Quoting: Jacketsman61
I think the NHL should step in here and block this sale. The Caps are creating a competitive advantage against other teams in the league. If they created their own site to track this stuff that would be fine. But to buy a public website to create an advantage and screw over the NHL fans is quite another.
I highly doubt that the Capitals are buying this website only to track cap. There have been a few different websites like this that have closed, and something new always pops up that at the very least provides tracking of contracts.
Either, the Capitals wanted to hire the people behind this website but the website was too profitable for them to leave - Or there is proprietary software or tools that this website owns that are of use. There is no way they would just buy it to track contracts.
The NHL should have bought the site, not because the Capitals buying it provides them with an unfair competitive advantage, but because they need a legitimate database for this stuff and it seems like it would make more sense to buy a proven brand with a track record of doing a great job and work with them to make the website even better for fans and more useful internally for teams.
Fans are always looking for different ways to connect with the game, and hockey tends to have a very steep learning curve for the on ice stuff compared to other sports. I think that's why there are so many subcultures online that fans gravitate to, whether it be the cap side of things, advanced stats, or even things like goes who go to Icethetics and talk about jerseys. A major competitive disadvantage that the NHL has compared to other sports is that most people simply don't get the opportunity to play hockey growing up compared to other sports like soccer or basketball - and the game itself is seemingly more random with a steeper learning curve. So for fans who want to engage in it, this website would have had a ton of marketing potential to engage fans with things like the Armchair GM, trade machine, etc.