Canadian: Kent Hughes will have to work magic to attract free agents

UPDATE DAY

Kent Hughes will have “one more rock in his shoe” next July, when the time comes to attract free agents to Montreal. “He will have to woo and do magic tricks,” image player agent Erik Lupien.

Already, “general managers of Canadian teams are having a little more difficulty putting free agent contract,” confirms the president of the Sport Prospects firm.

We know the refrain and Lupien too: “There are taxes, the weather, the pressure and, here in Quebec, language comes into play. »

But to this is added, this year, the Act prohibiting the purchase of residential immovables by non-Canadians, which came into force on January 1 and which will remain in force until 2024. 

The primary objective of this new policy is to curb real estate speculation by foreigners, in order to calm the frenzy that has gripped the Canadian market. However, it does not affect players who already have Canadian citizenship, even if they reside in the United States.

Seeking solutions

Earlier this week, at the meeting of the general managers of the NHL, Hughes as well as his counterpart at the Ottawa Senators, Pierre Dorion, had recognized that the law constituted “a challenge for the hockey industry”, and especially for the seven Canadian markets. 

“I hope there is a way to find a compromise, but I don't know enough about the inner workings of the Canadian government to say how it could happen”, had commented the DG of the Canadian. 

This law could curb the arrival of free agents not only in Montreal, but within all the Canadian teams, confirms Erik Lupien. 

“If I put myself in the shoes of a player or 'a worker who is non-resident, I'm going to go somewhere else, it's still two years [during which they can't buy property], ”he points out. 

“If a player wants to get along long term [with the Canadiens, for example] and he sees that he can't buy a house near the arena, but he has a family to move […] and that he has to rent a condo for his wife and children…to ask the question is to answer it”, continues Lupien.

More difficult this summer

So the agent thinks “it will be really more difficult” for Canadian teams to attract players this summer. 

“We , as agents, what we do is we take out the pros and cons, ”he points out.

“More difficult”, yes, because as he mentioned earlier, there are other obstacles to the coming to Canada of hockey players who are without a contract. 

Including taxes, so often finger pointing. In the United States, they differ greatly from state to state. A difference that can be explained “by government spending”, underlines Philip Merrigan, professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). 

“It is based by the amount of public services that are given. Eight-dollar child care, the lowest tuition fees in North America, the most generous parental leave, they have to be funded. And that is through taxation,” continues the professor.

Thus, Canadian teams, which have not won a Stanley Cup for 29 years, are located for the most part in the most taxing places in North America. Montreal, with its tax rate of 52.5%, is second to last in the league… just ahead of the New Jersey Devils (52.9%), which are the exception to the rule.&nbsp ;

Two years wasted?

But there are ways to lighten your tax burden, say experts we spoke to. < /p>

And Erik Lupien hopes that Canadian CEOs will also be able to find strategies to lessen the impacts of federal law on the purchase of property. 

“I believe [this Act] will have a medium to long term impact [on Canadian teams]. They will lose two years, during which they risk seeing players sign contracts elsewhere. »

HIGHEST TAKES BY TEAM IN LAST JULY

(Calculated according to the average annual salary granted to the player)

ANAHEIM

John Klingberg (defender)
7 M$ 

ARIZONA

Joshua Brown (defender)
< strong>$1.275M

BOSTON

Anton Stralman (defender)
1 M$

BUFFALO

Ilya Lyubushkin ( defender)
$2.75M

CAROLINE

Paul Stastny (forward)
$1M

COLUMBUS

Johnny Gaudreau (forward)
$9.75M

CALGARY

Nazem Kadri (forward)
$7M

CHICAGO

Max Domi (forward)
$3M

COLORADO

Evan Rodrigues (forward)
$2M

DALLAS

Mason Marchment (forward)
< strong>$4.5M

DETROIT

Andrew Copp (forward)
$5.625M

EDMONTON

Jack Campbell (goalkeeper)
$5M

FLORIDA

Colin White (forward)
$1.2M

< p>LOS ANGELES

Brendan Lemieux (forward)
$1.35M

MONTREAL

Anthony Richard (forward)
$750,000

NEW JERSEY

< p>Ondrej Palat (forward)
$6M

NASHVILLE< /p>

Nino Niederreiter (forward)
$4M

NEW YORK (Islanders)

Dennis Cholowski (defender)
$762,500

NEW YORK (Rangers)

Vincent Trotcheck (forward)
$5.625M

OTTAWA

Claude Giroux (forward)
$6.5M

PHILADELPHIA

Nicolas Deslauriers (forward)
$1.75M

PITTSBURGH

Jan Rutta (defender)
$2.75M

SEATTLE

Andre Burakovsky (forward)
$5.5M

SAN JOSE

Oskar Lindblom (forward)
$2.5M

ST. LOUIS

Nick Leddy (defender)
$4M

TAMPA BAY

Ian Cole (defender)
$3M< /p>

TORONTO

Calle Jarnkrok (forward)
$2.1M

VEGAS

Phil Kessel (forward)
1, $5M

WASHINGTON

Darcy Kuemper (goalkeeper)
$5.25M

VANCOUVER

Ilya Mikheyev (forward )
$4.75M

WINNIPEG

David Rittich (guardian)
$900,000