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Originally Posted by Beatle17
Any CBA negotiation with Donald Fehr on one side will ensure a lockout. After he lied to baseball and the players walked before the playoffs made sure that no ownership group will ever trust him again.
I know the players continually talk about escrow but it is part and parcel of the hard salary cap, which they should all have known before they signed (poor communication by their own union). They are guaranteed 50% of HRR that is based off the forecasted amount before the season. If more teams than less pay to the cap then the players are eating up more than their 50%.
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There are ways to reduce/eliminate escrow if the players are that chuffed about it. It wont result in any more cash for the players, but if say the current 'mid point' were set as the cap (which is where escrow kicks in while the majority of teams spend near the ceiling) then players would likely be receiving an additional cheque when all the accounting is done. ie: Instead of signing for 7m and receiving 6.75m one would sign for 6.5 and receive 6.75. They won't be signing the same large dollar contracts, but the money will be the same. Another way is to align next years cap to the previous years HRR. This means that the accounting is pretty much always a year behind and that owners may suffer slightly if there is a dip in the HRR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadowlord
The lockout of 2005 resulted in the salary cap, which has made it possible for the Flames to put together a somewhat competitive team without having to compete with sky-high budgets like New York Rangers or Toronto.
The Flames owners seem to willing to spend to nearly the cap every year since, but they seemed more budget-minded when there wasn't a cap.
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I think that for the owners its a lot more palatable to spend to a fixed cap to stay competitive than it is to enter into an unlimited auction for talented UFAs. If small markets started bidding pre-2004 it would just drive the costs up for everyone, with little to show for it.