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*WithTheMoose* · 01-23-2023, 10:40 PM

Pengu would love to add ice machines to the locker room. Just like the ones that are on the ice. As a penguin, Adelie always wants it as cold as possible and often it is far too hot in the locker room for a penguin to get comfortable. So he would start there as he spends much of his time there chatting with teammates. Then he would look into adding a pool to the fitness area of arena. They already have tons of state of the art weight machines and treadmills and the like, but swimming really works out more muscles than you realize. Pengu loves swimming and its his favorite way to stay in shape. Why run when you can get a full body workout in the water? He has long thought this was a failure of the team as a whole for not implementing this in their training regimen and finally he would be able to correct this and help his team get to the next level of conditioning.

***efischermann*** · 01-24-2023, 12:44 AM

Code:
HOCKEY PROMPT - This is a more broad hockey question that kind of relates to the idea of surpluses and budgets. Whatever, who cares, take it easy on me.  

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)

The salary cap is a necessary evil in all of sports. It is so important to be able to keep the playing field level. You look at a sport like baseball with the luxury tax, you have teams like the Yankees whose luxury tax is more than other teams’ entire payroll. That is just insane that we allow that to happen in professional sports. The issue with the NHL salary cap is there are too many ways to circumvent it. Teams are smart, and they will find every loophole they can to in order gain a competitive advantage. However, there is parity in the league, while maybe not at the top, but it is insane for teams like Tampa Bay and Colorado to remain at the top of the league as they have. It takes true genius to be able to maintain that level of skill in the salary cap era as Sakic and Yzerman (when he was in Tampa, now BriseBois) have.

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S61 Four Star Cup - Game-Winning Goal in the clinching Game 4

***Gwdjohnson*** · 01-24-2023, 12:49 AM

I think the NHL salary cap is definitely a good thing in principle, without it I am sure we would see parity get pretty bad in the league and some teams would get a massive edge. The influence of market, location, and team quality is already something that gives more sway to some teams than others, and that problem would only be worsened if there was no system to force a more level playing field sometimes. However, one flaw of the salary cap is the failure to recognize differences in the tax structure of each area a team plays in. This is a big reason why Canadian teams essentially operate at a disadvantage and are on so many players' no trade lists. If there was some way to regulate the cap differently so that no team gained a financial advantage based on what tax laws are in their area, the salary cap system would be great and work exactly as intended. It is still definitely a positive thing to have established as is, though. (174 words)

TheHammer43 · 01-24-2023, 12:56 AM

What upgrades and changes do you make to your team's locker room, lounge, fitness room, parking garage, whatever! Use your 3 million wisely in order to make the best facilities possible for your teammates. Are you upgrading to some fancy new future tech? Is there something old and rotten that you need to replace? Are you mad that your parking spot is too far from the ice surface? Talk about what you're changing and why! (150+ words)

The locker room in Kelowna doesn't need that much of a makeover, it's got everything a guy could want, a good fitness area, everyone has their own "cubby" and it's a peaceful environment. Maybe I would style things up a little bit. I'd spend my money on some newer workout equipment, some of the stuff we have now is a little outdated, I mean it still works great it just looks like it's from the eighties. And maybe the locker room could get a newer look as well, the Knights logo is getting a little weathered and the carpet is a bit tattered so there's some new idea right there but other than that, you don't mess with perfection! Maybe take the remainder of the cash and give it to the fans! Brand new parking garage across the street from the arena and maybe some comfier seats to park your ass in! Just to show them we appreciate everything they do for us!

***lore*** · 01-24-2023, 01:06 AM

Creative Prompt:

The Videotron Centre is still quite new as an arena, so I think I'd go for smaller changes that will also maximize impact. Since we are now surrounded by a wonderful nature-y park, I'd like to bring some of that inside for the players. An atrium above the fitness facilities would be amazing! As a massive introvert, I'd love nothing more than to be able to work out and run without having to go and be outside with icky humanity. And since we are already paying for one to get retrofitted, why not add another in the lounge? Sunlight alone comes at quite the premium, and it'll be a great mood lifter in the winter months. After that I'd buy enough fluffy blankets to fill a room for cozy purposes, hire on a master poutine-r to develop and provide some world class poutine to everyone in the organization, and probably throw in some gaming rigs for everyone to foster either a more competitive spirit or bring everyone closer together. Ideally both.

*Keven* · 01-24-2023, 04:17 AM

Hockey Prompt

The NHL salary cap is definitely a nice way to control the league and ensure that every team has a chance to be competitive, not just the teams with a larger budget. It's not perfect by any means, but it creates an environment where there isn't enough room for every star player to play together on a super team in the most desirable city to live. The NHL is exciting because of the roster gymnastics that have to be performed every offseason and the knowledge that any team can put up a roster that can more or less compete with any other team assuming the players are all paid according to their on-ice contributions. Teams still find ways to skirt around the cap at times and cause controversy among fans, but the amount of room for creative dodging with this system in place is far less than what it could be without the system. The highest salaries in the league also remain reasonable compared to other leagues due to the cap which probably feels better for the players too.

Salming · 01-24-2023, 06:48 AM

Hockey task:

Salary cap belongs to the NHL. It is the best thing in the world. Why? It keeps NHL relevant and interesting. There are more winner candidates than in any other major sports in the North America because salary cap forces teams to lose some good players sometimes and worse teams can pick those players. Without salary cap the play field would be narrower and more boring. Nobody wants to see it. Salary cap also gives media and fans something to speculate. Without salary cap same teams would be dominate in every season. European soccer is great example about that. Real and Barca rule in Spain. In the UK there are six big clubs. Money and paid salaries usually correlate with success. In the NHL every teams spends maximum of 82M for players and that way competition is in balance. Everyone can beat everyone. It is cool in the NHL. So yeah, don't even plan to remove cap of salaries or NHL loses many interest viewers after that.

JSS331 · 01-24-2023, 09:24 AM

Three million sounds like a lot of money but it really doesn't stretch that far when you are talking about making high end upgrades to our locker room area. First I would buy some massaging chairs to help the players recover after games. From there we would make sure that we had a solid pool table and ping pong table with a large TV area to relax. I would also make sure that our fitness room had the latest top notch gear to help our team get the best training possible and improve in every aspect of our game. After that, we would use what budget is left to improve the parking area to make sure it's climate controlled all of the way into the building so not only do our cars stay warm but so do we on our way in. It doesn't sound like much but that would go a long way in making sure every player on the team is happy and can play at their peak performance.

***Frenchie*** · 01-24-2023, 09:49 AM

First order of business : music. Everyone knows that there is no better way to hype the squad than to blast Carly Rae Jepsen, #TeamSwift or your choice of irish jams in the locker room. To fill this requirement, a Sonos sound system that will provide the bassiest bass and the highest of highs to tickle your ear drums is of order.

What else fires up the LR before a game? Birds. Specifically, Eottird. As such, it is Carolina tradition to pay homage to their beloved mythical mascot, and what better way than to make it the center piece on the floor, the holy grail of respect and an everlasting tribute to Carolina’s heritage and legends.

To round out what is already shaping up as a 10 out of 10 locker room, we’ll have the best stalls money can buy, a few jacuzzis, cold tubs, massage chairs, a Carolina BBQ stand, ambient lighting and a free supply of the best energy drinks money can buy.

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WildfireMicro · 01-24-2023, 10:12 AM

ISFL Affiliate PT

***bluesfan55*** · 01-24-2023, 10:52 AM

oh golly gee wiz! the simulation major junior hockey league gave me three million dollars to upgrade the anchorage armada locker room! wowee! first off, i would totally make sure that our dirty ass stalls in the main locker room would get replaced with some newer, high tech stuff. they'd come prepped with anti-stink technology, be fitted with cushions on the bottom so we wouldn't have to sit on some hard-ass wood to get changed, and each stall would also have a curtain if anybody wanted to get changed privately. i would also make sure we had some bomb-ass tvs in the locker room so we could keep up with the rest of the league and know what our playoff situation would be as well as making fun of teams getting their asses kicked, and buy consoles so we could relax by playing games in the locker room. it would be elite as fuck.

creative prompt, 159 words

ty to @High Stick King @EvilAllBran and @Ragnar for the sigs

DarkCanuck29 · 01-24-2023, 12:04 PM

Personally, I love the salary cap. I feel the league has benefited from the fact it has not changed over the past few seasons. The salary cap rewards the teams that are smart and efficient with their contracts and punishes the stupid teams. I am a Canucks fan and watching them absolutely smash the loopholes in the CBA over a decade ago was amazing and fun to watch. Watching them completely fail to understand the salary cap and how to use it to their benefit in the past ten years has also been its own type of interesting and fun to watch. Realizing that a group of regular guys on a message board could run a team better than these so called "hockey guys" is hilarious and also so so so frustrating. But yes, ultimately, the salary cap is a great thing and I would not make changes other than maybe suggesting the cap not rise every year. Maybe every five years or something like that.

Winnipeg Aurora Aurora

***ValorX77*** · 01-24-2023, 12:26 PM

Creative Prompt-

The New Orleans Specters training facilities have not been renovated since S58. However, Videl Valor has pledged 3 million dollars to upgrade the facility, the first of which is a complete overhaul of the locker room, complete with purple and black neon lighting, to enhance the "spooky" effect in the locker room. The next upgrades are coming to the lounge, where instead of local foods, an international buffet is added to the facility, complete with gourmet chefs, and every fine wine from every corner. The next thing that Videl does with that money is adding a beer garden to the the specters arena, good enough to drink the fans frustration away. The final thing that Videl does with that money is completely remodel the parking lot at the practice facility, due to the fact that most of the players do not like the long walk to the facility and then walking back to their cars.

(155 words)

***Rankle*** · 01-24-2023, 01:34 PM

I think the salary cap in the NHL is a great thing. It helps to keep the big market teams from just outspending the little teams and always winning. It helps to cultivate a following in untraditional hockey markets by allowing them to compete with established teams. The only thing I think leads to funny business is the concept of the LTIR cap relief and how players can essentially be retired on LTIR and still use their salaries as cap relief for teams who want to spend some extra cash. I dont fully grasp how it works but I grasp it enough to know that it's some definite funny business. I think that my only real issue with the cap is that it's not high enough and that hockey players should probably get paid more for putting their bodies on the line every single night in one of the most punishing and physically demanding sports there is.

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Chomp Chomp Water Dog Barracuda

Scarecrow Noises Scarecrows

Froste39 · 01-24-2023, 01:43 PM

Quote: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)

My answer will not be about the actual bugdet cap as I have not much experience telling if 3 M is much or not enough. As an european I am more intrigued by the concept of a salary cap in itself. You see in my country soccer is by far the most popular sport and it does not have any salary cap whatsoever.
However this is also true for over sports since Europe lacks the College system and drafting that North America has going for them. I think the idea of a salary cap is very intriguing and healthy for a competitive scene. Pointing back at soccer, this sport became so terribly predictable: Money wins games.
While this is not always the case (see PSG) the German Bundesliga is being dominated by Bayern Munich, the team with the biggest budget. To be fair, it also took good management decisions to reach the high point Munich is at for decade now, but they would have probably been dethroned already if some sheikh bought Dortmund and started pumping billions into it. This is also why over the years I completely stopped watching soccer and other german sports, except lower level hockey.

I fully transitioned to watching NHL/NFL and go over many lenghts to be able to watch it (pricing/unfortunate game times), because it is just so much more fun. Every season is a new kind of exciting. A trash tier team drafts a guy like Joe Burrow or Tim Stützle and suddenly look promising. Teams hae holes in their roster and they actually have to solve the problem by thinking strategically and not throwing money at it. Dynasties happen (Patriots for example) but they exist, because you got generational talent or coaching instead of wealth. A salary cap keeps all of this in check and allows a fair chance for everyone to hoist the cup.

I know this system cannot be implemented in Europe for the mentioned reasons, but damn I wish it could be.

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