Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
You think Calgary is the only team that would offer him 3 years and $8M?
You are only expressing this opinion because of where Calgary is in its cycle. They would still need to pay a premium to attract players. And long term, that's the kiss of death.
Buying elite talent is never the long term answer. Developing elite talent is.
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What I am saying is that the combination of a hard cap on what rookies can make and UFA status after 7 years of service is what really screws the Flames. They cannot do anything other than suck to get elite talent and once the elite talent is in the prime of their career they can leave for another city if they want. And players can just refuse to report in certain circumstances because they make the same amount of money for the first 3 years wherever they go as long as they are in the league.
A world where players entering could sign wherever and for whatever amount of money combined with a world where they reach UFA after 7 years and all of that under a hard cap would be the ideal situation for a small market team. If the rookies cost more the UFAs would cost less. Teams would probably have to pick one or the other to unload their money on because they would not be able to do both.
You would not be buying elite talent, you would still be developing it. In the bottom of your cycle you would have the ability to buy a lot more elite talent more quickly, significantly shortening your rebuild cycle.
It does not matter because it will never happen but the draft combined with the ability to leave by the age of 25 is what really screws small market teams imo.