Right after the 05 lockout, which introduced the salary cap, Iggy re-signed for $7m per, after making $8m pre-cap. I love Iggy, but he took a higher % to the cap, $7m of $39m (17%), vs McBoner's $12.5m of $79m (15%). Jagr, Tkachuk, Lidstrom & Yashin (lol), took even higher percentages of the cap pie.
Previous to that lockout, there were many instances of star players making north of $10m per season.
Thus, the notion that a team wouldn't pay McIdiot $15m is unrealistic. Owners have clearly done it, in small markets, large markets, and both with and without salary caps.
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