NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 13, 2024

by | Sep 13, 2024 | News, NHL | 23 comments

More concern about the league’s “no-tax” states, the Lightning’s Victor Hedman talks about Steven Stamkos’ departure, the latest on Jonathan Marchessault leaving Las Vegas, an update on Luke Hughes, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

THE ATHLETIC: Michael Russo reports NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the league continues to monitor the issue of teams in “no-tax” states having an advantage over other clubs who must pay more to sign players. However, he indicated there are no easy solutions, pointing out that players make decisions on where to play for a variety of reasons.

Daly said Thursday that it’s still too early to determine if this is an issue to be addressed. He added that he’s spoken to the NHL Players Association about the matter and the mutual feeling is that addressing it would prove complicated.

If the league adjusted the salary cap for no-tax teams, it raises questions about what happens to a player who subsequently gets traded or demoted to the minors. It would also be difficult to determine how much of a “hometown discount” a player took to sign with one of those clubs.

NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh doesn’t see this situation as much of a problem, agreeing with Daly that it would be complicated to address. He also noted that there hasn’t been a similar debate about this issue in other sports leagues.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: This became an issue because the Florida Panthers, once a league laughingstock, won the Stanley Cup this year.

Last season, folks were complaining about the Vegas Golden Knights using long-term injury reserve to their advantage to win the Stanley Cup, even though every team in the league has the same opportunity to avail themselves of LTIR (and have done so) in similar circumstances. The same complaint was raised about the Lightning in 2021.

By the way, the Lightning and Golden Knights also play in no-tax states. Scarcely a peep was raised about that.

The Panthers, Lightning, Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators have been around for decades. Their supposed advantage was never an issue when they spent years as also-rans or first-round-and-out clubs. Once they become champions or contenders, suddenly, it’s a problem. Heck, no one mentioned it when the Stars won the Cup in 1999 and the Predators reached the 2017 Cup Final.

The Golden Knights have been a perennial playoff club since their inception, in part because they fleeced several teams with savvy trades to land quality players before their expansion draft.

The Seattle Kraken haven’t been as successful in their brief history as their non-tax peers. Nevertheless, it’s only a matter of time until someone starts attributing any of the Kraken’s future achievements to playing in a no-tax state.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (NHL Images).

Good management is the real reason behind the varying degrees of success most of those clubs have enjoyed.

SPORTSNET: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said his team will miss former captain Steven Stamkos, who signed with the Nashville Predators this summer. Hedman also said he’ll miss Stamkos more as a friend.

Hedman praised Stamkos’ legacy with the Lightning, which includes leading the club to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. He also said there will be plenty of focus on how the Bolts handle the departure of their long-time captain.

The 33-year-old defenseman is also considered Stamkos’ likely successor as team captain. “We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to that” he said.

THE SCORE: Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon explained his reluctance to sign Jonathan Marchessault to a five-year contract was why the 33-year-old winger departed to Nashville as a free agent.

We emotionally are attached to the players that have helped us have success, and yet there’s just no supporting data that justify, or in our minds, demonstrate a reason to have wingers that age like that at the end of their career.”

SPECTOR’S NOTE: This comes within a couple of days of Marchessault saying his departure was over the length of a contract extension, suggesting the Golden Knights lack loyalty to their players in pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: Devils defenseman Luke Hughes suffered a left shoulder injury during offseason training. His expected recovery timeline is six to eight weeks.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Injuries were a key reason why the Devils missed the playoffs last season. Hughes was among the few highlights in a disappointing 2023-24 campaign, finishing third among rookie scorers with 47 points. They will feel his absence during the opening weeks of this season.

NEW YORK POST: The Islanders claiming Ilya Sorokin’s absence from an informal veterans skate on Thursday has nothing to do with an off-ice issue. Last week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman speculated was “battling something” but didn’t elaborate.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Isles signed veteran goalie Keith Kinkaid to a professional tryout offer (PTO) yesterday, raising more questions about Sorokin’s status as training camp approaches.

SPORTSNET: Calgary Flames goaltender Dan Vladar said he’s pain-free following season-ending hip surgery in March. He intends to challenge the promising Dustin Wolf for the vacant starter’s job.

CALGARY SUN: Speaking of the Flames, they signed forward Jakob Pelletier to a one-year, two-way contract worth $800K at the NHL level.

TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs prospect Ben Danford left a rookie scrimmage yesterday after suffering a head injury when he was knocked head-first into the boards. He was being evaluated but there was no further word about his condition.

THE NEWS & OBSERVER: A new naming rights agreement has changed the name of the Carolina Hurricanes’ home venue from PNC Arena to the Lenovo Center.

THE HOCKEY NEWS: Former San Jose Sharks goaltender Alex Stalock has retired and will begin a career in broadcasting with the Sharks Audio Network.

Stalock, 37, played 179 games in the NHL, 63 with the Sharks from 2010-11 to 2015-16 and 2021-22. He also played with the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks. He finished with a record of 70 wins, 65 losses and 20 overtime losses, with a 2.70 goals-against average, a save percentage of .908, and 11 shutouts.

THE PROVINCE: Former NHL winger Stephen Peat passed away on Sep. 12 from injuries suffered when he was struck by a car over two weeks ago in Langley, BC. He was 44 years old.

Peat played 130 NHL games with the Washington Capitals from 2001-02 to 2005-06, amassing 10 points and 234 penalty minutes as an enforcer. He struggled with addiction and homelessness following his playing career.

His friends believe those issues were the result of CTE suffered during his playing career, but that can only be confirmed by posthumous examination of the brain.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Peat’s family, friends, former teammates and coaches.







23 Comments

  1. Re “ Good management is the real reason behind the varying degrees of success most of those clubs have enjoyed.”

    I agree with that statement; however one of the positive contributors to good management is the ability to attract good talent and to negotiate reasonable contracts for them (to fit into the cap), and zero state tax definitely helps with that.

    It just seems that many of the contracts for the upper tier players of these no state tax teams are for less than these players would get in high tax franchises and often the contract include NTCs and NMCs.

    Also it’s hard to think of any NHLer who has a partial NTC that has on their list a blocking of a trade to the Stars, Smashville, Bolts, Panthers, Krakken or Knights

    The zero state tax certainly is not the be all and end all re building championship teams (as pointed out the mediocrity of Panthers for years and so far nothing from Krakken); but it IS a contributing factor.

    • There was a time, in the not too distant past, when teams didn’t want to be traded to the Panthers. They were a laughingstock for decades.

      • Hockey in Florida was a laughing stock for decades. And it was tax free the whole time.

        Sure being in a tax free state is a selling point, but I don’t believe it’s among the top factors deciding where free agents go.

        If that was the case, all the tax free states would be perennial Cup contenders with loaded rosters.

      • Bingo!

      • For whatever it’s worth in this debate … which is destined to go on forever simply because any “formula” to even the playing field is far too complicated to iron out … these quotes come from the CTV News blurb on the matter

        https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/nhl-free-agency-shows-teams-in-u-s-states-with-no-income-tax-have-an-advantage-1.6948684

        “Nashville, Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Vegas and Seattle — the six teams in the 32-team NHL in states with no income tax — combined to spend nearly a quarter of the $1 billion-plus in salaries committed Monday when free agency opened”

        and

        “Pogroszewski, the founder, president and CEO of AFP Consulting LLC, which specializes in the tax preparation and consulting for pro athletes, said he and his colleagues have debated for years how much of a factor financial matters such as these should play in free agent decisions. Pogroszewski said the New York Rangers or Islanders would need to offer a contract exceeding $88 million to net the same amount as Reinhart’s $69 million contract with the Panthers.”

      • No challenge whatsoever on that assertion Lyle

        The key point I’m making is that No State Tax DOES benefit in attracting players and for signing players to contracts at less than they can elsewhere

        Does that fact/advantage alone build them a cup. Absolutely not.

        Just simply, There is an advantage for those teams.

        The specific amount to which this creates an advantage is unquantifiable.

        Many factors go into building championship teams. Many.

        The no-tax teams do have an advantage. That’s all I’m saying.

      • Yes, many factors go into building a champion. Smart management being the most crucial. As Daly also noted, other states/provinces that aren’t “no-tax” have other factors that make them enticing.

        This whole issue started because the Panthers, a long-time league laughingstock, won the Cup. Somebody got upset and started crying fowl about “no-tax states” having an unfair advantage and some in the media (especially in Canada) ran with it. A year ago, they were crying about LTIR. What next, the Avs had an unfair advantage in their Cup wins because of altitude? 😉

      • 2 things can be true at the same time.

        Is being able to pay players less to play for you an advantage? Of course it is, there is a salary cap. It allows you to add depth if your top 4 guys are paid $1M – $1.5M, or more less. Simple arithmetic.

        The question is, can management use it to their advantage. If your team sucks, UFA’s aren’t lining up to play for you. If your team is competitive, yes they will. It also allows you to keep your own guys who you may lose when you start to have success. Other teams want them.

        So does having depth, a good 3rd line vs mediocre one help in 4 rounds of playoffs? How about that 4th D-man that sees 20 minutes a night for 4 rounds? If DAL can afford to add him, or keep him, and VCR can’t. That matters, it has too.

        But you gotta be good, or it’s moot. Example is the Oil , their entire 3rd line from last years playoffs signed for less on the open market. But if the Oil could have kept Draisaitl for $1.5M less, same for McDavid & Bouchard next summer, they could keep more of them next year and the years that follow. How about Holloway? Can they match if Nurse makes $1.5M less?

        We will never know what the difference would be, and the Oil could win this season. But it has an impact, it simply has to.

        How you do it or fix it? I have no idea, way too many what ifs, which means it likely won’t happen. And the NHLPA will never willingly agree to it.

    • “however one of the positive contributors to good management is the ability to attract good talent and to negotiate reasonable contracts”

      So how you explain the decade where that did not happen within the SAME states?

    • Sure it might help, but the weather also helps. So does the city, closeness to family. There are lots of factors at play.

    • Very valid points. Tampa won the cup $18mill over the cap – that’s a 25% advantage over every other team. This option is only available to teams that have the opportunity to place a player on LTIR. So let’s hope our team’s start player gets injured just enough to go on LTIR until the playoffs, load up over the cap, and the Cup is ours.

      One way to fix this, never let teams dress a line-up over the cap for any game. This makes teams sit the players that they loaded up on.

      The fix for the zero tax State issue is pretty easy to solve. Make the cap based on Net AAV after taxes when the contract is signed. That AAV stays will the contract when it’s traded, etc.

      While I’m writing, I wouldn’t mind seeing a hometown discount built into the Salary Cap. Give a team 1% discount for every year a signing player has played with a team. For example, if my $10mill/yr player has played for my team for 10 years, he’d count $9mill against my cap, but $10mill in cap space for another team. Good for the player and the fans that love them.

      • If it were that easy to fix, the league would’ve done it by now. As Daly said, it’s a complex issue with no easy fix. Besides, good luck getting the owners of those six clubs plus their players to agree to it in the next round of CBA talks. It’s probably the only issue that would bring those two parties together!

  2. i remeber a lot of talk in the not too distant past aboit certain cash rich clubs who signed players to hefty signing bonus laiden contracts because other clubs could not pay that much up front… funny how that talk went away and everyone called it good management.
    Becides just because they play in a tax free state or not does ot mean that is where they reside for tax purposes. It is a very complicated thing to figure out.

  3. Got to have your head in the sand if you don’t think no state tax isnt advantage.

    Been an issue raised for awhile and no, not just because the panthers won the cup.

    The state of Florida been in 5 straight stanley Cup finals

    The no state tax teams have an advantage plus they are some of the more desirable places to live for a young athlete.

    With that said, there is still only so many position available and so many dollars to go around.

    Once a team starts to win everyone wants more and can’t keep them all, ie Tampa, Chicago, LV, Chicago and now Florida can’t keep all the players.

    • I posted a long winded response already a while ago, hope I don’t double up. Must have screwed up.

      Agree 100% Caper and 87Pengy.

      How can having the ability to sign and keep more good players not an advantage? Basic arithmetic.

      It doesn’t guarantee success either, both can be true. If your team sucks good players won’t go there. If your team is very good you can still attract older UFA’s at a discount like the Oilers did with Henrique etc. But can they keep Holloway if Nurse, McD, Draisaitl all earn $1M to $1.5M less? Add a better 2nd pair d-man?

      Of course they could, but still have to execute, but it would be an option and they likely don’t even get both guys targeted because the extra cap space would have been a deterrent for STL, as the Oil would match, at least on Holloway.

  4. Signing overpriced, aging free agents at market rates isn’t necessarily good management.

  5. FWIW the State of Ohio has been creeping towards, and should be, a no tax state in a few years. Get ready to hoist the Cup.

  6. Meh, envious people always look for excuses instead of looking inward.

    Matthews, McDavid, Draisaitl, MacKinnon, Panarin, Shesterkin, Pastrňák, Kucherov and Tkachuk are the nominated players for MVP in the past 5 years.

    Nobody from Dallas, Nashville, Seattle or Vegas have been Hart nominees.

    Quality of life, cost of living, competitiveness, weather, relations with other players, coaches, rink and ice surface, are just part of the reasons to choose where to play for those who actually have a choice.

    If tax advantages were the be all end all in choice of destinations, people would be leaving NewYork, LA, Montreal. Toronto, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Jersey, Detroit would be leaving in droves to lesser tax areas and they aren’t.

  7. The players, and their association, are the keys in this discussion.
    If NHL players, as a group, see no problem, nothing will change.
    I’m sure players have issues that are more important to them.

  8. I’d like to add that while much is made of the “tax advantage” of some cities and states coinciding with recent success of Tampa Bay, Florida, Vegas and Dallas, these teams have existed for decades.

    Tampa Bay Lightning- 1992
    Dallas Stars-1993
    Florida Panthers- 1993
    Nashville Predators- 1998
    Vegas Golden Knights- 2017
    Seattle Kraken- 2021

    They haven’t exactly lit the league on fire in the past 25-30 years.
    Vegas is an exception but that was astute management not location.

  9. I like Lyle’s reference to ” the AVS winning because of altitude”!! That’s a good one. The Avalanche won because they put it all together @ the right time. Good point Lyle I guess I am guilty of some of that. Don’t like Vegas but I at least admit they won because they were better than everyone else!! Go AVS!!….

    Not much AVS news with training camp here. I think the Avalanche need to take their defensive game to another level not just a depth thing but mental approach if they want to get back to the promise land?

  10. In no tax states have advantages, but other markets allow for more endorsement deals and far more lucrative endorsement deals.

    If a state or province wants to punish its citizens with high taxes, that’s their business. If their sports teams suck because of it, it might provide a good learning experience as to what punitive taxation reaps… misery.

    I say those suckers should man up and enjoy the government and all the “results” they voted for.

    • Zimmer, if it were only that simple.

      I live in Alberta, the only province without a sales tax, plus has lower provincial income taxes. It has nothing to do with how we vote, or because we’re special. It’s because we have oil, that generates revenue so our personal tax burden is less.

      Trust me, I prefer lower taxes too and am happy not to have a sales tax. But ya, its choices, in Canada we have “universal” health care, the largest cost item. So people and companies don’t have to pay for health insurance. Folks are still paying one way or another just one is private (and way more expensive) the other is tax funded. Doctors charge the gov for their work vs an insurance company. Hospitals are government run. Both systems have benefits and drawbacks.

      So ya, it is a choice. Not sure why our hockey teams should be at a disadvantage because of it?