Personally, i don't want a salary cap. I cheer for a team which is way up there in team payroll, and they're making millions of $$ of profits each year. Why would i want a cap? If they can afford to buy and pay for the best players, then they should. If they don't do this, the money will wind up in the owner's pockets anyway. It will be a cold day in hell if the price of tickets ever goes down.
At the end of the regular season, when each team is trying to boost themselves up for the upcoming playoff run, the trading day deadline is one of the most exciting annual events in a hockey season. With a salary cap, it won't be the same. Also, if a team's highest paid player gets injured early in the season (or later), there will be no way to replace him with a player of his calibre if this player's injury is very serious. To be able to replace him, a team would have to go over the cap, which wouldn't be permissible under the new rules. The possibility of serious injury in a contact sport such as hockey is very possible. This isn't basketball or baseball, after all....and games are played on every second or third day, over an 8-9 month period....not every weekend (over a 4-5 month period such as in the NFL).
A cap won't solve anything in cities such as Miami, Raleigh, Atlanta, etc. They are just not hockey hotbeds, period. A salary cap won't attract more fans to those areas. It's the league's fault that they didn't establish teams in potential hockey markets such as Seattle, Milwaukee, etc. They took the money instead of making the logical choices. The owners want a salary in order to police themselves, period. They are like a bunch of spoiled children that have no control over themselves.
