Kukla's Korner Hockey
Category: NHL-Business-of-Hockey
Don Fehr Talks About the CBA
by Alanah McGinley on 09/15/11 at 03:30 PM ET
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From Nicholas J. Cotsonika at Yahoo! Sports:
He wasn’t rattling a saber as he said it. He wasn’t banging a fist on the table. He was calmly answering a question with a matter-of-fact statement. Still, with the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association expiring one year from today, he spoke volumes.
“The players made an awful lot of concessions in the last agreement,” NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said over breakfast recently in a Manhattan hotel. “It’s pretty hard to see them being willing to do that again.”
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: cba, collective+bargaining+agreement, don+fehr,
Auctioning Off the Dallas Stars
by Alanah McGinley on 09/14/11 at 01:17 PM ET
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From NHL.com:
According to reports, the Dallas Stars will file for bankruptcy and sell the club at an auction.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that owner Tom Hicks’ plan to file for bankruptcy—as early as Wednesday—as a means to start the auction process has been approved by the majority of the team’s creditors, according to a source familiar with the plan.
It is expected that once the Stars enter into the auction phase, investor Tom Gaglardi, chairman and chief executive officer of Sandman Hotels, Inns & Suites, would be the lead bidder for the team, according to the story. Other potential buyers could then make bids until a final price is reached.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Dallas Stars, NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Honda Renews Partnership With The NHL
by Paul on 09/12/11 at 02:00 PM ET
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NEW YORK (September 12, 2011) ─ The National Hockey League® (NHL) today announced that American Honda Motor Co., Inc. has renewed as League partner in the United States in the automotive category. The three-year agreement includes returning participation and activations at NHL events, such as NHL Winter Classic and NHL All-Star Weekend, with increased presence around NHL Awards and NHL Draft.
Honda will return as the presenting sponsor for the NHL SuperSkills event and NHL All-Star MVP Award for the next two NHL All-Star Weekends that are held in the U.S., through which Honda will receive exposure via in-ice placements, dasherboard branding, in-arena spots, and presence at the accompanying fan festivals.
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Honda,
Ranking NHL Organizations
by Alanah McGinley on 08/13/11 at 12:24 PM ET
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From Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy:
The victors go the spoils; to the losers go the high draft selections and subsequent years of rebuilding. That’s how it works in the NHL. For the most part.
ESPN.com published its NHL “organizational rankings” for 2011 this week (insider sub. required) in which Grant Sonier, a scout who most recently worked with the Atlanta Thrashers, evaluated the depth of talent for all 30 teams.
read on for Wyshinski’s look at those ESPN’s rankings. (For starters, Florida is #1 and San Jose is #30…)
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Dropping Ticket Sales
by Alanah McGinley on 08/04/11 at 12:34 PM ET
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From Neil deMause at Slate:
Even so, there’s a good chance this will mark the fourth straight year that Major League Baseball has seen ticket sales slide after a record year in 2007. You can’t blame it on steroids, either. NFL, NBA, and NHL attendance have likewise dipped over the last three years.
The obvious culprit is the sinking economy: Lose $4 trillion in spending power, and at least a few consumers are going to save by watching games at home in hi-def. Yet as the economy lurches back to its feet, there are signs that the sports ticket bubble will continue to deflate. That could have far-reaching effects on ticket prices, competitive balance, and the very existence of the major pro sports leagues that aren’t the NFL.
Sports leagues’ ticket woes aren’t always visible to the naked eye. According to Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index, three of the four major leagues saw average ticket prices rise last year. (The NBA, which cut prices by 2.3 percent, was the exception.) These figures, though, only take into account the face value of tickets.
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Salary Cap Shenanigans
by Alanah McGinley on 08/03/11 at 11:23 AM ET
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From Jeff Marek’s The Sheet at Sportsnet:
So let me get this straight: Front loading a contract that includes dead years at the end where the player has zero intention of playing (Ilya Kovalchuk) for cap relief was a violation of the “spirit” of the salary cap, yet trading for a player with zero intention of him ever playing (Trent Hunter) with the sole purpose of buying him out for cap relief isn’t?
I know they’re different, but at the end of the day there are still plenty of ways to get around the salary cap in the NHL and New Jersey, it seems, has tried all of them. Interesting too when you consider that Devils GM Lou Lamoriello helped craft the current CBA. New Jersey has four players on the books this season with buyouts: Andrew Peters, Trent Hunter, Colin White and Jay Pandolfo.
plus more odds and ends from the hockey world
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: lou+lamoriello,
What Options Do the Islanders Have?
by Alanah McGinley on 07/29/11 at 02:33 PM ET
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Monday is voting day to decide the future of the NYI, but will the team really leave if citizens vote against a new arena? From Tom Van Riper at Forbes:
But is it necessarily a case of build it or they will leave? Despite owner Charles Wang’s insistence that his outdated Nassau Coliseum isn’t a viable option going forward, what else does he do? Everyone talks about the Kansas City Sprint Center, which is dying for a full time sports tenant, but sports business experts doubt that the Islanders could duplicate their $15 million in annual cable money in that market, despite their second class standing in New York. Canada could be a possibility – fans of the old Quebec Nordiques have been rallying for an NHL return- but any arena plan there is still a long way off.
“There just aren’t many markets that covet the NHL right now,” says Robert Boland, who teaches sports business at the Tisch Center at New York University.
Craig Custance of Sporting News also comments today on the stakes of Monday’s vote in this article.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New York Islanders, NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: arenas, charles+wang, nassau+county,
Lack of Offer Sheets Doesn’t Mean Collusion
by Alanah McGinley on 07/25/11 at 03:37 PM ET
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From Lyle Richardson at The Hockey News:
It is easy to float the rumor of collusion, but far more difficult to prove it.
Dupont pointed out NHL Players’ Association director Donald Fehr was able to prove collusion existed in Major League Baseball in the late-1980s and wondered “if it could be time to forge a similar case in hockey?”
The difference, however, was the MLB owners had, for the most part, agreed not to sign their rivals’ free agents. The surprisingly low number of free agents changing teams between 1985 and 1988 made it easy for Fehr to prove his case.
As for why Stamkos and Doughty didn’t receive offer sheets, there are other obvious factors at work.
One is the high cost of signing either player.
read on for Richardson’s full analysis
Note: The articles referenced in the piece above can be found here (Kevin Dupont, July 24) and here (Steve Simmons, July 23).
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Goalies Netting Less Pay Than Others
by Alanah McGinley on 07/25/11 at 01:45 PM ET
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From Kevin Allen at USA Today:
Goaltenders own a large share of the pressure and not a large share of the payroll in the NHL these days.
With another free agency season almost complete, a review of the NHL salary structure shows a continuing trend of teams trying to save some dollars in net while handing out more lucrative deals to scorers and defensemen.
Going into the 2011-12 season, 10 NHL goalies will be averaging $5 million or more on their deals, 19 defensemen will earn at least $5 million, and a 20th (Chris Pronger) averaging just below $5 million. Meanwhile, 23 No. 1 centers averaging $5 million or better.
Only the New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist (18th at $6.85 million) ranks among the league’s 25 highest cap hits, according to Capgeek.com
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: goalies, salaries,
Amateur Capology
by Alanah McGinley on 07/21/11 at 03:11 PM ET
Comments (6)
From Justin Bourne at Puck Daddy:
Amateur capology is at its thickest in the off-season. “$1.7M for Marcel Goc? Why that’s at least $200K too much!” I do it as much as anyone, but I acknowledge that it would sure be nice to see more analysis of how Goc will fit in to the Panthers on-ice roster than their on-paper payroll.
If there are any fans that are going to agree with me on this, it’s those of the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers. The media can and should dissect their off-season acquisitions from a financial standpoint (that’s part of their job) ... but the fans?
Your team was willing to spend some bucks, and because of that you got some better players. Your team is better. Your chances of winning the Stanley Cup are better. Who cares about the price tag if you can afford it?
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
About KK Hockey
Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.
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