Sadly, we don’t have toots or whistles or the corny Plays of the Week like anthem from ESPN…..but nonetheless we do bring you The BLOG OF THE WEEK. It was tough sledding for this blog director this week. We had quite a few good posts and it seemed one would top the other and vice versa. However, we did come up with a winner and I wanted to congratulate all the people that did blogs or sent them in. Thank you very much.
And the winner……….is……….
Hockeynutz and Does Salary = Playoffs?
Enjoy everyone……
Further look revealed that in general the playoff teams were the higher spenders and the non-playoff teams were the low spenders. Now many will argue that this is the result of trade deadline deals shifting salary from non-playoff teams to playoff teams, but this really has minimal impact on a teams salary. For example, a player earning $7 Million would only count for about $2 Million towards the cap if acquired at the deadline. Yes, $2 Million is significant, but most of the players moved on deadline day were not $7 Million players. That is why teams can acquire players at the deadline…there is very little impact on their salary. Not to mention the fact that many of the teams on the lower end of the payroll were not involved in many significant financial trades at the deadline, and even a couple of deals can’t explain $16 Million in difference.
Who were the spenders? Who were the cheapskates? (note: figures rounded/approx.)
1. Detroit – $45.3 Million
2. Boston – $45.1 Million (talk about rubbing salt into the wound)
3. San Jose – $44.9 Million
4. Dallas – $44.2 Million
5. Vancouver – $44.2 Million
6. New Jersey – $44.1 Million
7. Buffalo – $43.9 Million
8. Toronto – $43.9 Million
9. Tampa – $43.8 Million
10. Chicago – $43.7 Million (ouch…Bulin Wall remains a costly problem)
11. Atlanta – $43.7 Million
12. Colorado – $43.6 Million
13. Calgary – $43.6 Million
14. Ottawa – $43.6 Million
15. Minnesota – $43.1 Million
16. Anaheim – $43.0 Million
Of the top 16 spenders, 12 are playoff teams. Two others (Colorado and Toronto) were within striking distance of the 8th seed. Only Chicago and Boston really had no shot.
And on to the cheapskates…
30. Washington – $30.6 Million
29. Pittsburgh – $36.6 Million (great value, but clearly due to the young TALENT)
28. St. Louis – $36.5 Million
27. Florida – $39.8 Million
26. Nashville – $39.9 Million
25. Edmonton – $40. 7 Million
So of the bottom 6 we see that only 2 are playoff teams! Pittsburgh is a team fortunate to have a large group of young talent that are still on early or RFA style contracts. Edmonton fans will argue that their salary is low because the team ditched Ryan Smyth, but in reality that only saved the Oilers $1 Million (Smyth has a $3.5 Million Cap hit).
What becomes even clearer is that the biggest spenders are the biggest favourites for the cup. Detroit, Vancouver, Buffalo, New Jersey and San Jose all rank among the biggest spenders and all captured top seeds in the conference (except San Jose).
Now there are many reasons why teams spend or don’t spend. A wise GM will underspend if they feel their team is not in a position to take a shot. Money saved this year could be pried from the owners’ fists in a future year when they are ready to take a shot. Likewise a team that feels they have a shot is likely to get support to spend to the max to take that shot.
Note: I have assumed all performance bonuses will be paid. Teams over their cap limit are due to these bonuses. This is allowed, but the amount over the cap comes off the next years cap.
