The July 1 weekend in the sports world is all about teams finally able to sign free agents in basketball and hockey.
The two leagues are vastly different in terms of the impact of the signings that take place.
In terms of hockey July 1, shows quite clearly that it is now the National Accounting League, and not about hockey at all, as most deals are made with the impact on the salary cap more important that whether a deal will actually improve your hockey team.
That is not to say that when the New York Rangers signed Artemi Panarin that the team won’t be better because of it, but you don’t dump Patrick Marleau and add Jason Spezza as was the case in Toronto and expect anyone to think you upgraded the talent on your team.
And, you don’t trade Jacob Trouba for Neal Pionk because it’s good for the Winnipeg Jets on the ice. It was a trade made to deal with salary cap issues.
You wouldn’t let Tyler Myers get away either if you weren’t hamstrung by the salary cap as was the case in Winnipeg again.
Coming out of the first day of free agent signings it’s actually a case where Toronto, one of the league’s richest teams is probably weaker than they were at the end of the Leafs playoff run.
The Jets too look weaker, in particular on defence where two key veterans are gone.
That is not to say I don’t appreciate that the salary cap has created deeper parity in the NHL, and that is good for competitive play.
But, it does grow wearisome that salary cap is the first consideration of every move and analysis that happens. It would be nice if improving a team on the ice was at least occasionally the first consideration.
Of course it might be that my teams really did very little on July 1. Neither Winnipeg nor Calgary made notable moves.
The Leafs did plenty of tinkering, again to make cap room, but only one on ice improvement move, sending Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen and a draft pick to Colorado for Tyson Barrie, Alex Kerfoot and a lower draft pick. Barrie is automatically the second best defenceman on the Leafs, long a glaring weakness.
Vancouver, also a team in need of defence added Myers for a cap hit of $6 million, about the upper limit for the guy, but he will help.
Then they added Jordie Benn and Oscar Fantenberg for blueline depth so they are at least trying.
On the basketball side its massive money for big names, because two or three megastars is all you need to be a serious contender in the NBA.
The New York Nets are trying to build a super team.
The Los Angeles Laker want Kawhi Leonard to join LeBron James for the same super star core.
It is unfortunate stars gravitate to a few key markets, leaving most NBA teams, without major injuries to the big stars and tons of good luck, out of contention by July 2.
As for the Toronto Raptors, Leonard either surprises and resigns, or we will be in for a very average season ahead.
