from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

There is no other league in the world like this one, no other league that habitually legislates against its strongest teams the way the NHL does, and will continue to do if the recently unveiled expansion draft framework is adopted in concert with the expected announcement that Las Vegas will join — or become — the party for the 2017-18 season.

It is one thing for the Board to enact rules to give the new team, which not coincidentally will spread the wealth by about $16 million per Original 30 on a $500 million entrance fee, a greater opportunity for the immediate success than all of the expansion clubs over the last 48 years to precede it.

But it is another thing entirely to adopt legislation that inevitably will punish franchises that have invested their fans’ money — where else does the revenue originate? — into trying to win and build sustainable operations.

Implementation of a hard cap has accomplished this objective. So has elimination of front-loaded contracts. So have the adoption of the cap-recapture and cap charges against players waived out of the league.

All in the name of almighty competitive balance that has produced a league of lukewarm quality in which, by the way, 12 of its 30 teams were effectively eliminated from playoff contention by the trade deadline.

And now, this. Now these guidelines released at last week’s meetings of the league’s general managers, who are always the last to know about regulations affecting their work product and livelihood.

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