this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2026
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Hockey

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/58233840

If Canada ran its own top-tier league, focused on Canadian cities, rivalries, and development, would the sport be healthier and better at the highest level?

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[–] pwnicholson@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No.

Canadian teams (except maybe Toronto) could never compete with the money teams from the USA can offer. Some players would play for a little less to be close to home, but they're professionals with relatively short careers. If they're not making as much money as they can add quickly as possible, that's foolish. Most will follow the money.

It would be a lot like the KHL. A handful of marquee players that could argue they're top talent in the world and would pull big money from the top 1-2 well-funded teams.

But it would be a mostly lower tier league because the teams from New York, Chicago, LA, etc will always have deeper pockets, especially factoring for exchange rates and taxes.

[–] Yezzey@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Money already doesn’t guarantee the best hockey. The NHL struggles with competitive balance as it is.

If a Canadian league emphasized parity, rivalries, and consistent high-level competition, could that offset lower salaries for at least some segment of elite players?

[–] pwnicholson@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The NHL is by far the league with the most parity between the North American majors. If you think it struggles with competitive balance, try watching other sports.

[–] Yezzey@lemmy.ca -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Its the only major league..

[–] pwnicholson@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

North American majors leagues. Just Google it if you're confused.

NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL.

What other four "major leagues" did you think I meant?

[–] Yezzey@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

I thought you were talking hockey

[–] Yezzey@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

I guess the real question is can we take back our game?

[–] AmosBurton_ThatGuy@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Am Canadian, and absolutely not. As much as I hate murica, having the NHL be in both Canadian and murican cities is better for the game. Even Canadians that aren't into hockey are at least kind of aware of the big games and big names, same can't be said for murica. The more people that play the game and have a chance at making the big leagues, the better IMO.

That being said, I have a huge list of grievances with the NHL and I often see the sentiment of "best sport, worst league" among hockey fans and I agree with that completely. Refs are complete and utter trash, so is the department of player safety. The league is, IMO, quite corrupt and needs a top down reform to expel the old boys club from the top echelons of the league.

Hockey Canada itself as an organization is also extremely toxic and relies far too much on the old boys club as well. Just look at the sad state of Canadian goalies lately, we went from Price, Brodeur, Fleury, Luongo, Roy, etc to now having Binnington and Thompson as the Olympics goalies for Canada. Don't get me wrong they aren't bad, but it's a far cry from the prime days of Canada pumping out extremely high quality goalies consistently. Now were average at best, and other countries, including the US (🤮) having much better goalies than us.

There's also the whole cost thing, hockey has become a rich persons sport. You don't stand a chance of making it to the big leagues unless you're either a generational talent like McDavid or Price, or you spend tens of thousands over the years on professional 1 on 1 coaching. I'm 32 and I had to quit playing organized hockey at 14 cause my parents couldn't afford to pay for the goalie gear and team fees etc and that was back in the mid 2000s. Shits only gotten worse since then.

If Canada wants to retain it's position as the dominant hockey nation, then there are a lot of hard changes that need to be made. How many future Price's, Crosby's and McDavid's have simply been priced out of the game and will never get the chance to be what they could've been?

[–] yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

LT, average? He's basically the reason the Caps are somewhat competitive right now. Should've been on Team Canada in Four Nations last year.

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Wait, I thought that $20 000 a year hockey academy would turn my beer league skating child into McDavid?!

[–] IndridCold@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Who cares.

"pro" sports are rigged.

[–] Yezzey@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wouldn't be in Canada would it?

[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 2 months ago

We're run by a few oligopolies. Everything is rigged

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

I would be a lot more invested personally. Just from approximately 0% to maybe 10%.

[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

There’s already the CHL/WHL.