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*Zerg* · 01-24-2023, 02:21 PM

Creative prompt:

Grzegorz isn't going to complain about the three million limit; it's more money than he's ever seen in his life. It will all go into the weight room. A locker room is there to store your gear and sit in, who gives a shit how good the carpeting is and whether you have a widescreen TV on the ceiling. The arena is plenty good enough for the fans already, especially after last week's improvements. What we need here is a real gym. Better gear, a bigger space, a new mirror wall, and maybe an additional strength coach or two. More skating training always helps too, so anything we might need to do to improve the practice ice surface or get more time on it is also a high priority. Top of the line strength training gear is the most important thing to add with this three million. The fans can look forward to a rougher, tougher team!

[161 words]

Lazyeye · 01-24-2023, 03:47 PM

Kelowna, while being a nice arena overall, is definitely in need for some upgrades, especially for the team experience. With 3 million dollars I would focus on renovating the locker room. Installing new stalls, more open layouts, a smart board for coaching and a brand new ceiling logo. Additionally, outside of the locker room, the knights could use a new gym for the team to workout in the off-season or off days. I would install 3-4 squat racks with deadlift platforms, a plyometrics area with turf, sleds, and a traditional weight sets with barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells. This would take up most of the money, but any remaining can be used for the lounging area. A new TV, stereo system, bubble hockey table and a pool table. A renovated kitchen would allow players to create healthy snacks and meals to improve their game. All these renovations would help recruitment to Kelowna which is extremely important during this rebuild.

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*FaraDian* · 01-24-2023, 04:31 PM

Hockey prompt: over the past couple seasons, I've been learning more about NHL contract structure and the cap, which is actually fascinating even though I hate financial stuff generally. I think there's healthy debate to be had about how the cap is set, since the league's revenue is so weird, especially with their poor broadcast structure (especially their dismal usage of streaming). But the concept itself is strong, with the right goal of keeping small market teams viable (I wish this mention Quebec City instead of Arizona, but I digress).

Soccer has long demonstrated what an open or loose cap leads to, and it's only sustainable because of the extreme history and passion keeping smaller teams alive. The NHL could never function this way without severely reducing the league size, and maybe not even then. Working with (*exploiting*) the cap will continue to evolve and hopefully the league continues to adapt (how many more 8x8 contracts are we about to see?), for long-term financial viability and stability.

*mystick* · 01-24-2023, 04:37 PM

I think the idea of the salary cap is good. Creates more parity for the league, more competitiveness, all good things. My gripe with it right now is since it has not gone up in a few years, teams are fully locked in with no where to go. You know what fans hate? Losing their stars for nothing in free agency because you didn't have cap space. Two bad contracts on your roster essentially ends your team for 8 years. Fans love trades, but you can't make any because no one has space to do it. No one can load up for a playoff run because every trade has to be money in equal money out. Players aren't valued at playing anymore, its all value vs contract which is really tough. I think buyouts should be less penalizing. Like pretty much no cap penalty. You still have to pay the player, and he can sign elsewhere, but why cripple a team for 8+ years because of it. You realistically can't plan that far into the future. I also believe there should be some sort of 'home town' discount. After playing for a team for 5 years or something you get 10% off the cap hit.
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Matteo · 01-24-2023, 04:45 PM

Hockey prompt:

Overall I'm a fan of the salary cap, it's definitely not perfect and there are ways it could be improved but I wouldn't be upset if this is how it stays. The biggest argument for the hard cap in the NHL is to compare it with the soft cap of the NBA. The biggest reason why the cap is great is it creates parity. The NBA is uninteresting to me because it seems like there are always a couple of cities that dominate the rest of the league for awhile. Going back to 2006 in the NBA, the time of the NHL lockout, there has been one team who made the finals for three consecutive seasons, two teams who made the finals for four consecutive seasons, and one team who made the finals in five consecutive seasons. In the NHL the 2020-2022 Tampa Bay Lightning are the first and only team to make the finals in three consecutive seasons since 2006.

tomtommen · 01-24-2023, 05:08 PM

Written Task: What is your opinion on the NHL salary cap? Is it great? Bad? Needs improvement? Tell me why. Is there another league that has a cap structure you like more? Do you have a compelling argument for removing it all together? Would allowing teams that could afford to spend extra money on players be too unfair in this day and age? What do you think? (150+ words)

Under the NHL's salary cap, teams have to make difficult choices regarding who to keep and who to let go. This is because players are the main contributors to any sports club or team. However, star players will never accept a reduced salary if a club does not have enough cap space. This is why many high-profile stars end up leaving clubs with space for more money. Fortunately, lower-tier players are willing to accept less money if a club cannot offer more security. As a result, teams can afford star players even when they do not have enough space for stars-in-training.
The NHL cap is a tough system that forces teams to make tough decisions regarding player personnel. Even when clubs remain under the cap, they can still make trades to improve their position. However, this system is far from perfect and becomes less effective as team performance decreases below league average levels. Hopefully, improvements made by recent rule changes will lead to increased parity and competitive parity between clubs within the NHL in the future.

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.Laser · 01-24-2023, 05:10 PM

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***yosh*** · 01-24-2023, 06:43 PM

Answering for the Creative Prompt

Well, Vaseline Podcalzone would have to think about what are the most desirable things that his coaches and teammates would want. The first thing that he would do, and it would go a long way, is to upgrade the details of the locker room. I mean, it’s not archaic in terms of its age. In fact, Climate Pledge Arena is easily of the newer arenas of the Simulation Hockey League. However, it’s not like some more fine tuning would not be welcomed in by the players by any means. Really, it’s just the tinier details that could use some adjustment. Improving the quality of the player stalls, installing some brighter, LED lighting. In terms of player development, Podz would also strive for improved video analysis. An entire part of the training facility should be solely dedicated towards video coaching, with big, wide screen TVs. Let’s be honest though, that part is more for the players, so they can play some split screen CHEL in their spare time.

Hoovuh · 01-24-2023, 08:27 PM

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adamantium · 01-24-2023, 09:10 PM

Code:
Creative Prompt: 184 words

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Three milli is a lot of money, but if Benny's good at anything, it's continuing to be mildly wasteful at all given spending limits. For starters, gotta get a proper pizza place in the stadium. Three million gives him a lot of wiggle room to convince the owner of his favorite pizza spot back home to move out west and set up shop in the stadium permanently. After that, gotta make sure all of the weight room equipment is top of the line, and that shit for sure isn't cheap--places are charging crazy money by the pound for plates and it's on Fiorentini's wish list to see Kahnwald bench 405 before he retires. The parking could use an upgrade, sure, but what he'd really like is a little cart he can drive around the stadium on before the game, so he'll be investing in a little electric cart that he and Wags can burn around on during their down time. We gotta be getting close to the end of that bank account right, so... let's throw in another sauna and call it a day.

sigs by me bitch

***CapnCooper*** · 01-24-2023, 10:54 PM

As La Salle Arena is a fairly new arena, with it came lots of new equipment and amenities requested from the players. With Three Million dollars to spare, Boots has decided to take to the other staff and see what they need. Equipment managers are often left out and need certain things to keep the team going. Boots checks with them to see what they need to make their job easier. Giving them a bigger budget to purchase gear needed for the team, better tools for maintaining gear they already have, giving them better options and equipment to repair, modify or provide during games like when skate blades break or when sticks shatter and even better laundry equipment to help with the teams jerseys and gloves, better methods of drying if possible and anything they're able to come up with. Anything leftover would go to other staff and volunteers in the building like skates for the ones clearing snow off the ice and better tools for the staff running concessions in the stand and also anyone out in with the fans, helping people to their seats.

MrPrime · 01-25-2023, 12:46 AM

Hocey Prompt.
When I look at other leagues and some of them have virtually no salary cap at all and give monster contracts to players ( I'm looking at you baseball and soccer! ) I turn back to my precious and favorite sport which is hockey and I think we're doing okay with the way things are right now. I mean I would find it ludicrous to give say McDavid or Matthews the kind of money a Judge or Ronaldo makes but that is because I'm used to the 'low budget' the NHL has compared to other leagues. A small increase ( or decrease ) based on how the economy is going works just fine with the NHL which in my book has the best salary structure of all other leagues because of how low it is. This is my opinion but I feel that if players want to get paid more they oughta get sponsors otherwise they should be happy with what they can get under the salary cap. I always cringe when I see big money contracts being given ( I'm talking 10M$ and over ) because I feel like it's too much. Not because a player doesn't deserve it mind you, it's the other way around I feel like the other leagues are paying their players too much, especially for leagues where the players play only once or twice a week like soccer.

*Katth* · 01-25-2023, 08:24 AM

What to do with 3 million Dollars? I know a few things for upgrading our dressing room and player area.

1. Craft beer bar
I will first start by building our own craft beer bar within the player area, so we can enjoy a nice and cold IPA when we've finished a game or practice or in between periods if I'm going to be brutally honest. Besides some nice fresh IPA, we'll have several other craft beer styles on tap for all to ejoy.

2. Slot machines & poker table
In the same player area we'll have a nice corner with a few slot machines and a poker table to gamble away our hard earned cash (which is way too low to beging with @CampinKiller). Also @NJBadApple is a real bad poker player, so pretty much everyone wins except him.

3. Chapel
In our opponents dressing room I'm gonna build a small little chapel, so they can pray for a good game, because they'll need it.

S50 Challenge Cup Finals Game 7
[Image: gNFVjT6.png]

Urq660 · 01-25-2023, 08:51 AM

Hockey Prompt:

As a Brit, the salary cap was an alien concept to me when I was getting into American football and hockey. It seemed almost archaic in a way, can teams not be trusted to spend wisely enough? But as I got more invested in both sports, I realised that the salary cap is one of my favourite things about them. I will explain why!

British football, okay English, there’s no money up here if you’re not one half of Scotlands Shame™, is one of the worst examples of what happens when you have free reign on what you can pay your players. You end up with perpetual cycles of the same handful of teams competing to win the league, year on year, for decades. Since they have the financial muscle, they poach the good players from less affluent teams, weakening any opposition, sometimes with no intention of playing the player, just so they’re not improving that small upstart team. In fact, Scotland is one of the worst leagues for this, with the ugly sisters of Scottish football sweeping up the top players from elsewhere and leaving them languishing in the reserves. I’d love to see a salary cap employed in football (no, I won’t call it soccer), the MLS does an interesting job with it, but it appears a bit easy to circumvent. And unfortunately, football is too far lost to financial excess to ever have any interest in scaling things back a bit.

Fluw · 01-25-2023, 09:37 AM

The NHL salary cap I feel is needed to balance out the league as there is lower earning teams, would be consigned to be forever terrible as they would not be able to maintain talent, or pay large contracts. I believe it adds a different element to the game of maintaining a solid budget, and trying to build a team within the limitations provided to you. It’s basically like a set of challenges put forth and makes the cup that much more impressive when you can put together a team under specific limitations, rather than just outright buying the best players in the sport and running a dynasty.

Basically, no salary cap, if a team is managed correctly, theoretically could see the richest teams in the league dishing out big sums of money to sign talent, where as the poorer teams being left with the leftovers. This would theoretically see the richer teams being more competitive than the poorer teams.

No system however is perfect, however I do not have any suggestions on how to improve it at this time, I have not been following the NHL for 2 seasons now, so I am a bit out of the loop.

(200 words)

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