It’s becoming more of a narrative each day as the season approaches — the landscape of the NHL is changing, and money is at the forefront of it. The league is flourishing, the salary cap is increasing in chunks each year, and players are getting paid.

The contracts for the star players in the NHL are finally approaching those of the other major sports. It always seemed kind of crazy that the top basketball and baseball players were making three times or more what the stars in the NHL were making, so seeing contracts like Cale Makar’s new $20.4 million AAV deal is refreshing.

It’s funny, though — while I’m happy to see these guys get paid closer to what they’re worth, some of the changes that come with this leave me conflicted. Call me old-fashioned, but one of my favourite things about the NHL was seeing the hometown fans adopt players as their own and, the longer a player stuck around, the more revered they would become. This loyalty has been mostly unique to hockey. Other sports would see players come and go, “super teams” be built and dismantled, and free agent frenzies change the entire league in a single day. I’m probably in the minority on this one — these types of things seem to be what grow the game. The last 12 months or so have been very interesting as the changes begin to permeate throughout the league. One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed has been around how players are treating their contracts.

Anyone who has tried to get out of an agreement, whether it be a date night with their partner or their contract with their cell phone company, knows that it’s there for a reason – you sign on and you can’t make changes without a penalty. This was largely the case in the NHL for a long time too. You signed on, took the money you were worth, and didn’t dare........

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