The Washington Capitals’ purchase of salary cap information website CapFriendly has not been received well in NHL circles.
For one, many teams around the league actively used the data and infrastructure on the website to inform their team-building. Because of course they did — it’s a terrific and accessible resource. The same could be said of NHL fans, who enjoyed monitoring how their favorite squads were built from a financial standpoint. You know, bog-standard “how is my team going afford to Player A?” stuff that builds natural buzz and interest for free agency, trades, and the draft. There’s nothing quite like playing Couch General Manager as a diehard.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest 32 Thoughts Podcast, it gets worse. Now that the Capitals have made CapFriendly an official league entity, they couldn’t keep the website going in a different capacity even if they tried. Why?
The NHL apparently frowns upon websites like this as it considers salary cap dealings “proprietary information.”
What a profoundly stupid league run by absolute buffoons:
Friedman on CapFriendly (32TP): "The NHL frowns on the existence of sites like this one, even though they should be doing it themselves, they consider it propriety information, so the Capitals couldn't keep it open if they wanted to…"
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) June 11, 2024
In this age of hyper-information, sports fans are obsessed with knowing the ins and outs of their favorite teams and sports. Having a conduit to salary cap information is just one way for people to deepen their bond with a team and league. Following cap dealings have effectively been normalized in most capacities, particularly with other leagues like the larger NFL and NBA.
Heck, for some people, it’s almost as fun as the actual games! It’s how most offseasons percolate, after all.
For the NHL to frown upon giving fans this kind of extremely basic access is just silly. It is the league once again missing the forest for the trees. In what realm of this universe does it make sense to consider salary cap dealings “proprietary information” that fans shouldn’t be allowed to have? I guess I was unaware that the NHL was a faceless corporation sending out non-compete job disclosures to its fans, not a league rooted in entertainment and public interest, first and foremost.
It’s worth noting that none of this likely comes to light without the Capitals’ purchase. If CapFriendly doesn’t become a league entity, we’re not even having this conversation. But it is now, and the aftermath has predictably made the NHL look absolutely witless. Again.
NHL fans were confounded by the league frowning upon salary cap information
I’ve said this for years:
– Trades/signings create an endless amount of huge buzz for the NHL
– They can only happen if teams have room under the cap
– NHL doesn’t officially let fans know how much room teams have under the cap
– ???? https://t.co/ZePp9OZvT6— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 11, 2024
Business ran by fools. Total fools. https://t.co/w73GwGa37l
— Travis Yost (@travisyost) June 11, 2024
The NHL is the dumbest league in sports. Just absolutely asinine. https://t.co/kGtRTkS5q0
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) June 11, 2024
He mentioned this on TJMS yesterday too, basically that the league sees all this salary stuff as confidential.
This would basically mean that the fans and media and the like are all trading in corporate espionage or whatever.
Just profoundly prehistoric thinking from the NHL https://t.co/SSxo7mTmzs
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) June 11, 2024
The NHL, desperately trying to limit fan interest.
Of course, the reason fans care do much about it is the salary cap that the league deemed to be of ultimate importance. https://t.co/UPF9tKoEqN
— Scott Cullen (@ByScottCullen) June 11, 2024
The National Hockey League — where the goal is to keep their fans as uninformed as humanly possible https://t.co/0Acl5lgn7w
— Greg Kaplan (@BlueshirtsBreak) June 11, 2024
Gary is such a dinosaur https://t.co/5t67QDPOQd
— BrianBeLeafs (@BrianBeLeafs) June 11, 2024
why would you want your fans to engage and be interested https://t.co/j9jmzBCdNU
— Sam (@samanthacp_) June 11, 2024
