(298 words)

The NHL's salary cap feels like a "one of a kind" concept compared to the other three major sports leagues in North America. With hockey's salary cap, everyone knows the rule: you can only spend up to it and you CANNOT go over, no matter what. With basketball, the luxury tax exists, preventing the most popular teams from signing all the talent and destroying the competitive balance of the league. Teams are obviously encouraged to spend to the cap to try and make their teams as competitive as possible, but with some teams it's unfortunately not that simple. Some teams can't afford to spend to the cap, leaving a lot of room for contending teams to dump old, bloated contracts on. Some teams also can't afford to spend to the cap due to a lack of willing ownership. The one league's salary structure that I would like to see implemented into the NHL is baseball's salary floor and soft cap. NHL owners already spend plenty of money to improve the product on the ice, so there wouldn't be a worry about teams like the Athletics/Pirates/Royals/Reds' owners being unwilling to spend. However, should a more competitive team like the Lightning/Avalanche/Oilers/Bruins try and spend more than the soft cap, then they should be hit with a cap penalty and gives the team less room to sign new players and extend existing players. There's a specific balance to all of the cap wizardry that goes on in the major sports leagues, and hockey's is unfortunately the smallest. Increasing the salary cap in the NHL to around $95-100 million USD would do wonders for talent in the league and give teams more room to breathe.