“Imagine if the NHL had a luxury tax and we didn’t need media and fans turned into armchair CPA’s to follow the game,” longtime player agent Allan Walsh tweeted this month. “This is ridiculous.”
Walsh was responding to a tweet and article from Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff, noting with figures from CapFriendly.com that only six teams will actually be able to spend to the full $82.5-million salary cap next season because of reductions from bonus overage penalties, buyouts, termination penalties and retained salary transactions. According to CapFriendly, the Canadiens will have a bonus overage penalty of $1,132,500 — the second-highest behind the Vancouver Canucks at $1.25 million.
As a player agent, Walsh is obviously not a fan of the salary cap, stating on Twitter that the players “are the victims of a few treasonous rats who betrayed their fellow players and the NHLPA” at the most critical point of the 2004-05 lockout, resulting in billions of revenue being transferred from players to owners through the salary cap and escrow payments. Walsh added that today’s players must be educated on what happened.
