It’s a combo - having no term limits actually is better than max IMO .
This is what NBA found as well . Every player demands max if there is one
Remove any upper limit , and allow one free buyout every X years . Also player and team options like in baseball would probably help . Here’s a 8 year deal with a team option after 5 to pick up last 3 years or a buyout cost
NHL cap is the worse for flexibility and actually causes most of these issues. Small market teams are restricted in options to lock up players long term at great deals (like baseball has shifted too , great teams can’t keep their home grown players by going over the cap with a penalty/ tax (like NBA) , and contracts have no real outs (Like NFL - where players counter it with large signing bonuses and different cap calculations that allow team in contending mode to push out cap hits a bit during go for it years )
NHL cap if made for simplicity and because of that it is constant - and easily - abused
First it was backloading multiple no salary years to lower average cap hit , and now it’s LTIR abuse
They honestly need to think about a new cap structure all together in my opinion vs constantly band aiding this one
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