Gary Bettman's Parity: Is It Good for NHL Hockey Franchises?

As things stand right now, there are exactly eight points separating all 30 NHL franchises.

Yes sir, the league's worst team is currently the Buffalo Sabres, but a four-game win streak along with a couple of minor losing skids by two or three teams ahead of them, and they are right back in the mix.

Before we get too excited or ahead of ourselves, let's remember that last year's best regular season team, the Washington Capitals, finished ahead of the league's worst team, the Edmonton Oilers, by a whopping 59 points.

The average difference in points between the league's best and worst since the lockout has been 58.3 points. In the six years prior to the lockout, the difference was a larger 62.1 point average.

So theoretically, with less of a gap between first and worst, the idea of parity in the NHL is working right?

If you were to ask almost any NHL fan what they wanted from their team, they would all say they want their team to win. They don’t want their teams to try and come close by giving a good effort; they want their teams to win.

The salary cap era was supposed to usher in an era of parity, in which the talent pool would be spread more evenly across the 30 teams in the league, thereby theoretically allowing each team an equal chance over the course of time to be a contender and build a real fan base, thus allowing organizational success.

The truth is so far it’s just the same as it has always been; it’s just done differently.

Instead of one team spending a lot of money and buying a good team, a team now spends very little, stinks up the place for a few years, gets a couple of really good draft picks and starts the cycle all over again.

Eight of the top 10 teams in the NHL right now have been bad to average regular season teams over the course of the last decade or so with the exception of the Detroit Red Wings, who for the last 20 years have been one of the best built organizations in the world.

Even now, the once-mighty Red Wings are sitting back, wondering what they can do.

The truth of the matter is the only difference between now and 20 years ago is loyalty. Players go where the money goes. Not necessarily because they are selfish mind you—since a lot of them aren’t—but a lot of them are insecure.

With the injuries in the NHL these days and Mack trucks on skates trying to move people off the puck, players want the most money they can get quickly—just in case.

If the NHL wants parity, it is going to take a lot longer than the few years between CBA’s to get it done. Also, ask the fans their opinions, not the owners.

Fans don’t want parity; they want dynasties. The Atlanta Thrashers do not want to win the Cup once every 30 years and Toronto Maple Leafs fans don’t want to have to wait another 30 years after they finally win one.

They want to win six in 10 years!