General Hockey Talk - Injuries, signings, factoids + other news from around the league

wprager wrote:I hate to agree with Brooks but he's right:

Larry Brooks ‏@NYP_Brooksie 2m2 minutes ago

Why was Kovalchuk circumvention but Pronger clever? Because one team was trying to win and the other to get to floor?

The Kovalchuk signing raised total payer salaries while the Pronger move is aimed at keeping it lower.  Surprised the NHLPA is not all over this.

They won't say anything with expansion on it's way. That's another 46 jobs.

Oduya to test free agency.

Oglethorpe wrote:

wprager wrote:I hate to agree with Brooks but he's right:

Larry Brooks ‏@NYP_Brooksie 2m2 minutes ago

Why was Kovalchuk circumvention but Pronger clever? Because one team was trying to win and the other to get to floor?

The Kovalchuk signing raised total payer salaries while the Pronger move is aimed at keeping it lower.  Surprised the NHLPA is not all over this.

How is this cap circumvention, it's a smart move by the Arizona franchise.  This has zero bearing on player salaries, he is only making 575K each of the last 2 years.  

It allows them to reach the salary cap floor by paying $500K in salary while claiming $4.5M against the cap, that's how. Philly was going to pay that money one way or another, and would have used the LTIR rule to spend over the cap by the amount of Pronger's cap hit. That part does not change, but the Coyotes will spend less than the cap floor. That's what the NHLP could be upset about.

P.S. The Kovalchuk contract actually followed the rules, yet it was still ruled to be cap circumvention.

Rick Westhead ‏@rwesthead 33m33 minutes ago

BMO already estimates CDN dollar will fall to 65¢ by 06/16, Schruder says. Greek crisis could worsen plunge. Big deal for NHL teams.

What would a 65-cent dollar mean to HRR? Expansion will certainly bring money in for the owners, and at least in the short term the new clubs should be selling a lot of tickets.

NEELY wrote:

wprager wrote:I hate to agree with Brooks but he's right:

Larry Brooks ‏@NYP_Brooksie 2m2 minutes ago

Why was Kovalchuk circumvention but Pronger clever? Because one team was trying to win and the other to get to floor?

The Kovalchuk signing raised total payer salaries while the Pronger move is aimed at keeping it lower.  Surprised the NHLPA is not all over this.

They won't say anything with expansion on it's way.  That's another 46 jobs.

NHLPA doesn't care, they are in escrow range anyway, so the more teams spend, the more each player with an existing contract loses from their paycheck. This is why there was so much talk about the NHLPA not exercising the 5% escalator this year.

wprager wrote:

Rick Westhead ‏@rwesthead 33m33 minutes ago

BMO already estimates CDN dollar will fall to 65¢ by 06/16, Schruder says. Greek crisis could worsen plunge. Big deal for NHL teams.

What would a 65-cent dollar mean to HRR?  Expansion will certainly bring money in for the owners, and at least in the short term the new clubs should be selling a lot of tickets.  

Expansion/relocation fees are exempt from HRR.

65 cent dollar would really hurt Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton as well as finally end the increase Salary cap. Additionally, the NHLPA will soon stop using the 5% escalator clause as escrow will be getting very high. When Kane and Toewes are losing about 1M to escrow every year, things will change.

Oglethorpe wrote:

wprager wrote:

Rick Westhead ‏@rwesthead 33m33 minutes ago

BMO already estimates CDN dollar will fall to 65¢ by 06/16, Schruder says. Greek crisis could worsen plunge. Big deal for NHL teams.

What would a 65-cent dollar mean to HRR?  Expansion will certainly bring money in for the owners, and at least in the short term the new clubs should be selling a lot of tickets.  

Expansion/relocation fees are exempt from HRR.

65 cent dollar would really hurt Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton as well as finally end the increase Salary cap.   Additionally, the NHLPA will soon stop using the 5% escalator clause as escrow will be getting very high.  When Kane and Toewes are losing about 1M to escrow every year, things will change.

Expansion fees would allow the owners to survive a Canadian low-loonie winter; that was my point. And new franchises typically sell out early on so that keeps the HRR from plunging.

Smart clubs would have already bought up a bunch of US$$ to offset currency fluctuations, but if this goes on for 2+ years it will hurt.

Chicago extended Rundblad for 2 years @ $1M per.

I dare you to say it, SSF.

Dallas signs Niemi 3 years x $4.5M AAV.

We pay how much for Andy?

wprager wrote:

Oglethorpe wrote:

wprager wrote:

Rick Westhead ‏@rwesthead 33m33 minutes ago

BMO already estimates CDN dollar will fall to 65¢ by 06/16, Schruder says. Greek crisis could worsen plunge. Big deal for NHL teams.

What would a 65-cent dollar mean to HRR?  Expansion will certainly bring money in for the owners, and at least in the short term the new clubs should be selling a lot of tickets.  

Expansion/relocation fees are exempt from HRR.

65 cent dollar would really hurt Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton as well as finally end the increase Salary cap.   Additionally, the NHLPA will soon stop using the 5% escalator clause as escrow will be getting very high.  When Kane and Toewes are losing about 1M to escrow every year, things will change.

Expansion fees would allow the owners to survive a Canadian low-loonie winter; that was my point.  And new franchises typically sell out early on so that keeps the HRR from plunging.

Smart clubs would have already bought up a bunch of US$$ to offset currency fluctuations, but if this goes on for 2+ years it will hurt.

At the current 4B HRR level each expansion team would need to generate 133M additional HRR to keep the same per club ratio. That is quite the reach for most teams, especially one's where local broadcast rights will be small.

Now look at the possibility of a 65cent dollar. When the 5.2B Rogers deal was signed, the dollar was at 95cents. That equates to about 130M revenue change per year when the canadian dollar is at 65cents.

wprager wrote:Chicago extended Rundblad for 2 years @ $1M per.

I dare you to say it, SSF.

Solid get for the Hawks.

Oglethorpe wrote:
At the current 4B HRR level each expansion team would need to generate 133M additional HRR to keep the same per club ratio.  That is quite the reach for most teams, especially one's where local broadcast rights will be small.

Now look at the possibility of a 65cent dollar.  When the 5.2B Rogers deal was signed, the dollar was at 95cents.  That equates to about 130M revenue change per year when the canadian dollar is at 65cents.  

The current $4B HRR is based on a 90 cent dollar, is it not? Right now it's at 82 or thereabout and so the $4B figure is already a thing of the past. Now if the dollar drops another 21% to 65 cents, what happens then?

This used to be a gate-driven league but with the recent tv contracts I think it's fair to say the gate receipts do not make up half of the total revenue. So the new teams do not have to generate anywhere near $133M in ticket sales.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

wprager wrote:Chicago extended Rundblad for 2 years @ $1M per.

I dare you to say it, SSF.

Solid get for the Hawks.

Bravo!

BTW, did you see the Sens Summer Fan Fest logo? It's got SSF in it.

Heavy:

http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=772865

"The Los Angeles Kings today have exercised the team's right to terminate the contract of Mike Richards for a material breach of the requirements of his Standard Player's Contract."

wprager wrote:Dallas signs Niemi 3 years x $4.5M AAV.

We pay how much for Andy?

That's ridiculous. Couldn't get it done in San Jose and now Dallas is paying him that much AND paying Lethonen close to 6 mill.

Wow.

SeawaySensFan wrote:Heavy:

http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=772865

"The Los Angeles Kings today have exercised the team's right to terminate the contract of Mike Richards for a material breach of the requirements of his Standard Player's Contract."

Is that fancy English for buyout or is it contract termination where they are off the hook? That would be crazy.

SeawaySensFan wrote:Heavy:

http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=772865

"The Los Angeles Kings today have exercised the team's right to terminate the contract of Mike Richards for a material breach of the requirements of his Standard Player's Contract."

Is this standard verbiage for a buyout or did he actually do something?

Whoa, it's not standard verbiage. They are trying to get out of the contract and not buy him out.