Two major announcements revealed by Gary Bettman during the NHL State of the Union
Photo credit: Kirby Lee - USA Today Sports
A recent Q and A session with Pierre LeBrun revealed NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly making two important announcements with Commissioner Gary Bettman regarding the issue of long-term injury reserve usage and whether the NHL will incorporate state taxes into the new CBA talks.
These two issues have been hot button topics for the past couple of years as teams have used these loopholes to gain advantages in acquiring players and circumventing the salary cap.
Daly states long term injury reserve in CBA negotiations
Both Daly and former NHL player now NHLPA representative Ron Hainsey explained to LeBrun that the NHL and the players union are working on a solution and a mechanism that will help remove this unfair advantage that many teams have used to acquire players while resting others to circumvent the cap.
Several teams including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights have used these tactics where a player who was deemed injured would remain injured for the entire season and then would be available for the playoffs while they used the salary cap relief to acquire more talent.
Some have made the argument that every NHL team has this advantage and it's up to the teams to use it but this seems to not be the case as several owners are not interested and using this route and some are in fact trying to cut costs rather than add them.
The Oilers also were in organization that used this tactic this year as forward Evander Kane was out for the entire year and then was available for the playoffs even though he hadn't played one game all season.
It remains to be seen on what this mechanism will be but it will likely level the playing by taking this advantage away for the rich teams.
Daly addressed the no state tax issue during interview
Daly also revealed at the NHL will not be discussing the extremely sensitive issue regarding American taxes and states that do not have any income tax which has been viewed as an advantage for certain teams including the Florida Panthers.
He explained that there will be no discussions or any changes to the new collective bargaining agreement that will help remove this advantage.
Many theories have been flying around the Internet on whether is this an issue or something of a misnomer.
It's clear that the NHL feels there is no issue to deal with and that NHL teams who choose offer certain contracts or to do it as they see fit providing that they stay within the guidelines of the salary cap.
It's safe to say this discussion will not go away even though the league has basically closed the door on the idea of investigating this issue.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 5 | 827 ANSWERS Two major announcements revealed by Gary Bettman during the NHL State of the Union Do you think there is an unfair advantage to certain NHL teams with some American states not having state income tax? | ||
| Yes | 761 | 92 % |
| No | 66 | 8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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