The GM Meetings took place in Florida earlier this week, with little changes coming to the league.
It's possible that the league may add two more regular season games, or the process for coaches challenge's may change, but there was nothing directly dedicated to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
As a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs for many years, I am outraged that there is no preferential treatment for the team that brings in the most amount of money. If it wasn't for the Leafs, who knows if the NHL would even have been able to expand, as they are valued at $2.8B versus the Buffalo Sabres, who are valued at $750M.
The Maple Leafs are a powerhouse and as the most valuable team in the NHL, the other GM's should allow special rules that would benefit our beloved blue-and-white.
For example, let's take a look at three specific rule changes that the NHL should have approved at the GM meeting's this week that would be helped the Leafs and made their fans very happy.
No. 1: Leafs Automatically Get First-Round Bye
First and foremost, the Leafs should be given a first-round bye when they make the playoffs. Since 2004, the Leafs have only won one playoff series, which is totally unfair and not beneficial for the rest of the NHL.
Think about how much more money the NHL would generate if the Leafs got an automatic bye to the Second Round and only needed to win 12 games to capture a Stanley Cup versus 16. When the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup, they only had to win eight games, so no wonder they have such a hard time reaching 16.
I think Leafs fans would really appreciate this and the other GM's should want the same thing to happen, because it will only bring more eyeballs to the league.
No. 2: Unlimited Salary Cap
As previously shown, the Leafs are valued at $2.8B, while the Sabres are only valued at $750M, so why in the world are they both only allowed to spend the same amount of money?
It doesn't make any sense that the Leafs have a salary-cap towards them, because they can clearly afford to pay players more money to be here. If this were the case, we wouldn't be barking and screaming about Auston Matthews making $13.5M because in the open-market, they would probably pay him $30M, and who cares.
The fact that there is a salary cap makes the Leafs less likely to win a Stanley Cup, which as I mentioned before, isn't great for the league, so the NHL should allow an unlimited salary-cap.
No. 3: Designated Player Rule
If the GM's aren't going to allow an unlimited salary-cap, then there needs to be at least a designated player rule that allows for up to 4 players to be paid as much as possible and it doesn't count to the salary-cap.
The MLS has a Designated Player Rule and it works great, because it allows teams to pay a player as much as they want, and it doesn't count towards the salary cap. It helped the league acquire David Beckham and Lionel Messi, which is something they wouldn't have been able to do without that rule. It's a huge benefit to not only the player, but the fans in North America.
As fans, we scream and moan about the Leafs core-four and how much they make, but if they allowed the Designated Player Rule, the Leafs could pay Auston Matthews, MItch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander $100M each per year and it wouldn't count against their cap. Think about how amazing that would be and beneficial!
This is clearly a satirical article, so I hope you're not too angry by the end of this, but in a perfect world, all of these rules changes would be amazing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.