Chaos and desperation are flooding over the National Hockey League in a way we haven’t seen in 50 years, not since the days of 1970s when the rival World Hockey Association formed and stole away star players like Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky.

What’s up with the NHL just now? A new outbreak of player power.

Suddenly teams have a lot more money to spend but, just as suddenly, star NHL players are throwing their weight around, leaving numerous teams with all kinds of cash but no star players to spend it on.

This is resulting in no-shortage of hurting, desperate teams with General Managers under great pressure to do something, anything.

The NHL’s salary cap is finally on the move, having been nearly static for almost six seasons, but shooting up $20 million the past three years, from $83.5 million to $104 million.

Meanwhile star players, almost all of them Americans, are flexing their muscles and pushing for trades. Quinn Hughes forced his way out of Vancouver, Brady Tkachuk out of Ottawa. Dylan Larkin now wants out of Detroit, Connor Hellebucyk out of Winnipeg, and, just maybe, Zach Werenski out of Columbus. Buffalo lost Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram over money disputes this past week.

Meanwhile winger Jason Robertson is demanding more money than Dallas wants to pay but has reportedly turned down trades and big money deals from Seattle and St. Louis because he doesn’t want to play there. All this is going on as Toronto implodes because its addicted to trade rumours around Matthew Knies, a player who actually wants to stay with the Leafs. It’s hard to fathom what’s going on with Knies.

On the Robertston/Seattle situation, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts podcast, “I feel terrible for the Kraken… It’s a kick in their teeth to them and their fans.”

For good or for ill, many more fanbases can expect such kicks in the teeth. It’s how the NHL is rolling just now.

Friedman described part of the problem Thursday on the FAN Hockey Show in Toronto, saying, “The problem is, like, the two top free agents that were available, we’re probably talking (Alex) Tuch and (Charlie) Coyle, right? And they’re both gone (Coyle signed a 6-year, $36-million deal in CBJ, Tuch an 8-year, $84 million with Washington). So all of a sudden, all these teams have cap room. Look at all the teams who have a ton of cap room. And there’s no free agents to spend them on.”

My take

1. Each NHL team is going to face a different scenario due to this outbreak of player power. Some teams like Vegas, Florida and Carolina are going to do well, as they are now preferred destinations. Montreal might be in the same boat, though that provinces taxes are through the roof.

Edmonton?

So long as the Oilers have Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, the Oilers have clout when it comes to attracting top talent. Albeta’s tax situation is also reasonable. The Oilers also have the financial might of owner Daryl Katz, along with his determination to do everything first-class on his team.

Katz doesn’t always get everything right, but the intention and the money is there.

2. Edmonton is one of the handful of NHL teams that will spend to the top of the $104 million salary cap this year. This will work to fill out the roster with solid players.

But its main issue right now is moving out Darnell Nurse, who has asked for a trade and provided Edmonton with a list of three teams he’s willing to go. On Thursday, NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported that teams are interested in Nurse, but he’s not their top option and no deal is on the front-burner just now. This isn’t a huge surprise, given that Nurse makes $9.25 million per year, a hefty price tag for a d-man who is good but not great.

But Bowen Byram is also a good not great d-man and there’s talk he will be getting in the $12-million per year range from Chicago. That’s how much the market has suddenly changed.

3. The NHL is now playing a game of musical chairs with its top available players. The music is now playing and 15-to-20 GMs are dancing about with increasing desperation. When the music stops, the GMs will all be rushing for five or six chairs of top available d-men. Nurse is one of those chairs. In the end, a good number of GMs will be left standing. A few of them will be desperate to make a move.

I can’t see how the Oilers won’t be able to benefit in that moment, but the team may not be able to move Nurse fast. They may have to wait, that is unless some pro-active GM decides to bite on Nurse before that GM is truly in a desperate spot to improve his team 10 days from now.

4. The allure of the Oilers already saw Edmonton sign two of its own free agents, Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson, instead of those two hitting the market. One hopes Edmonton can do the same with Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Ingram, two useful players.

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