OT: Around Hockey and the NHL

[Renopucker]

What a first period by the Sabres last night against the Avs. I tuned out after that but I'm sure nothing happened, Sabres had that game in the bag.

AVS goaltending is their Achilles heel. Same as Carolina.

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[LightningStrikes]

He’s the Rangers’ captain so JBB has to trade for him, it’s a rule, right?

 

[Felonious Python]

He’s the Rangers’ captain so JBB has to trade for him, it’s a rule, right?

Verbeek ended up getting him.

I figure it's sort of like Kuch seeing someone else score an empty net goal. There's a bit of a wistful sigh, but ultimately they're glad someone they know got it done.

 

[Felonious Python]

Did you also know that Florida has only 17 local rinks?

Florida Rinks

www.sahofhockey.org

1 rink for every 1.35m Floridians.

 

[Renopucker]

Yeah, very localized obviously. But I had 7 within 20 miles of my house in Westchase before I moved in 2016.

In the 80’s, we had to drive to Colonial Drive in ORL for a 160X60 sheet, before Sunblades came on line a few years later.

 

[Felonious Python]

Jeff Vinik is on the executive committee.

 

[Felonious Python]

I've literally just been thinking about how soccer has Red Bull and Man City groups that buy a bunch of teams all over the world, and kind of filter players up the ladder. It's pretty much a non-starter right now for hockey.

I mean, an owner could have a team in the NHL and another in Sweden, for example, but outside of maybe sharing scouting and some business expertise, there isn't too much benefit, I don't think. The game is absolutely tiny when you compare it to soccer, or the potential for growth in basketball.

It makes sense for soccer teams to truly scout worldwide, even getting involved in setting up academies in Africa, etc.

With the NHL draft, there's a disincentive for owners to use their own capital to 'create' more players, and the game is already too expensive in the US. In the pre-draft era, major junior teams were sponsored by NHL teams, and the more money you spent, the more access to prospects you had.

The NBA makes sense to grow internationally because the cost of entry is so low. They basically just need a ball and hoop.

As I've pointed out, the entire state of Florida has 17 local rinks. The business model of this apparently isn't appealing enough to the world's leader in GDP. You can only really 'grow' the game in hyper-specific markets that can afford $30 sticks.

Maybe the game would organically explode in popularity in, like, the Philippines, but because they don't have the economy, we'll never know.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

I've literally just been thinking about how soccer has Red Bull and Man City groups that buy a bunch of teams all over the world, and kind of filter players up the ladder. It's pretty much a non-starter right now for hockey.

There's no way to make this happen. What's the age at which European veterans can come to the NHL without draft strings attached? There's no drafting in soccer, so you can have someone who owns a club in Brazil and a couple in Europe (in different leagues) and kinda use a "stepping stone" process with them. (I'll brush aside the enormous unpopularity that these models have with those clubs whose fans feel they've been reduced to stepping stones as that's its own topic.) Chelsea is basically doing this with Strasbourg, both owned by Clearlake Capital.

The only thing that isn't seamless about the process there is that, in a technical manner of speaking, the players are signed to contracts with those clubs, they aren't signed to contracts with the overarching ownership group. Red Bull wanted to promote Haaland up the ladder from Salzburg to Leipzig, Haaland wanted to go further than that and eventually transferred to Dortmund instead; that's just one example. Players have more control over their movement in Europe than they do here, they can be threatened with all kinds of internal "punishment" (being left out of match day squads, sent to train with the U-23 team, stuff like that) but they can't be forced to submit to a transfer, they can reject any transfer offer the club has otherwise accepted.

Regardless, to bring this back to hockey, as you say there's both a lack of players and also just no viable way to make such a method work. If Vinik bought Jokerit in Finland, there's no real way he could ever turn Jokerit into a pipeline feeding the Lightning. But to be clear, given that other sports in this country follow similar models to the NHL, there's no way an NFL, NBA, or MLB team could ever hope to do this either. Just in general it's a non-starter of an idea in North America.

 

[Felonious Python]

There's no way to make this happen. What's the age at which European veterans can come to the NHL without draft strings attached? There's no drafting in soccer, so you can have someone who owns a club in Brazil and a couple in Europe (in different leagues) and kinda use a "stepping stone" process with them. (I'll brush aside the enormous unpopularity that these models have with those clubs whose fans feel they've been reduced to stepping stones as that's its own topic.) Chelsea is basically doing this with Strasbourg, both owned by Clearlake Capital.

The only thing that isn't seamless about the process there is that, in a technical manner of speaking, the players are signed to contracts with those clubs, they aren't signed to contracts with the overarching ownership group. Red Bull wanted to promote Haaland up the ladder from Salzburg to Leipzig, Haaland wanted to go further than that and eventually transferred to Dortmund instead; that's just one example. Players have more control over their movement in Europe than they do here, they can be threatened with all kinds of internal "punishment" (being left out of match day squads, sent to train with the U-23 team, stuff like that) but they can't be forced to submit to a transfer, they can reject any transfer offer the club has otherwise accepted.

Regardless, to bring this back to hockey, as you say there's both a lack of players and also just no viable way to make such a method work. If Vinik bought Jokerit in Finland, there's no real way he could ever turn Jokerit into a pipeline feeding the Lightning. But to be clear, given that other sports in this country follow similar models to the NHL, there's no way an NFL, NBA, or MLB team could ever hope to do this either. Just in general it's a non-starter of an idea in North America.

The NBA might be the closest. Their drafts are two rounds, so if the NBA expands their minor league system, there's room for more international signings.

The lack of real transfer fees in hockey also disincentivizes European teams from expanding their own efforts. Why would organizations in Europe really start to ramp up their own production and development if they get a flat fee of maybe 250k?

If they start seeing potential multi-million dollar transfers, then you'll see the Norways, Belgiums, and Netherlands start popping off.

 

[Felonious Python]

It seems that the Rangers-Sabres game tonight has some kind of added intangible weight to it, like whoever loses is going to have a major shakeup.

Where I think Buffalo goes wrong is that they keep hiring first-time managers. While I like new people getting a chance, being able to lift a team out of the league basement is a very specific, and difficult, task.

Speaking of soccer, that might be the way to learn about building an NHL team. If you win in a lower league in Europe, you generally move up, but are now likely struggling for survival against better competition. It's the teams that keep building, and continually hitting higher gears, that are the ones worth learning from.

 

[Felonious Python]

from a competitive/growing the game standpoint, this seems to make sense. Hockey Canada and USA Hockey probably wouldn't like it.