Slicing and dicing: that expensive second contract
Cam Charron
September 06 2012 10:13AM
One of the craziest common questions circulating around during this period of labour uncertainty is that if the owners cry poor, then why are they still signing these players to huge contracts? The simplest answer is that the owners that are crying poor, aren't exactly the ones signing teams to contracts.
The big deals signed by NHL players, the ones over $50M, are proportionally distributed with the top revenue teams in the NHL and, coincidentally, with the number of playoff berths:
| % of NHL Revenue | % of NHL Playoff Spots | % of $50M+ Contracts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10 revenue teams | 46% | 44% | 45% |
| Bottom 10 revenue teams | 23% | 25% | 20% |
That's revenue from 2010-11, $50M contracts signed for the 2011-12 season and playoff berths for the 2011-12 season.
The 24-team solution
Cam Charron
September 05 2012 10:44AM
All of a sudden, we feel the need to drop teams from the NHL roster. Michael Grange suggested four, but in the interest of balance, let's drop six, for two 12-team conferences. Right now, the teams are spread out, few are shown on television, and the NHL cannot obviously compete financially in the United States with a league similarly sized to the NFL and MLB.
But this leads me to a question, one that I'm determined to answer before the next round of contraction or relocation:
If it were in the best interests of the National Hockey League to have fewer teams, why wouldn't there already be fewer teams?
Tom Anselmi takes over MLSE
Cam Charron
September 04 2012 01:08PM
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment has found their new COO.
As our friend Bruce Arthur points out,
Anselmi's primary sports responsibility under the old regime, of course, was Toronto FC.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) September 4, 2012
I solicited an opinion about the Rogers-Bell purchase of MLSE and what it means for the clubs going forward while out for drinks a couple of weeks ago. A cautiously optimistic baseball fan (not the Blue Jays) suggested to me that Rogers had a good track record in hiring younger, more creative minds such as J.P. Ricciardi or Alex Anthopolous to run the Blue Jays.
And, well then we get this. The major MLSE teams last season, the Raptors, FC and Leafs, won 64 games and lost 103. For some reason, MLSE thinks that shuffling the deck that doesn't have any face cards rather than purchase a new deck is the key to sporting success.
This is not hockey news (Also, Phaneuf's powerplay production)
Cam Charron
September 04 2012 05:17AM
Welcome to the front pages of the sports sections of the Toronto Star (above) and the Globe and Mail (below). Other newspapers and websites had more discretion, at least confining the news to the entertainment and arts pages.
I do want to address this specific point, mind you:
— theScoreTicker (@theScoreTicker) September 3, 2012
#Leafs Dion Phaneuf is now engaged to Elisha Cuthbert. Prior to dating, he recorded 0.65 PPG. Since dating...0.49 PPG
The five worst, and best, contracts on the Leafs
Cam Charron
September 03 2012 10:48AM
I wrote a post over at Canucks Army last week that looked at the Canucks' best and worst contracts, the idea being that when the salary cap is rolled back at the start of next hockey season, whenever that is, we can pick and choose which players ought to stay and ought to go if there's an amnesty period.
Thankfully, I can do all your thinking for you here at the Leafs Nation. The Leafs have a little under $63M committed in salary cap payroll for the 2012-13 season, and the belief is that the cap should be dragged down to the high 50s, low 60s for the next few years.
Which contracts are a priority to be shipped out?
