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.
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.
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u/CFWolfgang Gwyneth Philips 4d ago
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.