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NHL Economics Part II The Salary Cap

It’s time for Part II of NHL Economics.  Part I was an exploration of the development and viability of the NHL economic model.  In Part II we examine the National Hockey League Salary Cap.

It has been 1 month since the cash began to flow out of NHL coughers to free agents.  Well actually the more appropriate term is probably something along the lines of gushing out.  Hundreds of millions of dollars and decades of contracts have been doled out this past month.  It has become an annual event in hockey for the 30 clubs to go to join the free agent bonanza at the NHL free agent super store.   Every off season teams fight for the premiere talent available and are prepared to offer top end money to those players, but there are also teams that like to dish out a whole lot of silly money.   It seems a new trend has developed in the post lockout years; an explosion of over inflated contracts in both term and dollar.

Six not so long years ago the NHL owners locked out the players to try and facilitate economic change.  Many teams were losing money and some teams were considering relocating because they could no longer compete with the top spending teams.  After a 300+ day slug fest between the NHL and NHLPA a new CBA was ratified and a salary cap was in place.

In theory every team would now be guaranteed economic parity and that parity should in theory transfer onto the ice.  With cost certainty in place small market teams would have a better chance at economic viability and all teams would have the same chance at signing the world’s premiere hockey players.  The salary cap minimum was set out at 22 million USD and the ceiling was 39 million USD.  It seemed all teams would have an equal shot at top players and there would be more than enough to go around.

Skip ahead to July 1 2011; the salary cap is now just north of 64 million dollars and the floor is over 48 million.  The salary cap appears to be in some ways successful and in some ways it appears to be failing.  Consider this there isn’t one NHL player going into the 2012 campaign that will earn more than 12 million dollars.  When you compare top player salaries between the NHL and the other big three leagues the NHL has the lowest top paid players in North American pro sports.

Below are two charts one showing the top 4 cap hits for 2011-2012 and the other showing the top 4 NHL player salaries for 2011-2012

 

As you can see no single player in the NHL will earn more than 12 million dollars for the upcoming season.  This is much better than the other 3 big North American Leagues which will all have players earning more than the NHL maximum.  It appears that the NHL salary cap has been effective at stopping runaway upper dollar contracts, but the floor of the salary cap is almost 10 million dollars more than the original cap and many teams have been signing players to mega front end loaded contracts in recent years.  So the question must be asked is the NHL Salary Cap effective?

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NHL Economics Part II The Salary Cap

It has become an annual event in hockey for the 30 clubs to go to join the free agent bonanza at the NHL free agent super store. Every off season teams fight for the premiere talent available and are prepared to offer top end money to those players,



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The game is rough and the stakes are high. Fueled by pride or desperation, when it’s game time, nothing else matters. Once the players are ready to engage, they are bound for an altercation. Hockey Fight Pro is the only hockey fighting game available on the Appstore. Real hockey fighting! Can you handle it? *Not recommended for the light-hearted. Ok so I waz looking for really fun free apps even if they were lite..... I came across this and I can't stop playing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Free Hockey Fight - Bookshelf

An Inverted Sort of Prayer

An Inverted Sort of Prayer

... that influence how people perceive, and execute, the hockey fight. ... to work my hand up the back of his head and dislodge it with a free finger. ...

Canadian Hockey Literature

Canadian Hockey Literature

Hockey is not boxing on ice, but a spectator who shed tears at a hockey fight could similarly embarrass his or her more knowledgeable rink companion. ...

The Hockey news ... yearbook

The Hockey news ... yearbook

This might not seem so unusual to those who follow junior hockey, where fighting is a frequent tactic used to intimidate the opposition, particularly during ...

Hockey Dad, True Confessions of a (Crazy) Hockey Parent

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I don't know if you have ever had the occasion to witness your son in a hockey fight, but it is an emotional experience like ...

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NHL Images/Allsport/Rick Stewart Hockey and fighting Fighting has long been an accepted part of professional hockey in the United States and Canada and is ...

Day-to-day Guide Directory


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Hockey Fight Lite is now available for FREE worldwide on the Android Marketplace and Apple App Store. The Lite version includes several opponents to fight against. ...