It would be criminal for the players (and it's not going to happen, so whatever) but my team, as a small-market fan, would benefit a lot from this original offer.

I don't like the idea of limiting contract length to five years, but I DO like the idea of paying the players the same amount each season of the contract. You start doing that, you stop these ridiculous 13-year, $98 million contracts that pay a $1 million salary that last two years of the deal (which the players likely won't play because they'll retire) that are only added to lower the cap hit. That will naturally lower contract length, and salary a bit. I'd also like to see entry-level contracts extended to four years from three (I actually think this has a decent chance of happening) but I'm also biased there. The unrestricted free agency after 10 years is just absurd, and obviously won't happen (nor should it).

Saw some proposal (not from the NHL, but on a message board) about a "loyalty" clause (I guess the NBA did it), where if a player stays with one team his entire career a certain length of time, his cap hit is a reduced percentage of his actual salary should he sign his next contract again with that same team. This allows the original team to pay more than the guy would make on the market, because their cap hit would be lower. I think this one has a great chance of happening, because the owners would be for it so they don't lose star home-grown marketable talent, and the players would like it because it would also drive up salaries a bit.

ETA: One other potential suggestion for long contracts/cap hit, which I haven't seen mentioned, but just thought of, is to institute a rule that there can be no year of the contract where a player's salary can be lower than 50% (or 60% or 70% or 40% or whatever) of the contract's cap hit (i.e. the average of what he's making over the course of the contract). That would stop the addition of these stupid two-three years thrown on at the end where the players make nothing to lower the hit. That would be a bit of a compromise, rather than forcing them to take the same amount every year of the contract. Players wouldn't like it much, but this kind of stuff is getting out of control.

This post was edited on 7/14/12 at 11:32 pm