No Income Tax Status Has Sun Belt NHL Teams Running Hot 

The Florida Panthers’ recent Stanley Cup victory has sparked debate in the NHL over how much influence state tax policy has on team performance. Historically, the NHL’s most successful teams—Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and Detroit Red Wings—are in Canada and the northern U.S. where hockey is a strong part of the local sports culture.  

In recent years, however, the success of hockey teams seems to be tied more strongly to external factors rather than historical legacy. Since 2020, teams from states with no income tax—Florida (Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers), Texas (Dallas Stars), and Nevada (Vegas Golden Knights)—have consistently reached the Stanley Cup Final. In fact, Florida has had a team in the Stanley Cup Final each of the last six years: Tampa Bay Lightning from 2020-2022, and the Florida Panthers from 2023-2025. To a casual hockey fan, this shift is puzzling. Why are teams from warm-weather areas dominating while traditional hockey markets, such as New York and Boston, fall behind? 

Conservative lawmakers in these states point towards their tax policy. Cutting income taxes helps attract top talent through higher wages while offering more opportunities to develop championship-caliber teams. Five of the last six Stanley Cup champions are from states with no income tax: Florida, Texas, and Nevada. To put this into perspective, there are only six NHL teams in states with no income tax, and none of them are traditional hockey powerhouses. This demonstrates a clear correlation between success in the Stanley Cup and the absence of state income tax. For traditional hockey fans from cities like Boston and New York, this presents a major problem. Higher income taxes means that teams have to offer higher salaries to match the equivalent level from a team in a state with no income tax. Over time, this hampers a team’s ability to effectively build a roster that can compete for championships. These taxes put constraints on players as well. Brad Marchand, a Canadian winger who played in Boston for fifteen years, said this after being traded to Florida: 

“The Canadian teams, most of them have an extremely high tax rate, and then the California teams, same thing: Those teams are going to have to pay more money to get certain players than others,” Marchand said. “When you look at a team like Montreal, what are they 52, 54%? Versus a team like here or Dallas or whatever. That’s a 15% difference. When you add that up, it’s a tremendous amount of money.” 

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman dismissed this issue as “ridiculous,” but even Wayne Gretzky recognizes the impact of tax policy on team performance. Despite the hockey culture being stronger in cities like Edmonton and Detroit, the financial benefits of playing in a city like Miami or Dallas present very strong incentives for talented players to consider moving to lesser-known teams. This perceived gap in fan culture is also closing. In the 2023-2024 season, four of the top ten teams in terms of capacity percentage were from states with no income tax. Whether it’s a team’s ability to attract top talent that drives fan turnout, or greater disposable income among fans that fuels stronger support, the result is the same: a reciprocal relationship between conservative tax policy and team success.  

The sports world functions on the same market principles as the rest of the economy. By cutting income taxes, states give fans, players, and franchises a competitive edge. If you build it, they will come—and win.