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Is the salary cap good for Canada?

Since salaries and revenue are more under control, does this open the door for Canadian cities to bid for NHL franchises? Small market teams are competitive once again. Now that team payrolls have been curbed, why aren't markets north of the border pushing harder to get teams, or get a team back? I get that Betteman wants to grow the fan base, but why starve the places where hockey is king? The Devils were recently 3,500 short of a sell out for a playoff game!!! That would never happen in Winnipeg or Quebec. It wouldn't even happen in Hartford!

Public Comments

1. who cares
2. The Pittsburgh situation is a preview of the future. As buildings start to get old and need replacement teams will look around if cities do not come up with the bucks. Some teams from the south will move back to Canada when this situation becomes more prevalent.
3. Have you ever been to New Jersey? The excessive toll booths are enough to keep people out of the seats. As of 2 months ago it was like $9.00 in tolls to get anywhere in NJ after you cross over from NY. Oh, and $9.00 to get back, plus $3.50 for a gallon of gas. To answer your question, the salary cap is a good thing for hockey as a whole, not just Canada.
4. It is good for Canada, but there are a few problems. A lot of teams can't move unless their Arena lease expires, and most of the teams with poor fan bases were only recently expansion teams, so their arenas are fairly new. The Caps will result in some teams moving back to Canada, but it will take some time. There are a lot of US cities that never would have had empty seats during a playoff game as well. I can't see it ever happening in Pittsburgh or Buffalo. I would have said the same about Jersey, but they proved me wrong.
5. The salary cap is the best thing that happened for NHL hockey in Canada. Not sure why hockey is still in New Jersey. The fans they have are great, however not selling out every single night doesn't make sense especially when icing a very competitive team year after year. Can't blame in on the trap either ... every team uses the trap in some sort of fashion. Look at the scores in the playoffs this year and tell me they don't ... that being said, if you are looking at the high scores that had come out in this playoffs is because trap is of no use when down by two goals.
6. The cap is good for 90% of the NHL not just Canada. Im not sure it will help teams move back to Canada though. When you look at the populations of big cities in the US and Canada they just arent as big up there. The few major cities have teams already. Quebec and Winnipeg although hockey loving dont have the major corporate sponsership dollars to support them. They really only have 2 cities that arent considered small market cities. Toronto has 6.1 million people Montreal has 3.6 million Vancouver has 2.2 million Ottawa and Calgary have 1.1 million Edmonton has 1 million Qubec City has 700k Winnipeg has 674k
7. The salary cap was suppose to be good for teams in Canada, but... 1) because there is a cap, teams were pressure to spend as much as the cap allows even on rebuilding year 2) from watching Hockey Night In Canada (HNIC), teams felt that the salary cap value increased too quickly and is giving some teams hardship already
8. Amen, I like that idea of expanding BACK to the north, I just feel Bettman is too much of a prideful c*ck sucking pile of sh*t. I also feel the cap benefits EVERYONE in the NHL.
9. Teams left those markets you mentioned for a reason. You want to know how teams make money. Attendance is not the big way, it is the sale of the corportate luxury boxes in the arenas. Since those old markets you mentioned have outdated arenas with few luxury boxes, and very few corporate headquarters (exception Hartford), they will not make the profit that the owners want.
10. Andrew V, the salary cap addresses that very reason. Winnipeg and Quebec just didn't have the revenue in their smaller markets, even though they certainly had the fan support. With expenses more under control, the NHL can focus more on where the passion for hockey is and less on the size of the city.
11. Quebec will never see another team. There's still hope for the Peg though. The Penguins were on their way to Ontario until Bettman got involved. The owner of RIM was buying the team and moving it north. Bettman blocked it by adding a clause in the sale contract that made it impossbile to move the team to Canada (and Ontario in particular). He plainly doesn't like Canadians so if you see him at a game try and spill a drink on him.