Bet you saw this coming....

[Canadiens2099]

If a team is better at attracting higher quality free agents, the higher salary cap helps them, no?

[rataylor22]

I don't see how that can be true. You have the exact same set of restrictions and challenges - only everything is scaled up slightly. It's still a matter of what % of your cap you can allocate to each player, is it not?

The only thing a cap raise seems to do is put more money in the players pockets. Not the end of the world, but they really don't need it. There's no need to try to keep up to the ludicrous salaries found in other sports.

I also don't subscribe to the common belief that growth is always good, and I'm perfectly fine with the NHL being a little guy in the sports world. I guess that's a discussion for another day though.

Tampa for example. Built their team the proper way. Can't keep that team together because of the cap.

[Canadiens2099]

I see both sides here. The trouble from the management side is that players/agents see the cap creep up and the inflate their own value just a bit more. That 4th liner wants that extra 250k, the 3rd liner another 500k etc

[forumname]

I see what you're saying, but having more money doesn't mean anything if the prices of everything go up proportionally. It's still a matter of what % of the pot goes to each player.

[Mr. Guru]

If the cap goes up, the salaries go up which means the ticket prices and concessions prices go up.

[ericdaoust]

For fantasy leagues with a salary cap things become a mess if the cap doesn't continue to rise. Speaking from experience here.

As a fan I agree it would be nice to see all prices kept under control.

[olafson1393]

Reminds me of a clown suit for some reason...

Not sure if anyone is on my side with this - it might just be a subconscious thing that I'm just bringing to light for myself now, but I look at European Hockey jerseys and think what the hell is that. Every time I see the Adecco logo on Auston Matthews forehead I think of the company that paid me $22 and hour and charged me out for $95 out of school. I digress. There's something, either unfamiliar, or simply unattractive that turns most of us North Americans away from that style of hockey jersey. Now a few of you may see where I'm going with this, specifying hockey jersey. Now flip that around to another extremely popular European sport that advertises on their jersey- Soccer, or football or whatever you want to call it. I know we don't buy a whole lot of soccer jerseys over here, they do sprout up every now and then, but all over Europe they're an absolute rage. I don't know if its a certain marketing technique, design or simply just Euro taste, but something about those jerseys sells over there, and something about them seems a lot more well put together than their hockey jerseys to me as well - Less clown suit-esque if you will..

[newfcollins]

One aspect will be how willing are fans to buy jerseys with ads on them. The Yahoo article I linked to earlier said you could buy the 76ers jersey without the ad on them nationwide, but in those sold in Philadelphia had to have the ad on them.

Wondering how much the market for knock-offs would increase if fans wanted the jerseys without the ads.

[ericdaoust]

It won't be long before everyone is numb to the ads. I doubt it makes a difference.

[Instant Karma]

It's lame. I'm tired of hearing the rationales for every new cash-grab that comes along.

I won't buy an EPL jersey because the things are basically a billboard. They should be paying me to wear it instead of the other way around.

Then when they go and sign up different sponsor your kit is now dated and obsolete. No thanks.