Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
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That's what stings. I think Canadian clubs are at a disadvantage because
- More players don't want to play here
- You have to overpay to get them and keep them
- And I think the Canadian owners for the most part try to contend too fast and blow the re-builds.
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I would argue this is not just a Canadian problem, but a non-big American market thing.
I also don't agree that players don't necessarily want to play for Canadian clubs. Aside from maybe Winnipeg having to really overpay to convince players to come, and
maybe Edmonton, Canadian cities aren't unappealing to players. Especially since a fair number of players are Canadian. So it's not like the NBA or MLB where the Canadian factor is truly a thing to a foreign player.
What Canadian clubs issues are is your third part. Canadian teams have generally been terrible at building teams because they can't be patient enough to acquire and develop assets for several years to build a competing team. Since these teams don't necessarily look like strong contenders, or have the cap space to afford players that can push them into that tier, than alternative locations stand out more.
I guess I would concede that if a player is looking to choose to be at a location purely for money, but not to be on a contending team when they sign, then Canadian teams typically are unattractive then.