And it's going to happen.
Before the lockout, about 1/2 the teams were profitable. 1/4 were just slightly losing some money, and the last 1/4 were losing a lot.
Under the new cap, the adjustment from 57% to 50% pretty much made 90% of the teams profitable. And this is all based on HRR. So there's much more that isn't counted in the HRR. The top 1/4 of the teams are making so much money, but they can't put it towards salary, which is a good thing b/c of the stuff we saw pre-cap.
With that said, the cap is what keeps the GMs/owners in check. They aren't afraid of blowing millions on a buyout or burying some player in the minors for years while paying a full NHL salary.
We will continue to see contracts like Lundqvist's. Owners will pretty much give into a star player's demands, because on the open market, they'd have to pay even more to get a similar type player, assuming there is one available and that he wants to play for you.
If the cap is to hit $80M, that means the max. contract you can have is $12M/yr. I don't know what Edmonton is going to do when Eberle's a year away from UFA, same thing with Hall the following, and then RNH. Schultz and Yakupov to follow them. There's no way Edm will be able to pay each of those guys 15% of the cap. So they'll have to trade them or they'll walk. You can't have a team with too many top picks looking to get paid big bucks. Look at Pittsburgh, they only have 3 of their top picks from those years. Maybe 2, depending what they do with Fleury.
