Much has been made recently about the lack of state taxes in certain NHL cities and whether that gives those teams an advantage in attracting players.
Florida, which has no state taxes, has had a team in the Stanley Cup Final the past six years: the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2020-22 and the Florida Panthers from 2023-25.
Mikko Rantanen agreed to a trade to the Dallas Stars and signed an eight-year extension. Texas also has no state taxes.
TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette asked Gary Bettman whether the league would take action to balance things out and the commissioner called it a ‘ridiculous issue.’
‘When the Florida teams weren’t good, which was for about 17 years, nobody said anything about it,’ he said. ‘For those of you who played, were you sitting there with a tax table? No.’
Bettman then cited things that would attract a player, such as a good city, first-class arena and training facility, and a front office, coaches and teammates that could give someone a chance at a championship.
‘By the way,’ Bettman added, ”state taxes high in Los Angeles, high in New York. What are we going to do? Subsidize those teams?’
Bissonnette asked if the NHL could take taxes away from Ontario to help the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bettman quipped: ‘I was watching you during the prior rounds. Your attire was a little suspect in terms of your journalistic objectivity.’
Bissonnette wore Maple Leafs gear occasionally on set during the second round.
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