As a fan, the most interesting question is 'does the high amount of NTCs and NMCs make the league less entertaining?'
I would say obviously yes. It doesn't just make it harder to build, rebuild and retool teams, it gives players disproportionate power over their coaches and even GMs. Combine that with guaranteed contracts and the players become untouchable, and there's no shortage of examples of how that leads to complacency.
I'm all for workers rights in general, but the situation in the NHL is crazy. Sure, a hockey player should have plenty of safety and insurance as they work in a dangerous and volatile profession, but the fat paycheck really should be most of that insurance. They should have earn all of it, every year, just like everyone else, or face the threat of being fired in the offseason.
The buyout system is currently way too generous to players. Every year the league is paying out tens of millions to hasbeens, money that could be spent on players actually worth their icetime.
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