been on a team's roster.

The motivation behind this move is rather clear. For some time we have seen teams effectively circumvent the cap by trading players away for contracts attached to players that everyone knows will never again play an NHL game. This has allowed cap teams to unload contracts while also turning injured players into tradable assets. Removing the ability to do this would force teams to deal with the full ramifications of the contracts they give their players, something that could in theory level the playing field in the NHL.

2) A portion of a new contract would not count against the cap if the player has been with the same team for 7 or more years.

This in my estimation was the most interesting change suggested by Miller. Not only would it help create more legacy players for each and every franchise around the league, but it would make it considerably easier for teams to retain their players by being able to offer them more money than the competition. Teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets have had a terrible time retaining players who become unrestricted free agents, but if they could offer a player 10% or even 20% more money without taking on a larger cap hit that could be a way to get around that problem.

3) Player must play in the regular season to be eligible for the playoffs.

This one feels very much like the Nikita Kucherov rule does it not? The Tampa Bay Lightning have gotten away with murder in the eyes of many this season with Kucherov spending the entire regular season on LTIR, something that has allowed the Lightning to spend well over what would normally be allowed under the NHL salary cap. As a result many feel the Lightning have entered the playoffs with a significant competitive advantage, and this rule would effectively end the ability to do that moving forward.

No doubt there will be a good bit of descension when it comes to these ideas, but at the very least they make for an interesting conversation piece.


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