Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Yeah, there are some interesting dynamics at play.
It isn't a situation whereby the money is either going to the player, or staying with the organization. In that case, I agree that the player - ALL players - have to fight to get paid as much as they can.
But things are very different in the current NHL. It is a hard cap, and the amount of money that will go to the players is finite, and unchangeable. What that means is the more Marner gets paid, the less every other player makes.
By fighting for huge dollars, and pushing salaries up, Marner (and Tkachuk, and any top-tier star) are essentially taking money out of their team-mates pockets.
And not only that, but they are also making their team less competitive.
I am not saying they are wrong to try and get all they can - hell, that is the only sensible thing for them to do. And they have to assume that any of their team-mates would do the same thing. The problem is that, for the reasons listed above, it is self-defeating. And that's why I have a hard time supporting guys that are holding out for crazy money.
If I am Marner's team-mate, I am kind of pissed. Hard not to think that he is putting himself before the team.
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Teams have always had budgets though, hard cap or not. I understand the point you are making, but even in the 80's, if a player negotiated hard and got more money, most owners were still operating on a budget and would have to give less to someone else. Not that many teams of the 30 had what seemed like unlimited funds.
It's also no different than a regular persons job. You walk into your bosses office and ask for a raise, and you get it.........someone else isn't getting that money or a portion of it because most businesses have planned budgets for salary and or salary increases. The more you get, the less someone else gets. It's not really a unique thing to these hockey players, it's kind of just how a free market economy works.