Posted on 02/18/2005 11:35:24 AM PST by Alberta's Child
I grew up with the Boston Bruins during the 1970s and I was obsessed with hockey. I invented for myself a form of "Rotisserie Hockey" decades before it became reality! I would collect hockey cards and then shuffle them and deal them into "teams" that I would then "play" against the Bruins, using statistics from hockey box scores. Of course I would pick my "Bruins" team out of the deck first!
By the time Peter Puck came onto the scene, I was already about 12 years old and an hockey "expert." So I thought it was rather goofy.
The difference is the Red Wings has a solid shot at the Cup and weren't the over the hill gang. The Rangers paid players based on how many years ago they should have retired.
Big market teams are the ones that make absurd OFFERS which drive up the price of players both through the agents and arbitration.
The Rangers might be able to make money with a $75 mil payroll, but they can't win games with it.
Nobody is jerking your chain. THe players and owners decided that their paid representatives screwed up and decided to negotiate without them. The closest you're going to get to an apology is Bettman and Goodenow fired, but it probably won't be immediately, they probably will simply quietly not renew their contract.
Yeah...I guess it was the big market Islanders that threw $10+ mill to Yashin, the big market Caps who threw $11+ mill at Jagr, and the ultra-large market Carolina Hurricanes that offerred a ridiculous contract to then FA Federov frocing the Red Wings to pay him $12 mill. There's plenty of blame to go around.
And, if the Rangers can't win with a $75 mill payroll, and the owners refuse to revenue share in any meaningful way, why do they care?
Arbitration has led to the salary escalation, because the NHL restricts FA until 31.
I never said the Rangers were alone in throwing too much money at players. But they threw the most too much money at more players than anybody else. They were the first NHL team to get their salary over the NFL cap, which with half the players and 1/3 the revenue is nothing but dumb, and they haven't made the playoffs since they got their salary higher than their neighbors the Giants either, which is funny in my book.
Arbitration can't blow salaries out of whack unless you have some teams already paying too much. All arbitrators do is say "well given how these other players with similar stats are getting paid this guy should get paid more", if those other players aren't getting over paid by teams like the Rangers and Wing arbitrators don't have examples to use to drive up everybody's salaries.
Agreed, and the most egregious example of that was the signing of Bobby Holik for $9M/per over five years. Now, Holik's a good two-way player and a great agitator, but in reality, is nothing more than an exceptional third line center. The Rangers had been financially irresponsible before, but the Holik deal was unprecedented, even by their standards.
You sure about that? Seriously, thanks a lot for all the info.
Good job, AC.
I think the latest Messier signing was probably the worst. I love Mess, great player, 6 rings, but he's almost as old as Gordie Howe and they signed him for like 12 mil for 2 years or something absurd like that. Some sort of sick "thanks for bringing us the Cup 10 years ago" deal that was just odd.
The Rangers always seem to be "fighting the last war" when it comes to building a roster, and the Holik signing was a good example of this. Signing Holik to a big contract (maybe not $9M, but a big contract) 2-3 years earlier would have made a lot of sense, because one of the defining characteristics of the top teams in the Eastern Conference back then (New Jersey and Philadelphia) was the oversized, dominant center (Holik-Arnott in New Jersey, and Lindros-Primeau-Otto in Philadelphia). The Rangers tried to replicate this (with a Lindros-Holik-Messier combination) after it had effectively ceased to be the dominant style of play in the East. After Holik left, the Devils went on to win the Cup in 2003 with centers like Gomez, Madden, and Nieuwendyk.
Thanks so much. I'm hoping any casual fan with an interest in hockey might learn something from this about the recent history from the NHL.
$100M out of a $300M price tag isn't "largely funded by private interests." The proposed Jets stadium is largely funded by private interests -- they're putting up $800M of the estimated $1.2B price tag.
Do you work for the NJSEA?
No.
>>Nobody is jerking your chain
The NHL players and owners are, IMO.
They tried to save the season. Then the lawyers got back in the discussion and screwed everything up.
>>Then the lawyers got back in the discussion and screwed everything up.
Figures. What burns me is that they get so close in the space of a week, but because they sat around for so long, they couldn't save the season. If they had done these kinds of talks in September, I bet they could have saved 1/2 to 3/4 of the season. Frustrating as a fan.
I just hope they don't go back to their pre-Februray stances.
It's been poorly managed by everybody. Bettman and Goodenow are idiots. Canceling the season should never have been an option. They should have had a hard date to start the season with replacement players if they couldn't get a deal. The good news is that after these two clowns are done destroying the NHL they'll never work in hockey again.
NHL lockout bump!
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