This is a very interesting point. Only two teams in NHL history surpassed $70 million in payroll - the 03/04 Red Wings and Rangers. Philly and Toronto have been perennial top-spenders, but Boston has been a mid-market spender, while Chicago has usually been on the low end. Chicago has only been profitable for a couple years, and they shed a lot of salary going into last year that they didn't need to to stay under the cap (Brian Campbell). Boston also stayed well under the cap. Calgary has slim profit margins, particularly with no playoff revenue.dbr wrote:Lots of teams are able to do it - add Montreal, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, then there are Calgary and Los Angeles and Washington who all spent within $2m of the cap this season.. that's still omitting San Jose, St. Louis and Dallas both have new ownership, Nashville have opened up the vault over the last year or so, Tampa is a small market but have shown a willingness to spend money (their owner is spending tens of millions out of his own pocket to upgrade the arena this offseason)...Diehard1 wrote:To a certain point I agree - but how many teams will be able to spend to the cap? Toronto, Vancouver, the Rangers, Philly, maybe Boston - my point is there aren't nearly as many teams that will go over $70 million.
I think the list of teams willing to go beyond $70 million is very short.