NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Caught Lying Through His Teeth Again
When asked about whether income-tax advantages exist in the NHL, Gary Bettman seemed a little displeased by the question and deflected with his answer.
In recent years, especially when the cap was stagnant, it seemed like teams that played in low income tax states had a general advantage when it came to signing players in free agency or being able to retain the services of their expiring contracts.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a perfect example, because they've been able to garner their success without having to pay a player an AAV of $10 million or more. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and the recently departed Steven Stamkos all received no more than $9.5 million per season in a time where $10 million+ was the norm for superstars.
The Panthers are more another good example and have extended their players in a time where superstars are signing contracts worth $12 million or more, yet they've found a way as well. Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky make $10 million on the nose but players like Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad, and Gustav Forsling all have economically satiable contracts under a hard cap.
Considering Florida doesn't have any income tax, it seems like a great loophole for the Lightning and the Panthers, yet the commissioner doesn't believe it's an issue. Gary Bettman sat in as a guest with Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne on their Kyper & Bourne show and seemed a little perturbed by the insinuation that teams that live in States with no tax have an advantage over Canadian markets with high tax rates:
But it's something we look at to make sure that there's a fundamental or substantive base to what I'm saying and based on the preliminary analysis that we've done, I believe what I'm saying is correct."
The commissioner has to deal with the brunt of a lot of questions, backlash, and criticism, but it definitely seemed like this topic is one that bothers him a little more than others.
He was very quick to dismiss the question and his example of California teams having the same level of success as the Florida ones is a little outdated with Anaheim having won in 2007 and Los Angeles' 2nd championship was in 2014. Both teams have also undergone or are currently in a rebuild as well since their last championship run.
Then you look at some of the States with no income tax and you notice that teams like the Vegas Golden Knights have had a lot of success over the years and are able to sign their players at cheaper rates. The Nashville Predators are an example of a team that signed three marquee free agents this past summer at slightly below market-level value.
However, teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs have to sign their stars to contracts above $12 million due to Ontario's ridiculous tax rates. In fact the 5 players with the highest AAVs heading into next season all come from high income tax states or provinces.
It certainly seems a little fishy that the teams with a lot more recent success come from states with low or no income tax rates despite the league's investigation into the matter. However, the NHL is content with the way things are currently going and don't seem to be a in hurry to make any changes.
