2024 Stanley Cup Champions
Do the Florida Panthers Have a Tax Advantage? Well, Yeah
One of the big talking points around the NHL the past couple of years has been about how teams in non-income tax states — like the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Vegas Golden Knights — have a big advantage over teams located in states or provinces with high tax rates.
Do they?
Well, yeah.
On Tuesday, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly broached the subject during the NHL/NHLPA Media Tour in Las Vegas said changes could come to the league’s salary cap to try and even things out — but not anytime soon.
“There are just too many variables to really control all of them,” Daly said according to the Canadian Press.
“If we have the next ten years similar to the last five, then maybe it’s something that needs to be addressed. But at this stage, I’m not really running to get there. … We always look for ways to make the system better. I don’t have any obvious answers to it.”
Florida’s Sam Reinhart was at the Media Tour and was asked if Florida not having a state income tax played a role in his re-signing with the Panthers earlier this summer.
Reinhart, who scored a career-high 57 goals going into his free agency year, signed for what a team-favorable deal of eight years at $8.65 million.
Toronto’s William Nylander, meanwhile, has his new eight-year contract kicking in this season. He is going to be count $11.5 million against the salary cap.
Nylander’s contract would make him the highest paid player with the Panthers — by a sizable margin.
Both Sasha Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky make $10 million annually; Matthew Tkachuk counts for $9.5 million.
Although the Panthers pay their top players a little less, that only works if players want to be there.
Lately, everyone seems to want to play for the Panthers.
That was not always the case.
Remember, the Panthers had always played in a state without an income tax — and people are only complaining about it now that they are winning.
“It is something that comes up,” Reinhart said when asked about the lack of Florida state tax.
“It’s things you balance. It just so happens that it’s tax-free, and one of the better places to play. Those are all factors.’’
There are a handful of teams which play in states without local income tax, with the Florida and Nevada teams winning four of the past five Stanley Cup championships.
Canada, which has teams whose players pay both a federal and provincial tax, has not had one of its NHL teams win the Stanley Cup since 1993.
When Florida beat the Edmonton Oilers, much was made of how much more the Oilers were paying their top stars than the Panthers are.
Edmonton recently signed Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year contract worth $14 million each year.
Connor McDavid, if he stays in Edmonton, will likely eclipse that with his next contract.
Meanwhile, the Panthers core is pretty much locked down at affordable deals with Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, and Aaron Ekblad going into the final year of their contracts.
“They have to find a way to tweak it,” Ottawa’s Shane Pinto said. “If you look at all these free agents, you don’t blame them for going down south. But I do think they have to find a way, especially for the Canadian teams … they’ve got to overpay guys to come to Canada every time, that messes up with the cap.
“It’d be nice to have an even playing field.”
Radko Gudas, who left the Panthers to sign a three-year contract with Anaheim last summer, seems to get a kick out of this argument.
While Florida does not have a state income tax which has positively affected the Panthers and Lightning over the years, smart roster building and team development builds winners — and that does not have anything to do with taxes or a lack of them.
“If they want to change it, maybe we should change the playoff format, too.”
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UP NEXT FOR THE FLORIDA PANTHERS
- NHL Free Agency: Opened July 1
- Nashville Predators Rookie Showcase: Sept. 13-16
- Florida Panthers Training Camp, Fort Lauderdale: Starts Sept. 19
- Florida Panthers Preseason: Sept. 22-Oct. 5
- Florida Panthers Opening Night/Banner Unveiling: Oct. 8 vs. Bruins (ESPN)
Florida Panthers, Stanley Cup Visit the Miami Heat
Welcome to Florida: Stanley Cup Champion Panthers Have New Faces
National Champion Miami Hurricanes Lose Season Opener
St. Martin Kicks off Florida Panthers Career with a Bang
Do the Florida Panthers Have a Tax Advantage? Well, Yeah
St. Martin Kicks off Florida Panthers Career with a Bang
End of Summer: Florida Panthers Back on Ice (Sort Of) Today
Welcome to Florida: Stanley Cup Champion Panthers Have New Faces
Florida Panthers Media Day: Stanley Cup Final
Florida Panthers Practice: Getting Antsy Before Cup Final
FHN Postgame: Florida Panthers Celebrate Eastern Conference Title
Florida Panthers Morning Skate: Prepping for the Rangers
Not sure why we couldn’t leave comments on Alan’s recent article, but I thought it was excellent. As far as the tax advantage, the argument that we always had it but could not sign players until we won is a strong and valid one.
If there is an adjustment made for tax free States, then big markets including Canadian cities with much greater potential for advertising revenue or other similar perks must be added to the formula. I think it’s too convoluted of an exercise to pursue. No other sport does it, and neither should the NHL.
Just more Canadian tears. This is simply an excuse that poorley run organizations use to try and justify being bad. I don’t wanna hear about taxes, it’s all about how you’re franchise is ran. Good leadership trumps taxes every time. Floridas recent success proves that. The tax free thing sure helped us for 30 years before our recent run of success huh? Besides, agents and Canadian teams have used signing bonuses, which are taxed at a different rate, for years to work around the issues. there’s a reason Tavares avv is at the league minimum, 99% of his deal was… Read more »
I have an idea, if you sports fans don’t want your sports stars to have to deal with high state income taxes, then stop voting for people that enact such taxes. In doing so, you will also save yourselves the tax burden. The people who earn the money should be allowed to keep the money. Just my opinion.