For a team that is ripped for not spending enough on player salaries, the Toronto Maple Leafs fork out about 50 per cent more on their player payroll than their closest competitor among the five other Canadian clubs.
According to team base salary numbers compiled by The Globe and Mail for the opening-day rosters of the six Canadian National Hockey League franchises, the Leafs are tops at $60.2-million (all figures U.S.).
The Montreal Canadiens have the next highest salary structure, $39.2-million, which will increase when captain Saku Koivu returns from his knee injury. He is scheduled to earn $4.25-million this season.
The age-old question, however, is do the Leafs spend enough? They obviously take in more revenue than the other Canadian clubs and are among the league leaders in income.
"The perception for a long time has been that we don't spend enough," said Richard Peddie, the president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the club.
"But the facts are that for every dollar we take in from the fans from tickets and other areas, we match that dollar.
"When numbers like this are computed, performance and playoff bonuses are not factored in. When you add bonuses and benefits, our payroll is $65-million last year."
Playoff bonuses might be a stretch for the Leafs last year, considering the team was ousted in the opening round. But some players did collect bonuses for making the playoffs.
Last season, when the final moves were made at the NHL's trade deadline, the Leafs were sixth in the league in base salary payroll at $65,254,900.
That means the Leafs are beginning this season with a smaller payroll than they finished up with last spring, and yet they increased ticket prices by 3.4 per cent for this season.
The New York Rangers ($75.5-million), Dallas Stars ($70.8-million), St. Louis Blues ($70.6-million), Detroit Red Wings ($68.8-million) and Philadelphia Flyers ($65.3-million) were the clubs ahead of Toronto. Only the Stars and Flyers got by the first round of the playoffs.
Maybe the question the Leafs' brass should contemplate is: does the club spend wisely?
The Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils had the ninth largest payroll at last season's trade deadline: $55.4-million.
The three other clubs that made the conference finals -- the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild -- were 11th, 19th and 30th, respectively at deadline.
Sure, the Leafs have to spend more on salaries because they have failed to develop or draft players as well as the Senators and Vancouver Canucks.
And those two clubs spent far less and enjoyed more success in the playoffs last season.
"They do a very good job spending wisely," Peddie said.
"It's something we want to be better at in the future. We want to spend better on free agents, draft better and develop those players better."
The Canucks, at $38.3-million, have the third largest payroll among the Canadian contingent, but they are carrying only 22 players on their 23-player roster to begin this season.
The Senators, who are still trying to sign young standout Martin Havlat, are next at $38-million, followed by the Calgary Flames at $33.7-million and Edmonton Oilers at $31.3-million).
The Oilers' payroll doesn't include No.1 centre Mike Comrie, who is engaged in an ugly contract squabble with the club.
The payroll breakdown for the six Canadian clubs for the 2003-04 National Hockey season in U.S. dollars.
CALGARY FLAMES
Jamie McLennan: $650,000
Roman Turek: $4,250,000
Mike Commodore: $515,000
Andrew Ference: $500,000
Denis Gauthier: $1,300,000
Jordan Leopold: $900,000
Toni Lydman: $1,700,000
Steve Montador: $350,000
Robyn Regehr: $1,250,000
Rhett Warrener: $1,800,000
Blair Betts: $500,000
Chris Clark: $700,000
Craig Conroy: $2,200,000
Shean Donovan: $752,950
Martin Gelinas: $2,400,000
Jarome Iginla: $7,500,000
Chuck Kobasew: $1,130,000
Matthew Lombardi: $500,000
Dave Lowry: $250,000
Dean McAmmond: $1,500,000
Krzysztof Oliwa: $500,000
Oleg Saprykin: $1,000,000
Stephane Yelle :$1,600,000
$33,747,950
EDMONTON OILERS
Ty Conklin: $860,000
Tommy Salo: $3,900,000
Marc-Andre Bergeron: $410,000
Eric Brewer: $2,500,000
Cory Cross: 1,050,000
Scott Ferguson: $550,000
Mikko Luoma: $475,000
Alexei Semenov: $700,000
Jason Smith: $2,300,000
Steve Staios: $1,100,000
Jason Chimera: $500,000
Radek Dvorak: $2,000,000
Ales Hemsky: $1,130,000
Shawn Horcoff: $800,000
Brad Isbister: $1,925,000
Georges Laraque: $1,275,000
Ethan Moreau: $1,500,000
Fernando Pisani: $600,000
Marty Reasoner: $850,000
Ryan Smyth: $3,450,000
Jarret Stoll: $625,000
Raffi Torres: $800,000
Michael York: $2,000,000
$31,300,000
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Mathieu Garon: $1,000,000
Jose Theodore: $5,500,000
Francis Bouillon: $500,000
Patrice Brisebois: $4,000,000
Ron Hainsey: $1,075,000
Mike Komisarek: $1,130,000
Andrei Markov: $1,300,000
Stephane Quintal: $1,500,000
Craig Rivet: $2,500,000
Sheldon Souray: $1,600,000
Donald Audette: $3,000,000
Jan Bulis: $1,150,000
Andreas Dackell: $1,400,000
Gordie Dwyer: $484,000
Chris Higgins: $1,185,000
Marcel Hossa: $1,075,000
Joe Juneau: $2,025,000
Yanic Perreault: $2,800,000
Mike Ribeiro: $847,000
Michael Ryder: $605,000
Niklas Sundstrom: $1,950,000
Jason Ward: $750,000
Richard Zednik: $1,850,000
$39,226,000
OTTAWA SENATORS
Patrick Lalime: $2,575,000
Martin Prusek: $625,000
Zdeno Chara: $2,400,000
Shane Hnidy: $725,000
Curtis Leschyshyn: $2,000,000
Chris Phillips: $1,675,000
Brian Pothier: $525,000
Karel Rachunek: $900,000
Wade Redden: $4,500,000
Anton Volchenkov: $1,000,000
Daniel Alfredsson: $5,050,000
Radek Bonk: $3,500,000
Mike Fisher: $962,500
Marian Hossa: $2,750,000
Chris Neil: $575,000
Peter Schaefer: $600,000
Petr Schastlivy: $662,500
Bryan Smolinski: $2,650,000
Jason Spezza: $565,000
Shaun Van Allen: $450,000
Vaclav Varada: $1,500,000
Antoine Vermette: $750,000
Todd White: $1,150,000
$38,090,000
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Ed Beflour: $7,000,000
Mikael Tellqvist: $700,000
Aki Berg: $1,400,000
Ric Jackman: $585,640
Tomas Kaberle: $2,750,000
Ken Klee: $1,500,000
Maxim Kondratiev: $825,000
Bryan Marchment: $2,000,000
Bryan McCabe: $3,500,000
Nik Antropov:$925,000
Wade Belak: $850,000
Tie Domi: $2,000,000
Alexander Mogilny: $5,500,000
Joe Nieuwendyk: $2,000,000
Owen Nolan: $6,500,000
Nathan Perrott: $400,000
Alexei Ponikarovsky: $522,500
Robert Reichel: $3,250,000
Mikael Renberg: $2,200,000
Gary Roberts: $4,250,000
Matt Stajan: $950,000
Mats Sundin: $9,000,000
Darcy Tucker: $1,600,000
$60,208,140
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Dan Cloutier: $2,500,000
Johan Hedberg: $1,200,000
Bryan Allen: $1,072,500
Ed Jovanovski: $4,500,000
Marek Malik: $1,650,000
Mattias Ohlund: $2,750,000
Sami Salo: $1,675,000
Jiri Slegr: $800,000
Brent Sopel: $875,000
Magnus Arvedson: $1,500,000
Todd Bertuzzi: $3,700,000
Artem Chubarov: $847,000
Matt Cooke: $525,000
Jason King: $575,000
Trevor Linden: $2,000,000
Mats Lindgren: $550,000
Brad May: $1,100,000
Brendan Morrison: $2,450,000
Markus Naslund: $5,225,000
Jarkko Ruutu: $575,000
Daniel Sedin: $1,127,500
Henrik Sedin: $1,127,500
$38,324,500
SOURCE: NHLPA.COM