News and Notes Thread 10: Where all media bias gets beaten to death

[Unsustainable]

What does it cost us against the cap if we buy out Semin this summer?

Alexander Semin is 31 years old on the buyout date of June 15, 2015, setting the buyout ratio at 2/3 and the total buyout cost at $14,000,000 spread over 6 years. His contract was originally valued at $35,000,000 beginning in 2013 and ending in 2018, with $21,000,000 remaining from the buyout year forward. The following is a season-by-season breakdown of the buyout. A negative buyout cap hit indicates a credit.

TEXT CAP HIT BREAKDOWN (for copying and pasting)
Alexander Semin buyout from CapGeek.com
2015-16: $2,333,333
2016-17: $2,333,333
2017-18: $2,333,333
2018-19: $2,333,333
2019-20: $2,333,333
2020-21: $2,333,333

 

[Unsustainable]

Just for ***** and giggles..

TEXT CAP HIT BREAKDOWN (for copying and pasting)
Jordan Staal buyout from CapGeek.com
2015-16: $2,000,000
2016-17: $2,000,000
2017-18: $2,000,000
2018-19: $2,000,000
2019-20: $2,000,000
2020-21: $2,000,000
2021-22: $2,000,000
2022-23: $2,000,000
2023-24: $2,000,000
2024-25: $2,000,000
2025-26: $2,000,000
2026-27: $2,000,000
2027-28: $2,000,000
2028-29: $2,000,000
2029-30: $2,000,000
2030-31: $2,000,000

 

[What the Faulk]

So basically what the Flyers are doing with Ilya Bryzgalov.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Unless there's some $5M player who's just chilling in free agency and waiting for a phone call from Raleigh, and we can sign him RIGHT NOW, I don't see how it benefits us to buy out Semin.

If it comes down to RF truly wanting the guy out the door at any cost, it would make a lot more sense to trade him and retain that $2.3M for only half the length of a buyout. The cap penalty would be the same (actually they could probably make it more like $2M and have a slight savings on that front) but for only 3 more years instead of 6, it would save the organization $7M in real cash, and they would get something back from their trading partner.

 

[What the Faulk]

I know we're taking hypotheticals here, but let's remember the dude is only 30. Going through a slump doesn't mean he's going to suck for the rest of his career. Feels like a lot of people forget that (not directed at anyone in particular).

 

[Unsustainable]

Unless there's some $5M player who's just chilling in free agency and waiting for a phone call from Raleigh, and we can sign him RIGHT NOW, I don't see how it benefits us to buy out Semin.

If it comes down to RF truly wanting the guy out the door at any cost, it would make a lot more sense to trade him and retain that $2.3M for only half the length of a buyout. The cap penalty would be the same (actually they could probably make it more like $2M and have a slight savings on that front) but for only 3 more years instead of 6, it would save the organization $7M in real cash, and they would get something back from their trading partner.

Same as Ruutu, paying him 900k for 1 more year vs paying him 1.5m for 4 more years I think.

 

[Francis10]

I know we're taking hypotheticals here, but let's remember the dude is only 30. Going through a slump doesn't mean he's going to suck for the rest of his career. Feels like a lot of people forget that (not directed at anyone in particular).

Oh ya totally agree. Not to say that he couldn't break out with a 2G 2 A game anytime soon, but he just seems lifeless right now. Something has to be bothering him? Lady problems? Ha.

 

[What the Faulk]

Oh ya totally agree. Not to say that he couldn't break out with a 2G 2 A game anytime soon, but he just seems lifeless right now. Something has to be bothering him? Lady problems? Ha.

I read that as "Leddy problems" and discovered this in the opener

HIT CAR #28 SEMIN HIT NYI #2 LEDDY, Off. Zone

Clearly Semin feels remorse and it's been bothering him all year.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Clearly Semin feels remorse and it's been bothering him all year.

He should talk to Eric, who knows about that sort of thing.

 

[Novacane]

Anyone know if the team is still handing out tickets to NCSU students like they have in the past?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Anyone know if the team is still handing out tickets to NCSU students like they have in the past?

They still do College Rush nights, if that's what you mean.

 

[Quacktastic]

Anyone know if the team is still handing out tickets to NCSU students like they have in the past?

If you go to the box office an hour before puck drop you can pick up upper level seats for $10

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

If you go to the box office an hour before puck drop you can pick up upper level seats for $10

If you go to Stubhub, you can get $10-$13 tickets for most any game as well. Exceptions are teams like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Rangers that have a big fan base living in NC. Can probably do the same via scalpers as well.

Even for the Wings game, after just a little bit of searching, I was able to get 2 upper level tix and a parking pass for just over $30 (not off of stubhub) for the Wings game on Sunday.

 

[rocky7]

The cost of running a professional sports franchise must, of course, be huge. What's been going on lately can't possibly be sustainable in the long run.

 

[DaveG]

The cost of running a professional sports franchise must, of course, be huge. What's been going on lately can't possibly be sustainable in the long run.

Here's the crazy part though, from what I've been told by a couple different people that are in the know, while attendance is down the amount of paid ticket holders is not as significantly and as a result the financial impact we're feeling isn't nearly as bad as sheer attendance numbers would indicate. They're losing out on parking and concessions revenue by it happening, but the oddity (if you consider it one) of that is that the people that were getting in on freebies were also a decent bit less likely to be spending money on food and drinks at the game anyway, so even in that regard it's not a strictly linear decline.

 

[What the Faulk]

On the flip side, how many of those fans who did get in on freebies had the potential to become more than just a casual fan? I think that has to be weighed as well. As I see it, you have two ways of becoming a hardcore fan: 1) jump on the bandwagon during an 02/06/09 run (not happening right now) or 2) go to a game and have a great experience. I'm not saying they need to hand out tickets like candy, which is what I guess used to happen, but the casual fan is probably very turned off by the investment into a losing team that they're completely unsure of at the moment.

 

[DaveG]

And that's where we're stuck at the moment. Honestly, the college rush program is a great way to get people interested locally but still buying tickets... but they need to lower the prices even more from the get-go ($10 any seat first or third level would be more apropos) and do make it a full-time thing, not just certain games. It doesn't always equate to better attendance doing that (see early 2000s Pittsburgh) but it at least gets people in the door and some kind of ticket revenue for those seats.

In all honesty I'd be that method would be more likely to build long-term customers then any free tickets ever could. There's at least a minimal amount of financial investment with the team in this case, you're going to be more interested in seeing them do well. Yes, there's also going to be cases where you'll have a bunch of students that are fans of other teams coming in, I did the same myself for every Canes game in Pittsburgh when I was at WVU (and I never had a problem getting a ticket fwiw), but 1 - that's absolutely no different then literally ANY time the Canes play a higher profile team, the stadium is going to be about 30-35% full of their fans anymore, 2 - the potential is there for long-term growth with this route. And let's face it, of the 4 major pro sports here the NHL has the highest proportion of fans with degrees and high earning salaries, this is the exact demographic that the team should be going out of their way to target. They already do to an extent, but they could be doing much more IMO.

 

[Ole Gil]

I think they've dug themselves a big hole with the fan zone.

They had people willing to pay 25-50 a ticket up top switching to 10 dollar tickets. And then they raised the prices of the 25-50 seats with nobody left who is willing to pay for them.

I wonder how it would have looked if they just dropped tickets a buck or two across the board instead. Not sure how they are going to get out of the situation they've created now.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

The biggest issue, in my mind, was PK's press conference last year.

Rather than discuss the faults in the organization, the same organization that has missed the playoffs lately almost as much as the Oilers, he spent the entire time basically berating the fanbase for not buying season tickets and how they needed to be more patient.

Well, it's easy to be patient if there's a clear goal in mind. But if one is just wandering aimlessly, don't expect the people following him to be patient for very long.

 

[DaveG]

The biggest issue, in my mind, was PK's press conference last year.

Rather than discuss the faults in the organization, the same organization that has missed the playoffs lately almost as much as the Oilers, he spent the entire time basically berating the fanbase for not buying season tickets and how they needed to be more patient.

Well, it's easy to be patient if there's a clear goal in mind. But if one is just wandering aimlessly, don't expect the people following him to be patient for very long.

For a rich guy he sure does seem to be a marketing and/or PR nightmare for himself.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

One playoff appearance, even a first round exit, would do wonders for attendance. This is a pretty hockey knowledgeable crowd. They just won't blindly support mediocrity.

 

[GoldiFox]

One playoff appearance, even a first round exit, would do wonders for attendance. This is a pretty hockey knowledgeable crowd. They just won't blindly support mediocrity.

I don't fully agree. A playoff performance would do wonders, no doubt, but the bigger key is putting on a good show for the home crowd.

If the Canes won every single away game and lost 75% of home games they would be a Playoff team but attendance would be just as bad. They have way too many games that are just absolute stinkers. A new fan paying $100 to bring his/her family to the game and sitting through a 0-4 borefest likely isn't going to come back, no matter how well they do away from home.

On the flipside I think attendance would be up significantly if they consistently won at home while losing every away game.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

a playoff appearance would boost attendance for 2-3 years even with limited success I still believe. It's easier to sell hope when people actually see some form of even moderate success.

 

[Caniac4ever]

They just won't blindly support mediocrity.

What is this mediocrity that you speak of?

“I don’t know if people realize that we have a very, very good hockey team,” Karmanos said.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Doesn't mediocrity imply being average? This team has been downright bad for at least 3 years.