Canadian teams are getting screwed and insider Elliotte Friedman reveals the unfair truth!

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman recently proposed a solution for how the National Hockey League could and should handle the taxing issues across the 32 teams. On his “32 Thoughts”, Friedman explained how the NHL should consider adopting a form of salary-cap relief for teams because of a competitive imbalance created by different state income taxes market to market. He believes this needs to be discussed ahead of the CBA negotiations with the NHLPA.

“Any potential solution must be part of CBA discussions. It is possible this is a futile exercise, because this won’t be a priority unless enough teams and players wish to make it so. If I was a player on a Canada- or California-based team, I’d be pushing for it. But, those with low taxation won’t be eager to punish themselves.”

His proposal makes sense as we’ve seen, more than once, how players chose to sign a new contract with teams in cities where income taxes weren’t as high.

The issue is especially obvious in Canada, where seven of the 32 NHL teams play. Those Canadian teams are already at a disadvantage because they pay players in league standard American dollars. That imbalance alone was recently mentioned by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who explained how the league could be affected by the current tensions between U.S. and Canada. Bettman first started with pointing out how 25% of the league’s revenue comes from its Canadian clubs.

Seven Canadian teams, who perform well, could suffer ramifications for the league depending on the state of Canadian tariffs. No Canadian team having won a Stanley Cup since 1993 and some fans wonder if the taxing issue is part of that long drought.

But the Canadian teams, which include the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, aren’t the only ones impacted by the income taxes issue.

The New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres play in the state with the highest income tax in the league. And when you look at their participation in the Stanley Cup finals, they only combine for two in the past 30 years. However teams like the the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights have a significant advantage seeing that they are located n states that don’t have an income tax. And in the past eight of the past 10 Stanley Cup Finals, a zero-tax team has played and has played in five consecutive finals and won four of the past five championships.

This past summer after signing free agent Steven Stamkos, Predators general manager Barry Trotz admitted that his team has an edge over the majority of NHL clubs, seeing that Tennessee doesn’t levy a state income tax.

“It is an advantage because your dollar goes a little bit farther. There’s no question.”

While Friedman presented a solid solution for the issue, he does not believe that the league is seriously considering a fix in that department. However, the league will have to see at some point that it does create an imbalance and unfortunately provides a disadvantage to many teams out there, including all seven located in Canada.