1) Change the draft lottery to favor compensating the teams who just miss the playoffs more than the teams who tank, or at least compensate them all equally

2) Lower the maximum compensation for offer sheets to 3 1st round picks so we get more superstar offer sheets (lower everything by about 25% across the board)

3) Implement a 1 series waiting period for players on LTIR to rejoin their teams in the playoffs

4) Find a way to factor the local effective tax rate into the Salary Cap. Currently the system is extremely biased

What do you all think? What would you change?

Edit:

Community suggestions:

1) Give up on the tax adjustments. There is a lot of evidence that it's actually a non-issue to the players

2) Expanded OT

3) 3 points for regulation win, 2 points for OT/SO win, 1 point for OT/SO loss

4) Play-in playoff round

5) Limit video review to not impact the excitement and momentum of the game as much

6) Get rid of National Anthems (controversial to others)

7) Get rid of broadcasting blackouts

8) Start games on time

9) Allow teams to have unlimited retentions, but where the total amount of retention in any given year cannot exceed 1/8th of the cap

Thank you to the Mods for leaving this post up!

Get rid of national anthems before games.

I think the lottery odds adjustments made a couple years ago are fine

Most likely to see playoffs expanded so playing with how teams use LTIR would likely need to be refined when that happens. If they go to a play in or add two spots in each conference then teams are in for a longer playoff run and you'll have less teams selling at the deadline.

An adjusted salary cap is long overdue, it's way to easy for southern US teams to sign FAs and keep the rentals they trade minimal assets for at a deadline

What do I think? I think for 126M in cap you've created a team that will still lose 8-7

your local military thanks you for your service

It's not about odds.... it's about transparency in lottery "winning" process

You're welcome.

Not needed at a hockey game.

You already have baseball, football and basketball.

Perhaps before watching a movie at home or at the theater I should sing O Canada and the Star Spangled Banner?

I don't like the tanking concept. There should not ever be a draw to lose on purpose in competitive sports.

I’d like expanded playoffs and a “lottery tournament” where the bottom teams have to win the #1 pick.

Fun idea!

3-2-1 point system

Either get rid of reviews or have a 3 minute time limit. If no obvious error, stick with call on ice.

Shorten rfa status from 7 to 5 years

Get rid of interdivision style of playoffs

Local military? Buffalo has our own military? Are they more American than non military members? Its a sporting event.

Expand OT's to 10 minutes.

There would be fewer shootouts.

I'm all for 3 points for a regulation win.

It would cause more games to be decided in regulation.

Eliminate loser points.

3 points for a regulation win.

2 for an OT win.

1 for a Shootout win.

Imagine your best player getting hurt in a stupid tournament after the season

You could also say the same thing if your best player gets hurt on game 82 when you’ve already been eliminated. Single game elimination tournament would have a team playing at most 3 extra games. Not a big deal in my mind

Disagree on the adjusted salary cap, unless you also plan on adjusting for large markets as well. Kane only wanting to go to the Rangers last year, or Adam Fox refusing to sign anywhere but the Rangers. Or John Tavares turning down a higher salary in San Jose than he got in Toronto.

The tax system adjustments don't really work., it's far complicatged Especially the players making over 1m, they don't pay personal income taxes as shown. They can adjust to their earnings to "their residence", not where they play or shelter the tax and don't have much income.
Never hear a Blue Jay or Raptor complain about signing or being traded to Toronto. But somehow it's a big issue on CapFriendly.

The LTIR rules obviously need to be adjusted

The lottery is fine now IMO, compensating the middle teams is counterproductive as the lower teams would have even less of a chance of moving up. For example, the Rangers never should have been allowed to draft Lafreniere. They were a middle team that literally played in the play-in round, then drafted 1st OA.

Offer sheets piss off teammates, GM's, owners, and fans. They should rightfully be allowed but I think the current price is fair.

I don't think the tax is as biased as you think, it only affects 50% of games each year for one thing, and I assume your issue is with Canadian teams getting "shafted." Well the players also get pay converted from USD.

Also, they are taxed where they play, 41 road games. Most have pretax investments too

Great points sir. I agree with 3-2-1.
I agree with limited reviews.
Not 100% aligned on the inter-division playoffs - the bad blood makes things interesting.

Can you explain your point about 5 years to UFA. Why is that important?

Players can earn more sooner, get trade protection sooner. It's an artificial cap on earning value

All for 3 point system and expanded OT! I think 3-2-1 where the loser gets 1 and winner gets 2 works well in MLS. I would adopt that.

1- already addressed by the lottery odds... now that the odds become all equal... don't think we'll see that because the goal of the league is parity

2- offer sheets are such a bad idea... even for rich teams, for smaller markets it's a disaster waiting to happen. If anything, they should discourage these even more

3- This doesn't make sense... Doctors make the call when the player is cleared for contact, they are under the Hippocratic Oath. Then the "get in shape" can vary and be at the team's discretion. It's either they continue like it is or adopt the same cap rules as during the season where you can't go over cap. But the NHLPA might not want to change this. In the end, players decide.

4- the current system is not extremely biased, it's just an advantage for a few teams, maybe have a "cap tax" or something but these are external factors to the league

5- The "play in" you're talking about is more a "Qualifying round", it's not a bad idea but can't see the league changing the 82 games seasons. There's a LOT of factors you and these commentators (usual lack of professionalism) are not considering, like every NHL team NEEDS these home games for revenues, even the ones who'd miss the qualifying rounds

MTL fan here. Clear cut priority #1 should be to change the cap rules to make it state tax-adjusted. There will ne no parity in this league while Canadian teams have to pay a 20% premium to retain their stars - e.g. there's no way Matthew Tkachuk would have signed for less than 11M$/yr had he stayed in CGY.

#3 - 1 series wait for players coming off of LTIR is worth discussion

I would like to see them eliminate video reviews for offsides. The reviews take too long.