Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
Are they trying to punish the Kings, or is this just what the settlement is? I think, regardless of your opinion of this situation, your thought process that this settlement and how it has been drawn out as meant to be punishment to the Kings is very flawed, I don't think punishing the Kings was at all the intent.
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Bingo.
There was absolutely no incentive on any side to punish the Kings.
The NHL already supported them while the NHLPA doesn't like teams to be stuck with dead cap space. Logically, the union shouldn't care, since their share doesn't change either way, but the union has always preferred to get as much up front money as possible and hope the escrow doesn't hurt too badly. Dead space reduces that up front money. The NHLPA's real goal here was to get Richards as much money as it could.