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Crazy money

ERIC DUHATSCHEK

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 3:33 PM EDT 02/07/08

More than $300-million in salary was dished out by NHL GMs and owners Tuesday – and there's only one word for that … ...Read the full article

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  1. R Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: And when these owners again decide that player salaries are outstripping team revenues, they won't get one solitary ounce of sympathy from fans like me...

    Could Gainey and the Habs be the last bastion of sanity with their responsible management and exemplary cost-containment in this league ?

    BTW Does this post make me sound too geeky ?
  2. Jim Manning from Buffalo, United States writes: Great Article, but what do you consider deep into a playoff push? Campbell's Sabres were leading Carolina going into period three in game seven...that's 20 minutes away from going to the finals. If it wasn't for Campbell ( the only Sabre defenseman left in a lineup depleted with injuries) they wouldn't have even been in that series. 2006
  3. steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: What was the lockout all about??? This whole thing has turned into a monumental farce. The salary cap is no longer going to protect the small market teams like Edmonton and Ottawa as that cap has exploded almost 50% since it was brought in!! The first year after the lockout the cap stood at $39 million, next year it's going to $57 million and it will soon be above $60 million!

    We're back to square one, except this time there's a lot of fans, and I'm one of them, who will throw the towel in on the NHL.

    I've had it with this nonsense. Just look at the outrageous salaries being paid to marginal players and it doesn't bode well for the future stability of the league, and it will leave a sour taste in the mouths of many fans, particularly in these very difficult economic times.

    The NHL shouldn't take its fans for granted. Just look at so-called 'Hockeytown' which is going through a very tough time right now.....they couldn't even sell out their playoff games! Now you can imagine how hard it will be to sellout in lesser markets, and with ticket prices higher than they were last year. Here's the problem....I don't think there's any room for higher ticket prices, not even in Canada.

    Screw them, they've lost me as a fan!
  4. reality man from Canada writes: How is Bob Gainey a "bastion of sanity"? The Leafs offered Sundin an already hefty 7M per year over 1 year and Gainey started slobbering all over Sundin and offered him 8M per year over 2 years and let it be known that he was willing to pay more. Surprise, surpise! After Gainey upped the ante on the Leafs, the Canucks upped the ante on the Habs. The fact is that Gainey was willing to pay a 39 year old over 8M. Gainey is just as bad as the rest of these guys as he offered Sundin the 8M when he had exclusive rights to negotiate with Sundin and didn't even have any competition at that point other than a team that Sundin was hinting at that he didn't even want to play for anymore.
  5. Raymond P from Canada writes: Steve Allan? Were you ever a hockey fan? The salary cap is a percentage (52?) of revenues. Since the lockout revenue has risen and so has the salary cap. Part of this is due the the strength of the Canadian dollar. What it does show is that the owners' position before the lockout was weak at best. Should we go back to the days when players needed jobs in the offseason to make ends meet? I, for one, pay to see the players not the owners.
  6. SY GIL from TO, Canada writes: Not surprising GMs are doling money like there's no tomorrow since they are under the gun to win. Very few owners have a long term plan. Look at the Lightnings. They've traded so many draft picks for the right to negotiate with free agents.

    Of course, there's MLSE. Instead of tanking for a few more years, they are active in free agency to ensure they can justify raising ticket prices. Given their scouting records, the future looks pretty bleak. It could be 60 years before the Cup returns here since Peddie and hopefully the TPP will be out of the picture and we'll have an ownership which understands what it takes to win in professional sports, ie., not through free agency.
  7. David Gehring from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada writes: I wouldn't call it crazy money. The salary cap space is there and many teams are going to use it. The younger age for free agency now means a team can sign a good player in his prime (of course this commands big money), instead of signing washed-up veterans with little to nothing left. True, some other teams are taking risks in signing unproven players to huge contracts, but that's the only way many of them can overcome their poor scouting/coaching and get back into contention, they have to take a gamble that their young prospects will work out. The NHL management community doesn't have capologists like in the NFL or sabremetricians in MLB to calculate value-for-money, but give it a few more years...
  8. Sami Lama from Toronto, Canada writes: I love hockey but this is really ridiculous. Over the years, the commercial aspect of professional sports has really diminished the entertainment factor. I have long given up paying for tickets to see a game and I never by merchandise. I refuse to fuel the corporate engine of hockey. The regular season is rather boring and with players switching teams for more money every other season it is rather difficult to build any kind of affinity to a team. So what to do instead? I play more recreational sports during the week. Maybe pro sports are for the younger folks who love the hype behind it. It's all bland and trivial these days in my opinion. Let the foolish part with their hard earned money to fund the outrageous salaries these guys get.
  9. Carl Baldin from Canada writes: Folks...we, the fans, all look like fools. All this talk about caps and UFA and the money they are paid.....ultimately, we the fans pay up for a large chunk of the operating costs -> and have you looked at the average ticket price lately. We fans look like idiots!!

    Can the average middle class family afford or justify (a man to his wife!) paying $100 a ticket ( times 4) for seceond level seats to watch one of 45 home games in which 30 of them are quite boring!?

    The owners are greedy (season runs from Mid September to early June), so are the players/agents and we fans are very stupid - very stupid indeed! Congrats to the Detroit fans that didn't buy those playoff hockey tickets!!
  10. RU Serious from Canada writes: All I can say to anybody griping about the money these guys are making is - if it was your son, what would you be saying??

    It is what it is. If more people choose not to buy merchandise and tickets than the cap will drop. The salary cap is pegged as a % of revenues, so despite the lack of a big TV contract, they must be doing something right and the players are sharing in that success

    Glad to see my Hawks make a splash.
  11. Dave Miller from Canada writes: Who?????!! (Olesz) for how much????!!(18 million).

    Boy, The Hamilton Panthers sounds pretty good right now...
  12. Mr. Coffee from Victoria, Canada writes: NHL Owners = Overpay. Fans = Get the shaft.
  13. Jay D from Canada writes: I have to disagree on this one:
    "Rostislav Olesz a six-year contract extension worth $18.75-million"

    At about 3-mil per this will look like a deal in two years time. Olesz is already a complete player capable of playing PP, PK and defensively reliable. He takes face offs well and hits too. He's got above average offensive upside. They're over paying today to pay less in the future. Mad money would have been to sign him for 3-mil per year for only two years and then be forced to sign him at 4 or 5 mil per.
  14. R. Carriere from Maritimes, Canada writes:

    I can remember Bett-American's smile and smugness after the lock-out having figured he has brought the NHLPA to its knees....

    As is with the economy, the NHL will be in for a very huge adjustment and awakening south of the border where 24 of the 30 teams reside.

    Watch for a lot of empty seats next season and certainly US owners bailing out! Next, it wouldn't surprise me if the actual salary Cap decreases for at least the next two years after this one. You have to wonder where all of this will lead as jobs are lost on a daily basis and even Starbucks is closing 600 outlest and laying off 12,000 people.
    .
  15. the rose from t.o., Canada writes: i can understand (but am still blown away) by the big bucks being given to snag the super-talents like Campbell or locking up your own stars (like Malkin or Mike Green). But puhleeease, was there really a bidding war for the likes of Huet? He and his agent must have been holding back their laughter signing that contract.
  16. Tim Cares from Canada writes: Tell me again why the players were blamed during the lockout? I said it before and I'll say it again.
    It is the owners responsibility to keep spending under control. That means giving their GM a budget and, if necessary, some guidelines.
    Don't blame the players, it is a free market system we live in.
  17. andy c from Canada writes: there is one sane team, its the Red Wings. how long ago have they NOT been on a short list of 5 - 6 teams the "experts" say have a shot at the cup?
  18. steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: -----Tim Cares from Canada writes - Don't blame the players, it is a free market system we live in.-----

    Wrong. Professional sports has nothing to do with free markets. That canard has been out to rest with numerous studies.

    The fact is if the tax concessions given the players, the tax writeoffs given the corporations, and the huge tax dollars given the teams to build and finance their arenas didn't exist, salaries would be coming down hard and fast.

    If an individual can't writeoff his entertainment expenses, neither should corporations!

    You want free market? Sure, let's have a free market, but let's make it free for everyone. As a taxpayer, I`m fed up having my money subsidize professional hockey!
  19. David Allan from Canada writes: We all need to pay attention to what Dale Tallon said, and what it meant when he said it. Free Agency in the NHL (and other sports too) is more about marketing than team building. You have an opportunity to say to your fans: "Look at how hard we're trying to win, please buy our stuff." Fans don't care about their minor league system, heck they have no clue about it. They care about names they recognize.

    And CY GIL, please don't confuse what the Leafs did with actually being "active in the Free Agent market". They currently have 18 players under contract for next year, they need to fill out the roster somehow for crying out loud. It's not as if the signing of Finger and Hagman is any different than tanking. They have the money, they'll spend it somehow. And they'll have more when they trade Kubina (a freakin' bargain at 5M now) and hopefully move McCabe.
  20. Carl Baldin from Canada writes: Steve Allan....couldn't agree more with what you are saying!!!

    If any level of government provides compensation (subsidies) to a business owner for a facility construction to employ people (in this case NHL hockey owners), then all businesses should receive the same....gift. Crazy that these millionaire owners saddle the governments (and taxpayers) to build these arenas, "because they provide jobs", yet an entreprenurial business person who employes hundreds of people doesn't get the same treatment.

    Then, the owners (like Katz) go and reportedly sign unproven hockey players (entertainers) to long term million dollar contracts....and they can't be fired if they do not perform!? crazy the value society now puts on sports entertainment!?

    I do not intend to support any of these sports like the NHL anymore. The CFL is entertaining and the players are paid fairly for what they do.....$300k for a good player - that is reasonable.
  21. Montgomery C. Burns from Springfield, Canada writes: In another year or two, some owners will be crying poor over the skyrocketing cap. Teams will threaten to relocate without tax concessions, etc. from their cities. There will be another lockout.

    A new agreement will be struck and owners will bray about fiscal accountability for the new era. History repeats itself...

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