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Maybe the Panthers and Stars front offices are smarter than just about everyone else, just the way the Lightning and Golden Knights hierarchies once were. Maybe these franchises would even succeed in a level playing field.
But that is impossible to evaluate under the NHL system in place in which these teams, plus the ones from Seattle and Nashville, start each season with a head start of maybe 5 percent or 10 percent on the salary cap by operating in states that do not levy personal income taxes.
And these six teams out of five states — Florida, Texas, Nevada, Washington and Tennessee — have accounted for 13 of the playoffs 24 semifinalist slots this decade. So that works out to 18.5 percent of the field making it to the final four over 54 percent of the time, starting with the 2020 bubble tournament.
Serendipitously, the league has the power to do something about this codified imbalance during the ongoing collective bargaining talks with the union that may in fact reach fruition within a month. They could address this glaring inequity beginning next season if the CBA is ratified by July 1. 
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