The debate over why NHL players move towards certain teams resurfaced this week, and analyst Paul Bissonnette gave his take on it.

In between the Spittin' Chiclets podcast, Bissonnette talked about the growing conversation around trade requests and preferred destinations and pushed the idea that taxes and weather are a part of the reason.

"Taxes, weather, where you're living, not dealing with media,"  Bissonnette listed all those factors that have an influence on where players want to play.

Lower taxes mean they get to take higher pay home, warmer climates, and smaller media help them to live more easily on a day-to-day basis.

"It just so happens like you have to group in the fact that like a lot of these teams that are down there are managed very well," he said.

Bissonnette took names like Bill Zito in Florida, Julien BriseBois in Tampa Bay, Jim Nill in Dallas, and Bill Guerin in Minnesota as examples of leaders who have built teams that players genuinely want to play in. However, he justified the reason behind Minnesota's popularity.

"That's not the best weather, obviously," Bissonnette said. "It's because of the way they run their organization."

If climate and taxes were the real reasons, Minnesota would not be a preferred destination. Minnesota has a humid continental climate, with hot summers and cold winters. People with the highest incomes in that state could pay up to 9.85% of their taxable income in state income taxes, according to KTTC.

He wrapped up the discussion by acknowledging both viewpoints, saying that while warm weather and no state income tax do attract players, only about five to eight teams are regularly left off no-trade lists.

The tax math behind the theory

The financial side of these no-state-income-tax teams is real. Only six NHL teams play home games in states with no personal income tax. According to TSN, they are the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, Vegas Golden Knights, and Seattle Kraken.

The players do not avoid all state taxes, but there’s a thing known as the jock tax. It means that the visiting players are taxed by each state where they work. Their income will be allocated based on the number of duty days they spend there. 

But the home duty days, which include practices, team meetings, and off-day workouts, all make up to 55 to 60 percent of a player's total obligations. This debate over how much this matters has grown as Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Vegas have all become the top contenders in the league. 

Bissonnette's comments show us that the real reason lies somewhere between both sides. For a player who’s stuck between two similarly competitive teams, the taxes may play a role.

What do you think of the factors that Bissonnette highlighted? Let us know in the comments.

Read more at NHL Fan Central.

Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar