Is Mikaelsson on a rookie contract? Why is he making 4,000,000 a season? I get talking about raising the cap because of loyalty, but if loyalty was your end game why take a max loaded contract?
By the way several teams have kept guys who remained loyal and fit them under the cap. Helsinki seems to be doing pretty good, even able to go acquire one of the top contracts to play goaltender for them by means of a trade.
As Chris pointed out, look at New York. They seemed to run over other teams the last 4-5 season with the same core. Hell even going out and grabbing Bentley. So I'm not sure where the argument comes where the VHL Cap needs to increase to reward loyalty and gain a bigger player base in the VHL. Like I stated before, you want more players on your roster and an increased cap? Go out and recruit your asses off so they arrive in shipment size.