Some exceptions are logical and should be copied from the NBA (as much as I agree with you that it's way too complicated there). The Bird rule (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_salary_cap#Larry_Bird_exception) makes so much sense - allowing teams to get a discount on the cap to keep the veterans. These are the players that the fans love, the give the team its character, and the top execs who only look at the bottom line should have some incentive to do something for the fans.