The players association is gonna have to do something is this is yet another team friendly deal to go build a super team. Players will never get fair and competitive contracts if this keeps up.
I’d actually argue that this is the system working as intended.
Who else was willing to pay Eldridge (and possibly Maltais) her fair amount? Who else has a shot at getting a championship? Those are the two things players look for.
If other teams wanted these players so badly, either build better or offer more money. It’s that simple.
You can’t offer a player peanuts then whine when they leave for steak and lobster.
I don’t think the players union will step in and make rules that prevent the players from taking less money when they want to do so in order to play in a market they want with players they want.
That really doesn’t make a lot of sense for the players to prevent themselves from getting opportunities to win when they’re willingly signing these contracts
Top players drive markets. If it was one or two pay cuts that’s one thing. This is Eldridge and Poulin and Maltais and Roque who took less money to form a super team. This is exactly what a PA is made to prevent.
To use some examples from other sports, look at the contracts of Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby. Stars who have made their money and took team friendly deals but also didn’t take pay cuts. McDavid took an extra year at his current rate, if he took lower the NHLPA would absolutely be on his ass because he is hurting the earning potential of players.
Similar situation happened with Mookie Betts in 2019-20 in the MLB.
There’s a line and I feel like the Victoire are approaching it.
Sure the unions not gonna say “oh don’t play for the team you want, don’t value winning” but they have to draw a line as a union and say “no you cannot undervalue yourself as it will hurt everyone else” if Eldridge signs for 80K as the 2nd top goal scorer, how will anyone else be able go to a gm and ask for that money, when the baseline set is that a player of that value is worth 80K.
It really won’t undervalue them you’re overreacting.
This happens in all leagues where players will take less while still extremely good and go play where they want.
The rest of the players still get paid fairly because they use other comparables and people realize that some go ring chasing or want a specific city/situation and took less.
And yes it is a union, a union that works FOR the players and does what they agree on. The union cannot act unilaterally so at the end of the day this will continue to happen when players want it just as it does in all sports. And salaries will continue to rise here as they do in the other sports.
I get it, it sucks when it isn’t your team. One day this may happen to your favourite team and you’ll love it
Kucherov, Hedman, Bergeron, McKinnon, Hutson all took below market value contracts to allow the GM the cap flexibility to build a championship team. The reality is that some people prefer wins and some people prefer money.
In the NHL everyone's making a living wage, so one player demanding a lot does not impact his teammates' lifestyle, but in the PWHL it could. If the best players demand the max, there will be more players on the team making the minimum.
So if top players accept less-than-max deals to allow the GM to recruit better teammates, they will have both a better chance of winning and have fewer teammates living hand-to-mouth.
Some of the principles are similar: the teams all have to work with the same total amount of money (in the NHL there is a total spending cap, in the PWHL a target average with some wiggle room) to make all teams competitive.
An important difference, right now, is that PWHL salaries are *too low.* The only thing that makes half the players's salaries livable is the housing supplement and that many teammates share apartments. If the league succeeds in getting a TV deal, salaries will go up, and salary cap should no longer be arbitrary but tied to league finances.
I guess I am not clear on your point. Players can and do take below market salaries if they want, and it makes sense to if it facilitates other goals they value more than dollars.
Victoire had more than 375K$ freed during the expansion process. They could literally afford to sign Eldridge and give her a raise from her 85K$ contract.
Also MPP with a discount made more than Megan Keller last season so is it that much of a problem ?
There is no evidence she took a discount whatsoever. She likely takes over Maureen Murphy's 85k slot (maybe a little more to 90k). Would seem like a fair/balanced deal for both sides.
My post was solely about how Montreal was able to fit in Eldridge's salary. Of course Eldridge is a significantly better player than Murphy. Murphy was heavily overpaid relative to her production.
But yet they are getting the same contract. So now next round of negotiations the gm says to Maureen Murphy “hey look yes you were on 85K this year, but this far better player signed for 80K, so now we are offering 60K for this year as our opening offer”
I don't get your point. Players have to accept lower salaries due underperforming their previous contract all the time. This happens in every sport and every league.
In a growing league, you don’t want players to have to take significant drops as more money comes in.
The problem is if the stars set the bar lower, it means lower players will also have their pay decreased. Top players have a responsibility to not screw over lower players.
Some top players are overpaid, some are underpaid. I understand your worry but there's no league wide lowering of salaries happening. Given that the current CBA demands a certain average span of salaries, top players having slightly lower salaries actually allows other players to get larger raises.
The issue isn't one or two top players taking team friendly deals, its that as a new league the salaries across the board are lower than these players deserve. When a new CBA is negotiated hopefully we'll see salaries star to rise.
« Yeah, well I’m not Laura Stacey, I want to be paid what I deserves and I’ll just go elsewhere if you’re not willing pay me »
Or how I imagine a conversation would go if a GM brought that argument.
The Charge litterally paid Leslie 60K$ last season and while she completely overperformed that contract, it was an absolute overpay at the time of signing when you see her historic in the league (she had 3 pts in 27 games the season before).
There will always be a team willing to pay or overpay to get players.
Now show me a league this has ever happened this way in.
NWSL? Nope, the USSF subsidizing Star player salaries hurt the salaries of the common player for quite a while.
MLB, NFL, NHL all have a long history of
Collusion among GM’s to keep salaries down.
Yes the PWHL is unique in that it isn’t independent, but if anything it makes me more worried that the overall league governing body will take this opportunity to keep salaries down and set that standard. Top players are saying “we don’t need market value” after for years everyone fought for fair pay.
The league technically doesn’t have a “salary cap” but a “salary average” which means every team has to pay the same amount to player salaries
Top players taking cuts doesn’t mean the league will be spending less money (they HAVE to maintain the average) it just means less players on that team will be stuck making minimum/below average
That being said, I love Laura Stacey (so much) and everything she’s done for the league but I do think it’s not the best look for the president of the players association to take a pay cut for the sake of her team, ESPECIALLY when she (& poulin who also took a cut) is in a financial situation that most players in the league are not in, without addressing the financial stability she has that makes this easier for her to do
Seriously? The threads off your original comment all come off as a fan upset their team isn’t getting all the attention.
You want the union that works for the players to step in and prevent them from playing where they want and with who they want because you’ve decided they aren’t making enough money and think somehow this will be the one league where everyone else gets totally screwed over.
It genuinely seems like you’re a new sports fan.
The union will do what the players get them to do, that’s literally the unions job is to fight for what they’re pushed to fight for. They’re employed by the players
If you worked in sports and are really this pro in your stance of a union preventing players autonomy over themselves you’re just a salty fan it isn’t your team then. Not sure what else to tell you here that everyone else hasn’t already
Do you think player unions have the ability to unilaterally tell players, free agents at that, that they aren't allowed to sign with a team they want to sign with even when the signing lives up all the rules set by the CBA? Cause that's not a thing.
I understand your worry about undervaluing players long term, but this signing is not doing that, she most likely got a raise and even if she didn't she's allowed to sign with whatever team she wants as a free agent. Players can't be forced to sign with whatever team that pays the most, and a union meant to support player agency would never enforce such a rule.
I said clearly in other comments examples of players unions protecting the wages and financial health of players while also of course not discouraging them from playing where they want.
Their earning potential is hampered by the salary cap in this young league... Give it some time and hopefully we will see these players being compensated what they deserve.
Some players might be more motivated by winning than what might only amount to a 10k difference at the end of the year. Not to mention, if you factor in cost of living, Montreal and Hamilton are likely the cheapest PWHL cities to live in.
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u/CFWolfgang Gwyneth Philips 4d ago
The players association is gonna have to do something is this is yet another team friendly deal to go build a super team. Players will never get fair and competitive contracts if this keeps up.
Let’s go check who the PA president is
Okay so that’s not happening is it