NHL player poll: Tax and LTIR tweaks? Expansion cities? League’s best captain? (original) (raw)

For the second year in a row, The Athletic covered each of the NHL player media tours, one last month in Prague and the other last week in Las Vegas, in part to conduct a preseason player poll.

We surveyed about three dozen players in attendance to get a sense of leaguewide sentiment about everything from long-term injured reserved and tax advantages to the league’s best captain and whether Atlanta or Arizona should get another shot at an NHL team.

Players’ answers were anonymous so they could speak freely, although some did agree to go on the record with specific responses.

Here’s what they said. Enjoy!

This has become a hot-button topic amongst fans and media, with four of the past five Stanley Cup champions and seven of the past 10 finalists coming from states that don’t collect state income taxes.

In a recent poll of fans by The Athletic, 84.6 percent of 14,066 respondents felt that teams in no-state-income-tax states have an advantage. Of that, 42.8 percent felt changes need to be made to even the playing field and 41.5 percent felt it’s not a significant enough advantage to warrant complex changes.

The NHL and NHLPA have said that they’re monitoring the issue but that it would be a complicated fix and nobody seems too bothered yet. But as NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said last week, “If we have the next 10 years similar to the last five, then maybe it’s something that needs to be addressed.”

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So what do players think?

“It is an advantage,” said one player from a Canadian team. “If you make 6millioninNewYorkCityor6 million in New York City or 6millioninNewYorkCityor6 million in Florida, I mean, it’s different. But there was a time where everybody wanted to go to Chicago, and it’s not a great tax city. And same with Pittsburgh.”

In other words, there are reasons to want to play in any city in the NHL. It’s not all about taxes.

“Look in the past who was winning Stanley Cups: Pittsburgh, Washington, Detroit,” another player said. “So I don’t think it’s a big advantage. Everything equals up. And what do you do if you get traded and stuff like that? It’s not an issue in any other league. The NHLPA said there’s literally nothing they can do so far.”

Added a young Eastern Conference player, “No one was complaining when these teams were doing bad, like 10 years ago with Florida and Tampa. Now they’re doing good and now people are pissed off.”

Most players agree it would be hard for the league to fix.

“There’s no easy solution,” said an Eastern Conference player. “It’s a complex issue that involves a lot of factors. For me, I just play hockey.”

Or as one superstar said, with perfect comedic timing: “I try to stay away from politics.”

Call this the Mark Stone/Nikita Kucherov question.

Kucherov famously returned to the Tampa Bay Lightning from long-term injured reserve for Game 1 of the playoffs in 2021, racked up 32 points in 23 games and then celebrated the Stanley Cup wearing an “$18 million over the cap” T-shirt. That rubbed many the wrong way, including in the league office.

For two reasons, we’re going to guess that this rule (or loophole) will be tweaked heading into the 2026-27 CBA negotiations.

First, Daly acknowledged recently that the “majority” of the league’s 32 GMs want a tweak. That’s new. For a long time, GMs dismissed the issue — probably because they wanted the option if they were ever faced with cap and injury issues heading into the trade deadline.

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But maybe the biggest reason to foresee an eventual change is that players appear to want it. In collective bargaining negotiations, that’s half the battle.

“That’s an easier fix than the (no-state income tax) issue,” one player said.

This isn’t to say players think the Vegas Golden Knights are inventing Stone’s injuries. He underwent back surgery two years ago. He lacerated his spleen last season. But the timing of both allowed Vegas to make necessary adjustments in advance of the trade deadline. In both cases, Stone returned for the playoffs — the first time being the team’s Stanley Cup winner.

As another player said, “It’s just crazy how people can get medically healthy before Game 1. All of a sudden, you’re playing a team that’s $40 million over the cap.”

Another player quipped, “If they don’t want Vegas to win anymore, they should (change it). Look, I don’t think anyone is getting hurt without really getting hurt. At the end of the day, all teams can do the same thing, but just some teams do it better.”

Most players want a change.

“I don’t believe Vegas, for example, plans to always do that,” one player said. “But at least nobody can even say anything about it (if they make a change).”

Another added, “Vegas does their own business every year, and it’s tricky, but they have to do something about it.”

Others aren’t as bothered.

“If the owners are willing to spend the money, there’s a hole in the rules,” one player said.

The NHL will shut down from Feb. 12 to 20 for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

But why four?

Two big reasons: First and foremost, the NHL is staying consistent with rulings by the International Olympic Committee banning Russia from the 2024 Summer Games in Paris and very likely the 2026 Winter Games in Milan because of its invasion of Ukraine.

The other reason is the league only wants NHL player participation. Smaller nations like Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany couldn’t field full rosters.

For the most part, NHLers understand that — even those who are disappointed they can’t partake.

“I mean, I’m going to take the 11 days break,” joked Germany’s Leon Draisaitl, who answered the question knowing it would be attributed. “I will take it, but I’d like to be playing in it. But I understand the concept of it.

“Like if you asked (Slovenia’s Anze) Kopitar and (Norway’s Mats) Zuccarello and all those guys, I bet you they would say, ‘Yeah, I would love to be in it and be a part of it and play.’ But at the end of the day, it’s not for me to make those decisions, unfortunately.”

It will be hard for many to accept this as a real best-on-best tournament, though, without the Kucherovs, Kirill Kaprizovs, Artemi Panarins and Alex Ovechkins.

“I understand they want to promote the game, and it’s very tough with the whole war going on, but at the end of the day, if it’s best-on-best, Russia has to be there,” one Swiss-born player said. “Everybody would love to see Canada-Russia, U.S.-Russia. Whenever they play, there’s some magic on the ice.”

Said another player from a smaller country, “I don’t agree. You have time to make a tournament for four teams. Why don’t you have time to make a tournament for eight countries? At the same time, they signed for the Olympics. I guess we can take that as a little plus. But it’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Added a Slovakian player, “You want to represent your country. Like Czech just won the World Championship this summer, and they won’t be there.”

One Czech player said the league should have “combined Czechoslovakia,” while a player from Germany said he wished there was a Team Europe like in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

A Swiss player joked that he plans to still watch, “but probably from a beach somewhere.”

The one thing we learned here is NHL players loved going to Arizona.

Who wouldn’t?

The sun is the perfect in-season elixir and rejuvenator.

“I don’t see a lot of guys that hated going to Arizona,” one player said. “Not always a lot of fans, but even one of my friends (who played there), he loved it in Arizona — the lifestyle and how it is down there. It is a good spot, but obviously, it’s got to be worth it as well.”

“Arizona just needs better owners,” another player said.

The same could be said for Atlanta. That’s why the NHL is entertaining a return to a northern suburb not far from where the Braves play. But there wasn’t as much passion about returning to a market that twice previously had NHL teams, perhaps in part because most NHL players now are too young to have played there.

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“They’ve tried Atlanta twice, and it failed twice, and I love Arizona, but it hasn’t worked, and I don’t think a new stadium is going to change that unfortunately,” one player said.

Some don’t think the league should return to either. Here’s a sampling from four players:

“There’s a lot of other cities that would die to have an NHL team.”

“There’s a reason why it hasn’t worked before, so maybe try something new.”

“Let’s explore another U.S. market or Canada.”

“I feel like it’s not good when you come back to the same city you just left.”

Clayton Keller, who played all of his eight NHL seasons in Arizona before moving with the team to Utah, hopes the market gets another chance.

“It would be hard to not bring a team back there,” he said, answering the question knowing it would be attributed. “There’s so many great fans there and people around the organization: the Shane Doans, the Ray Whitneys, a lot of guys involved in the hockey community there still to do this day. There’s a long list of guys that still live there, their kids play there. It definitely would be amazing if they brought it back one day.”

If the NHL were ever to expand to Europe, London and Prague are the favorites.

“If you want to make it realistic, London, because it’s a four- or five-hour flight,” said a player from a team in the northeast. “It’s almost closer than some of the NHL teams. Only thing would be bad is the time change, but it’s a closer flight than flying to L.A.”

“We played in Prague a few years ago and the atmosphere was cool,” said a player, who isn’t from Czechia. “You have to stick to proven places.”

“Anybody would love to play in Prague,” a player who is from Czechia said.

On that note, what about Hawaii? It might have slightly broken the rules of the question, as a “state” and not “city/country” and being outside the “continental” U.S., but you can’t blame players for trying. If there ever is expansion into Hawaii, there will be a brawl amongst The Athletic NHL writers fighting for the transfer.

Most players say they don’t see the need for the league to blow down or penalize regroups over the red line during overtime, even if the trend of skating the puck or passing the puck outside the zone to reset or execute line changes has become a bore for viewers.

Players did say they understood the sentiment, though.

“I must admit, it became a little bit more boring than it used to when it started because teams are prepared now,” one said. “It would make it more interesting. I would do the red-line rule because it’s annoying for players to skate without the puck for four minutes there. They keep taking it out. First of all, it’s no fun for the fans and not even for the player.”

“Let’s see some quick hockey,” another player said. “That’s why we do it, three-on-three, so there’s stuff happening.”

Added a third: “It would make it more fun. I feel there would be more goals and make the games quicker and end games quicker than shootouts.”

One European player surveyed said that he doesn’t see the need for a change in the NHL but that in “the Swedish League, they have much bigger issues with that. Bigger ice surface and they’re trying to not risk anything.”

But most players feel the league shouldn’t touch the issue.

“There’s plenty of goals in three-on-three, so I don’t know if we need to force stuff like that,” one said. “If you extend to 10 minutes, that’d probably be problem solved because I know goalies don’t like shootouts. But I don’t have an issue the way it is right now.”

Added another, “It’s not like we’re waiting behind the net. It’s just getting speed and then a new attack is coming. It’s still pretty entertaining.”

And if the league did change the rule, another noted, “there’s going to be probably something else new” to create resets.

One player offered a compromise system: “I think the red line is tight. I think they should make it that you can’t go back into your own zone. That could work because I agree the resets have become ridiculous. But red line seems fine. It’s passing back to your goalie or skating back into your own zone that is annoying.”

Speaking of goalies, one ranted humorously that the only thing he doesn’t like about three-on-three is the stat-keeping: “If goalies give up a goal, it shouldn’t count in your stats. Three-on-three, you see one or two shots. You end up over a 90 save percentage in a 60-minute game, and in a minute-and-a-half, you give up a goal, you’re at 88.”

Most players surveyed think the NHL should join other North American and European pro sports leagues that make officials available to the media in some capacity (only if necessary) to explain a call.

“One hundred percent,” one player said, drawing a laugh. “Please.”

But it was also extremely clear NHLers have great respect for referees and linesmen. Many prefaced their answers with how hard the job is for NHL officials.

“There’s gonna be mistakes,” one player said. “As players, we make mistakes, but if a ref makes a mistake, everybody sees it more than what we do. So it’s a tough job for them. They’re trying their best.”

“Refs are people, too,” another player said. “I wouldn’t want to be a ref. You don’t get any praise, you only get s— thrown at you. But I do think it’d be a good thing because sometimes they’re just following the rule book, so they can just explain it so fans can understand it. Maybe they’d get less unjustified critique.”

While some players said refs’ jobs are “hard enough as it is,” others think it’s unfair reporters have to ask coaches and players how a referee explained a call rather than the referee explaining it themselves.

“So many situations are unexplainable, so they can explain it,” one player said.

Joked another, “We have to speak to reporters, so why shouldn’t they?”

Added a third: “Ask three or four questions. I feel like it would change a lot of the way they officiate because they know they have to answer questions after games.”

Regardless, this isn’t changing anytime soon.

Daly said on-ice officials will continue to be off limits to reporters, but, “I think to the extent there needs to be a comment made, it should be made by the league. I think there should be accountability, but I think ultimately the accountability rests on the league level.”

This was a two-horse race that ended in a dead heat between a couple of future first-ballot Hall of Famers.

Clearly Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid are considered the class of the NHL not only by fans but also by their brethren.

That’s how you combine for seven Ted Lindsay trophies.

“They’re two generational players,” one player said. “It’d be interesting to see what they’re like on the leadership side.”

One player who picked reigning the Stanley Cup champion captain Aleksander Barkov and put his name on it?

Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros: “I’ve played with Barkov since I was 10 years old, so it’d be cool to play with him.”

Again, a two-horse race between the coaching Floridians, Jon Cooper and Paul Maurice.

On Cooper, as one player said, “All he does is win … every year.”

Maurice was a popular choice because of his sense of humor.

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“Seems like a pretty cool coach just seeing his interviews and stuff,” one player said.

“Love his quotes,” added another.

Maurice on Game 6:"It's gonna be an absolute barnburner in there. There'll be 18,000 cameras on the morning skate just to see how many sips of water bottle Brad Marchand takes. There’s going to be some high-end investigative journalism. Guys go home & get a nap bc you’ve got some…

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) May 15, 2024

The funniest response here?

“This may sound weird, but Torts,” said one Western Conference defenseman. “I’d like to try Torts.”

(Graphic: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic, with photos of Jon Cooper, Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby: Len Redkoles, Andy Devlin and Joe Sargent / Getty Images)