What is the really big difference between the NHL and the other professional sports leagues? The NFL, NBA, and MLB all have major National Television Contracts. The NHL doesn't. Without a mega-buck TV deal, I don't care what type of salary cap system is put into place, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Buffalo, and many other NHL teams need revenue and they need it pronto.

Since the advent of the NBA's vaunted salary cap, the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Charlotte Hornets moved to Memphis and New Orleans. The Clevland Browns went to Baltimore before re-emerging and the Houston Oilers are now the Tennessee Titans the Los Angeles Raiders went home to Oakland, and the Rams moved out of Anaheim for St. Louis in the NFL under a salary cap system and there is talk of other teams moving.

All of that has occured with the near-cost certainity that the salary cap provides. The only good possibility of the NHL's coming salary cap is that will disprove once and for all that salary caps are needed in order for sports franchises and leagues to survive. Even when a labor cost-certainity (which is the biggest expenditure) ticket, souvenier, and concession prices are still on the rise. By and large, salary caps are red herrings.

This discussion is seriously misguided. What all sports owners and player unions need to do is to figure out how to raise revenue without continuing to drive away the average fan. Instead they perfer to bicker over how they will split the ##### before it is even put into the oven. Until that happens, expect nothing to really change except the level of mediocrity.

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Everybody Wang Chung......

Please load brain before shooting off mouth.