Rule Proposal & Discussion

[SlackJack]

I've been here in Rebel for a couple years now and see a slow but progressive shift towards more balanced contracts. Which is good but I think a tweak to the way we calculate extensions would accelerate the process for the better. Given that we generally follow the NHL for our cap numbers it stands to reason that player contracts shouldn't stray wildly from those in real life.

The change I want to see would have us calculate extensions by averaging only the best two years from the last three. So if a player, like Sidney Crosby for example, losses a year due to injury their ranking won't be incredibly skewed because of it. If a players rankings are 1st, 200th, and 1st, then by the current formula that player will be extended at 67th over-all. The contract would be valued at $1.7m per year rather than the $8m that would otherwise be reasonable.

This is an extreme example of course but the formula as it is now is pushing down the extension value of players right across the league. The net effect being that there is very little talent available in free agency. If contracts are overly easy to retain then bottom-feeder teams will take an unreasonably long time to draft their way into contention.

Here's a couple more examples of how it would work.

V.Tarasenko - RW
14/15 = 3rd, 13/14 = 67th, 12/13 = 90th Current Formula = 53rd ($3.5m) Best Two = 35th ($5.3m) Real NHL = $7.5m

G.Nyqvist - RW
14/15 = 30th, 13/14 = 52nd, 12/13 = 142nd Current Formula = 74th ($1.3m) Best Two = 41st ($4.4m) Real NHL = $4.8m

Keep in mind that by no means do I want to follow the NHL exactly and that is not at all the point of this thread. Tarasenko would still be a steal at $5.3m and Nyquist is obviously reasonable at $4.4m. But the net effect that these larger contracts would have throughout the league would be to push GM's into making more interesting choices as to how their budget is being spent.

A larger and more skilled free-agent pool would benefit everyone.

[hockeyfreak47]

All change were made to have a more balanced league for the 2016-17 season 

I see your concern whit the good player's getting cheap contract right now but don't forget that cheap contract are also short term deals.

The way I made the extension bracket was for insane 2015-16 expiring contract like :

 PK Subban, $0.9m (2015-16)
Jakub Voracek, $1.3m (2015-16)
Kevin Shattenkirk, $1.3m (2015-16)
Derek Stepan, $0.8m (2015-16)
Jamie Benn, $0.8m (2015-16)
T.J. Oshie, $1.3m (2015-16)
Logan Couture, $1.2m (2015-16)
James Van Riemsdyk, $1.7m (2015-16)
Jordan Eberle, $1.2m (2015-16)
Corey Crawford, $0.8m (2015-16)
Braden Holtby, $0.6m (2015-16)
Tukka Rask, $1.3m (2015-16)
Claude Giroux, $0.8m (2015-16)
Jimmy Howard, $0.7m (2015-16)

and more ...

So it would be really tough to see if we should change the way extension are made before the 2015-16 extension .

[SlackJack]

So it would be really tough to see if we should change the way extension are made before the 2015-16 extension .

I am looking ahead to 2016-17.

[hockeyfreak47]

I am looking ahead to 2016-17.

 

Just to add on the extensions if I make a change it will most likely be on game played in a season for it to count as 1 year played .

[BlueJaysTO]

On a separate note, since we reduced the amount of roster spots for Rebel, maybe we should reduce the salary cap as well? Right now its at 70 million, which is fine except we were at that when we had 30 players and not 27.

Because of the free buyouts and reduced roster size, there are many teams who are now way below the minimum salary cap and there is not even one team who is anywhere close to having problems with the salary cap.

Believe me, as a team who is looking to contend next year and probably will have some contracts to deal with in the next off season, this is something not in my teams best interests. But it is definitely more fair.

With the roster size decreased, the salary cap should now be at around 63 million.  If we stay at 70 million, it will be very hard for teams to get the cap floor and will not be reflecting a 27 man roster. I strongly recommend that we do this for 2015-16.