Awesome signing for Vegas, the deepest team offensively in the West right now. Karlsson is far more valuable than Kevin Hayes both offensively and defensively. A+
Love this signing as a fan and it just makes pure sense for the team. Probably one of the best top 6 defensive centers in the league right now at an amazing bargain. I'm so glad he loves playing here in Vegas.
Awesome signing for Vegas, the deepest team offensively in the West right now. Karlsson is far more valuable than Kevin Hayes both offensively and defensively. A+
We’ll see if they’re still the deepest when they have to clear 7.5 mil in salary and fill out the rest of their roster.
Both sides are thrilled with this. Vegas gets a team friendly deal, and Karlsson can settle his family into a place that he loves to be for the next 8 years. This is a prime example of money not being everything to a player, which is nice to see nowadays (although I get why it's rare).
Okay but even if money were level teams would still not be. Some cities are nicer than others so will still hold a pretty key advantage.
Look no further than Tavares' final 5 teams: TOR, DAL, TBL, VGK, & SJS. These are probably 5 out of top 10 most desired cities for most players. TOR only b/c so many players are from the area. LOL. Smaller market teams are def. at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting UFA's. As a NJD fan I remember well what it took to re-sign Ilya Kovalchuck (like a 15 year contract), and he still ended up leaving. And I don't even think NJ is a bad market. It's not NYC, but it's 10 miles away!
This is a huge problem with the system, i think more people are realizing it, there should be a balanced tax.
There are a few options to achieve this. But great signing for LV.
Quoting: Brian2016
TBL have exploited this loophole in signing Kucherov, Stamkos, and Hedman at massive discounts.
Quoting: Blazingbat11
and yet some people *they know who they are* believe taxes being a factor doesn't exist.... only because it doesn't benefit their team...
Here's the thing though, teams like Toronto can frontload contracts. Take NYR and Florida as alternatives for signing Panarin: While Florida has the lower tax, NYR can easily cough up 30-35m during the first 12 months of that deal which Florida can't. Money today is worth more than money two-three-and-four years from now because of inflation and pure investment. The small teams experiencing high taxes and relatively less wealthy owners are the ones in real trouble. Toronto is probably as attractive a FA spot as Vegas, it's Ottawa and Winnipeg that are really struggling
On State income tax: Karlsson is bringing home the exact same money on a $5.9M deal in Vegas, as he would an $8M deal in Toronto.
All depends on how the deal is structured. Look at Matthews, for instance - most of his pay comes in the form of off-season bonuses when he lives, presumably, in Arizona. Thus he pays Arizona tax rates on that income rather than Ontario tax rates.