The NHL salary cap has been a great equalizer for the league, and has probably save a few teams from folding or moving, notably the Pens. Still, teams with money can get around it too easily.
New Jersey got a lot of ink and flak for its 17-year, $102 million contract with Ilya Kovalchuk, a deal that so blatantly circumvented the spirit of the cap the league had to intervene. (The contract's voiding was upheld by an arbitrator and new jersey signed Kovalchuk to a slightly less offensive contract. The league's subsequent $3 million fine was piling on.) The league was right to step in in this sort of contract, of which several had been signed. (Most notably the Blackhawks' deal with winger Marian Hossa.) Still, there's another loophole that's being increasingly exploited that only rich teams can take advantage of: minor leagues.
The cap only counts players on the major league roster. There is some relief for long-term injuries, though it appears to be hard to get. What's easier, and becoming more popular, is to avoid a cap hit by sending the player to a minor league, as the Blackhawks did this week with goalie Cristobal Huet.
Yes, Pittsburgh did the same thing with Miroslav Satan a couple of years ago to make room for Bill Guerin during their 2009 Cup run, but that was at the end of the season where they had some cash to play with. The Hawks have send Huet yodeling off to Switzerland for the entire season, eating $5.5 million. The article doesn't say whether he can be recalled. Even if he can't that's a hell of lot of cap relief if you can afford to pay for it.
This makes the cap more like the tax code, allowing for assets to be shifted to they don't count. Anytime anything is compared to the tax code, you know there's something unfair about it.
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