Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
The idea of an exemption for a franchise player is completely counter-productive to the goal of parity. Your franchise is fortunate enough to get a great player, and then you're allowed to have that player not count against the cap? Ridiculous.
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Fortunate? The proposed idea rewards teams for drafting well. If your scouting/drafting/development staff does the work, takes the risk and if it pans out, the team should absolutely be rewarded for it. IE The Flames hit a home run and draft Gaudreau in the 4th round and can then be rewarded by not having that players cap count - they 100% deserve it.
This incentivizes draft capital and player development over free agency, which I think would net out to being deflationary to player salaries. Both of these things IMPROVES parity by having more star players stick with their drafting team and not leave via UFA.
In theory, this idea isn't dissimilar from the UFA 8yr / 7yr contract length issue. They are both incentivizing the player to stay with their drafted team and not go to market.
Had this been around the last few years, you put the franchise tag on Gaudreau and pay him his $11M and use that cap savings to sign Tkachuk to a massive deal. This allows a small market team to be highly competitive for another 5-8 years. Everyone involved - Bettman, Edwards, Tre, Gaudreau, Tkachuk, agents, the Flames roster, fans all benefit from this one rule change. I'm all for it.