The cost of winning

Every FNHL GM wants to win, why would you have the job if your sole idea was to make money? Yes every business needs to make a profit in order to succeed but to a GM of a FNHL team dollars mean much more. It means getting the right talent, building on that talent and then keeping that talent for as long as possible. The biggest question every GM and owner has on his mind, how much do I need to spend in order to win? Well we broke it down. We looked at each FNHL team and found out how much each team is paying to win.

First off I would like to make it known that I am not professing that each team has to be cheap in order to win a championship. It takes money and alot of it to make it to the championship dance. But it does take the right GM to balance his budget so that the money he is spending today is being spent in the most efficient manor.

The average FNHL payroll hovers around $49.5 million. There are 11 teams out of 30 who are below that figure. One FNHL team (Pittsburgh Penguins) is actually sitting on the league imposed salary cap of $60 million. Some may say its crazy but Pittsburgh's cost per win is actually cheaper than the league average of $1.4 million. How did I determine this cost per win? Well I took the teams current games played, wins, total salary and came up with the following caluculation:

Total Salary / ((82/Games Played) x Current Wins)

Basically it takes the teams current salary and divides it by the projected wins of the team.

With that calculation we have determined that the Atlanta Thrashers are the league's "cheapest" teams with a average cost per win at $829,703. Now if you compare that to the league's most costly team the San Jose Sharks with an average cost per win at $3.292 million, you will draw an immediate conclusion to both teams. Atlanta is a team in rebuild and in doing so should have the league's lowest cost per win. The San Jose Sharks on the other hand are the total opposite side of the spectrum and are underachieving. Their $3.292 million per win is way too much and management should either look at reducing costs or find a way to get the team winning.

With our calculations we have determined that the New York Islanders are currently sitting as the league's best bang for the buck. With their 45 projected wins, they are spending a measly $874,900 per win. Arguably the better bang for your buck would be the New Jersey Devils who are projected to win 49 games and are only paying their players $960,365 per win.

Here is the breakdown of the entire league:

Atlanta $829,703.83
Islanders $874,900.22
Boston $885,975.61
Phoenix $950,457.32
New Jersey $960,365.85
Minnesota $985,647.28
Nashville $991,707.32
Los Angeles $1,011,890.24
Edmonton $1,084,427.77
Carolina $1,273,441.73
St Louis $1,292,334.49
Montreal $1,296,768.29
Washington $1,298,848.24
Florida $1,302,893.57
Calgary $1,309,378.05
Pittsburgh $1,330,376.94
Columbus $1,405,962.04
Toronto $1,457,195.12
Vancouver $1,468,902.44
Colorado $1,539,329.27
Buffalo $1,543,902.44
Dallas $1,574,525.75
Ottawa $1,630,335.37
Rangers $1,633,449.48
Philly $1,747,713.41
Detroit $1,809,059.23
Chicago $1,809,420.73
Tampa Bay $2,107,723.58
Anaheim $2,472,560.98
San Jose $3,292,530.49

Whether or not you are sitting on the high end of that list or the bottom end of that list. It is up to every GM to run his team as he may. The Chicago Blackhawks whom have an amazingly talented team and have their rink filled every night have the 4th highest cost per win. But unlike many FNHL teams they are actually cutting a small profit whereas the Boston Bruins whom are one of the cheaper cost per win teams are cutting a small loss. So not all teams need to keep a low payroll, they just need the right combination of player contracts and player talent. That is the balance that all GMs struggle with everyday.

There are so many ways to look at your payroll, I find it much easier to look at my payroll and think "what have you done for me lately?". Much like a kid getting an allowance and not earning it, look over your roster and make sure you are putting your money in the best places cause if you are not, you could be costing yourself alot of wasted developmental dollars and that my friends is not good FNHL business.

Where are all the fans?

With salaries at an all time high it appears as though business is good. Look further go to any one of the FNHL's rinks and you will notice and awful lot of empty seats. Infact only 72.5% of the total seats in the FNHL are filled so far this season.

Going to an Colorado Avalanche game is like going to KD Lang concert at Madison Square Garden. Only an average of 8,632 fans show up per game. With a maximum capacity of 21,029 this an amazingly bad 41% fill rate.

Good thing the league has endorsement deals, advertisements and a solid tv deal to top bank accounts up as each team would be bankrupt in a season if they had to rely on their gate receipts alone. At last count each team would stand to loose an average of 5.7 million if the season ended today, this is not good business practice. Too many GMs are spending every cent on salary and this is driving up a fake market that is bound to crumble if owners do not control the spending of their team especially if endorsemens fall.

Here is the current percentage capacities of each team with the New York Islanders leading the pack with 94.3% fill rate and the Colorado Avalanche whose fill rate is sitting at 41%

New York Islanders 94.3%
Pittsburgh Penguins 92.4%
Tampa Bay Lightning 89.4%
Chicago Blackhawks 87.7%
Dallas Stars 86.5%
Edmonton Oilers 86.4%
Los Angeles Kings 84.3%
Nashville Predators 83.6%
Philadelphia Flyers 80.9%
Phoenix Coyotes 80.8%
Vancouver Canucks 79.5%
New Jersey Devils 79.1%
Florida Panthers 78.3%
Boston Bruins 78.3%
Detroit Red Wings 75.3%
Carolina Hurricanes 75.2%
St Louis Blues 74.4%
New York Rangers 73.2%
Calgary Flames 73%
Montreal Canadiens 69.6%
Toronto Maple Leafs 69.6%
Anaheim Ducks 69.4%
Minnesota Wild 69.2%
Atlanta Thrashers 67.8%
San Jose Sharks 64.8%
Buffalo Sabres 61.2%
Columbus Blue Jackets 60.6%
Ottawa Senators 49.5%
Colorado Avalanche 41%

In order for the FNHL to be a more successful professional hockey league more consideration has to be given to getting more fans into the building. One way to start that is to decrease salaries and in doing that decrease ticket prices.

How to build a contender (Part 2)

Last week we looked at all the abilities that made up a solid FNHL hockey player and how to combine them so that you get a well balanced team. We held back the last 6 stats to create this article, puck control, defence, passing, scoring, experience and leadership.

It is will known that in order to have a good offence you need a good defence. That is true in the FNHL world. Players that have a high defence rating should play more defensive than those who do not. But sometimes it has alot to do with who their linemates are and their other abilities such as intensity and strength. Those three stats make up a solid defensive player especially in defenceman. I personally like players to be either defensive or offensive and not both.

Puck control is one of those stats that are good for all types of players. In defencemen having good puck control enables the player to carry out his defensive duties as well as helps him deliver good first passes out of the zone. Puck control in forwards and offensive players helps them create plays and gives them better ability to shoot and thus score. In goaltenders puck control is even more important as it allows them to control the puck in their crease and reduce rebounds.

Passing and scoring are obvious in their definition as to what they bring to a FNHL player. Of course you want alot of these kind of players but having too many will dilute your lines and not focusing on other types of players will not give you a good diverse roster that is ready to take on different types of teams. I like my centers to pass my left wingers to score and my right wingers to pass. It has been a successful formula for me over the years. As for my defenceman, I usually like to have one defenceman that has the passing skills and the others focus on their defensive skills. Scoring in defencemen isn't a big deal to me as I would rather they focus on moving the puck to my forwards and keeping the puck away from my goaltender.

I am sure alot of you experienced GMs may thing that my blabbering about FNHL player abilities as old school and common knowledge but if anyone out there can take anything from it then I have done my job.

Next week we will focus on the lackluster gate receipts of FNHL teams. Is the sport dying? Are ticket prices too high? or are the players not exciting enough to sell out FNHL arenas across the league.

How to build a contender (Part 1)

Everyone has their own ideas on how to build their hockey team, some work some do not. Some teams look so talented that they are sure shots to win a cup but in the end miss the playoffs entirely. Some teams look so talent lacking that they should be farm teams and they make it to the finals. So how do you build a contender? What is the right mix? My ideals are purely based on my experience and by far are not the only way to build a contending team. In this three part series I will go over all the different attributes that make up a good forward, defenceman and goalie and how to mesh them all together to make a good team.

First off I like a team with alot of intensity, but not too much. There is nothing worse than a roster full of wet noodles, they will not hit anybody and in the end don't have that desire to score. But having a team too full of intensity means that everybody is too excited and focused on making the big hit and not interested in puttin the puck in the net. I personally like to have a team with alot of the depth players full of intensity with a decent amount of strength. It is good to have your stay at home defencemen full of intensity. For goaltenders intensity is definitely a nice to have but not a need to have. When it comes to forwards, it is good to have your grinder type players with alot of intensity, but it will never hurt to have your top line guys logging lots of hits.

Skating? Speed? It is nice to have a team that can skate well and can be speedy. But a slower player still has his place if he brings other intangibles to the team. I like to have all my slower guys on the same line and all my fast guys on the same line. This creates a good balance. Players who skate well tend to perform better with players that can keep up with him vice versa for the slow guys. When you break it down to your forwards and skaters it is pretty much the same thing, try and match your speed and skating together. Speed is very important when it comes to your goaltenders. A slow goaltender? Have you ever seen a slow goaltender excel... anywhere? Skating is nice to have with your goaltender, but it is by far not the most important factor with your goaltender.

Next week we will focus on some of the more overrated abilities of a hockey players. They may be very important but passing, puck control, defense and scoring are not the be all end all. Many rookie GMs like to focus on these stats alone and often find themselves building a team of underachievers. That's next week in the Hawkeynut's FNHL Insider Report.

Who is Brad Richards?

I thought I would dedicated my first "real" blog entry about the career of the unsung hero, Brad Richards. The 30 year old forward of the Pittsburgh Penguins had made an incredible news headline by scoring 5 points in back to back games, a feat that up till now has never been accomplished.

Little is really known about the silent playmaker from Murray Harbour, PEI. He has always been a consistent point producer at the FNHL level but he has never been a threat to win the scoring championship. Since joining the league back in 2003 he has amassed a respectable 366 points in 581 games. Not exactly hall of fame numbers just yet but if recent games are any indication as to the true talent this veteran has, he may just turn some heads.

Richards initially finished his first season off with the Phoenix Coyotes where had enjoyed decent success by scoring 22 goals and pitching in 42 helpers for a total of 64 points. Unfortunately he fell out of favor with the teams management and was subsequently dealt to the Dallas Stars in 2004. That season he was underused as he was the third line center and his production fell sharply by managing only 9 goals and 17 assists. This lack of use for the up and coming center lead to him asking for a trade. The Stars granted him his wish and dealt him to the Calgary Flames in 2005.

With the Flames Richards enjoyed a renaissance to his career . He pitched in 16 goals and added 27 assists for a total of 43 points. This production wasn't enough for the Flames as they missed the playoffs that season which lead to another trade of the then 25 year old this time to the re-building Anaheim Ducks. Just when he was beginning to wonder if he would spend his career living out of a suitcase he found a home in Anaheim. In Anaheim he started off as the team's number 2 center and worked his way up to it's franchise player by leading the team in scoring two consecutive seasons in 2006 and 2007. Unfortunately for Richards he would be dealt once again. This time to the eastern conference for the first time in his career.

He would be dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team on the rise with alot of promise and more playmakers and goal scorers for him to play with. This infusion of talent around the veteran boosted his personal best season of 23 goals and 48 assists for a total of 71 points. Richards is now showing the offensive prowess that many pegged him to have early on in his career. With the Penguins he is surrounded by the right combination that will only continue to make him flourish. With 10 points in his first 2 games this season he is off to an amazing start to only boost his career totals even further. Will he finally find his home in Pittsburgh? Who knows. But GM Martin would be crazy to trade a gem like Brad Richards who is only hitting the prime of his career right now.