The NHL's new reality: Star players now dictate where they want to play

The NHL's new reality: Star players now dictate where they want to play 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 ask for a change once you were signed . If you did, you could expect some serious boos in your first game back. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore – the last year has seen more trade requests from star players than ever before. Most recently, we've seen Connor Hellebuyck request out of Winnipeg , Brady Tkachuk move on from Ottawa, Quinn Hughes advise the Canucks he wouldn't re-sign with them (and rumours of the same thing happening in Minnesota continue) and Dylan Larkin in need of a fresh start from Detroit. The first domino to fall may have been Matthew Tkachuk leaving Calgary with one destination in mind. These moves over the past couple of years are unprecedented for the NHL and signal a major change. One thing that hasn't changed is that players want to win. It's just that now, they're better equipped to put themselves in a position to do so. With the power the stars wield today, their contract does little other than guarantee the money they will make over the next number of years – it doesn't guarantee where they'll play. What's a General Manager to do if his star player comes to him and indicates he won't re-sign or he needs a change of scenery? These stars don't grow on trees, and GMs need to maximize the return on these players. A player not signing and leaving for nothing can be catastrophic. The full effects of this were on display last season in Toronto – Mitch Marner being lost for no return certainly hurt them last season. If the team won't trade them, the player can sit out. While this might paint them in a negative light temporarily, most guys are making more than enough money to stomach a holdout knowing that they'll be in a better situation at the end of it. Bottom line, a trade request from a star player prompts most GMs to act fast. The growth the league is experiencing has put more pressure than ever on GMs to build a winning team, coaches to push the right buttons during their shorter and shorter shelf lives, and ownership to provide a great place to play. If these things aren't happening, players will move onto another team that will. This environment is likely to produce some of the best hockey we've ever seen – and also will foster continued movement of the star players around the league for years to come. We're likely to see the teams that do it right become the NHL version of 'super teams' — the few teams that the players think have a legitimate shot at winning will be able to load up with star players and make a run. And, if things fizzle out, they can move on to the next team. Even the players who most wouldn't be considered stars are benefiting. While I'm sure they appreciate the extra money with the cap going up, another bargaining chip that has come to light is the no-move clause. More and more players are adding these into their contracts, likely at the sacrifice of a few hundred thousand dollars per season in contract value. This gives them control over where they will play and helps the team with managing the salary cap, perhaps freeing up some money to bring in another player or get a star player the contract they're asking for. So it isn't just the star players who are having a say in where they play now. From an Edmonton Oilers perspective, these changes can be stressful. Having two of the best players in the world used to be a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing. There isn't a single day that I'm not thankful to have witnessed this era of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. With that said, if the team spins their wheels, what's stopping the stars from leaving? Draisaitl is signed long-term, but I could hardly blame him if he didn't want to watch the latter years of his career go by from outside of the playoff picture. McDavid took a more new-school approach to his most recent contract – he put the pressure on the organization to rebound and build a winner by signing only for the short term. Losing one or both of these players would be a tough pill to swallow, but it would be hard to blame them if the Oilers were to fall out of the list of contenders. Safe to say, there is a lot of pressure on everyone in the organization to perform and to win. By the same token, the Oilers have benefited from this changing climate. Being a perennial contender and the opportunity to play with McDavid and Draisaitl has brought more talent and has enticed players to re-sign with the team. If the team keeps up their winning ways, the snowball effect may continue to work in the team's favour and bring more top-calibre players to Edmonton. This new environment that the NHL is operating in promises to make for an exciting season and promises to bring yet another season of the best quality hockey we have ever witnessed. 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