NHL Ownership Grades (The Athletic)

[Summer Rose]

Is there any basis upon which this ranking occurs?

I think this is related, but in the string of Utah fans talking about it online there was this, which I believe attempts to explain the breakdown for Ryan Smith:

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Am I missing something with Winnipeg being that low? The guy is the owner of one of the harshest and smallest markets in the league and has managed to keep them as a consistent playoff contender for almost a decade now. Are Jets fans not a fan of the guy?

...I imagine that Winnipeg isn't higher due to the Market itself...the margins there for success are a very fine line...

 

[Breakers]

Jets 98 points. Re-signed all major players. San Jose 45 points. Picking up Cap dumps for draft picks. One team is winning the other is losing. How are they tied in ratings?

What's the criteria for being a good owner?

This isnt a standings list

 

[voyageur]

This isnt a standings list

Well by the sounds of it, it's a fan based list of satisfaction, from beer prices, to franchise vision of success. Come to our boards and read about Neal Pionk, or Logan Stanley, Mason Appleton. It's cold here 5 months a year, at least, fans are never happy.

 

[NVious]

Top line revenue does not translate to success. See: Rangers, New York. The Leafs and Rangers are tourist attractions.

I'd say there is a MASSIVE difference between:
1 cup final
Countless ECF
10+ 2nd round appearances

And:
1 2nd round stomping

Yes both have zero cups, but they got there in a massively different way. Also let's not pretend Toronto isn't Hockey mecca in terms of the history of the team/ the amount of players the city has produced and just the province itself. Yeah some players grow up as Rangers fans and go back, but no other team has the built in advantage that Toronto does as far as not only having the capital, but also a willing free agent player pool that would love nothing more than to bring the cup home for their friends/family.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

For context here is Winnipegs scorecard:

Treatment of fanbase is really low. It’s a driving factor in low attendance - all stemming from how season ticket holders were treated during covid I believe.​

They basically took season ticket holders for granted - told them to F themselves, cause they had over 9000 people on the wait list.

Welll…..Winnipeg is a small city - word got around, and that 9000 on the waiting list were all 1 or 2 degrees of separation from the season ticket holders getting tossed aside like day old bagels. All of a sudden there was no willing people on the waiting list. Ownership has come back begging….at least that’s how it’s been told to me as someone not in the city but a jets fan.

I’ll let actual former season ticket holders and Winnipeg residents chime in to correct me or add context.

 

[Machinehead]

View attachment 994297

Fun fact about James Dolan: He sold the Liberty one year before they drafted Sabrina Ionescu and lost $186,000,000.

 

[Leonardo87]

Fun fact about James Dolan: He sold the Liberty one year before they drafted Sabrina Ionescu and lost $186,000,000.

The day Dolan sells the Rangers will be very happy.

 

[Winston Wolf]

Flyers should be wayyyy lower.

 

[Machinehead]

The day Dolan sells the Rangers will be very happy.

Hopefully history repeats itself and he does it right before a franchise altering draft pick.

 

[chris kontos]

True north ownership group (winnipeg) should be rated higher related to success in a small mkt , low gate, low swag crap sales

 

[Garbageyuk]

Absolute joke of a list. Utah, Carolina, and Ottawa B+? And MTL should be a C- at the highest until we see how this rebuild shakes out. Molson should not be off the hook for decades of mediocrity that easily. They completely wasted a franchise goaltender’s career under his ownership, among plenty of other things.

 

[Ignatius]

I like how the top 4 teams are the 4 teams that benefit from the tax laws the most.

No I think it's the teams that are going to benefit most from their players contracting LTIRitis

 

[tarheelhockey]

Why is TBL an A+? What's better than in the rest of the A's?

They could afford to spend a little extra for the + because nO sTaTe TaXes

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

While Geoff Molson has had a sorta redemption arc with his Gorton and Hughes hirings, and agreeing to finally rebuild, holding on to the biceps bargain binner for 10 years should give him a big fat C-.

 

[GoldenSeal]

F is fitting for Buffalo's owner for a lot of reasons with help from a simple prefix and some creative explicatives,

 

[eartotheground]

Pegula is a good NFL owner and a horrible NHL owner

bad nhl owner surely, but he should get some credit for helping grow the game of hockey. he pretty much stood up a hockey program at penn state on his own to put them on the d1 map. that's gotta count for something

 

[ijuka]

Notice all lot of the top teams on this list have become destination teams for top free agents. While some want to blame "no state income tax", a lot more than that factors into it including great ownership.

It's the opposite. These owners are perceived as great owners due to the lack of state income tax.

 

[Crow]

What is the methodology?

 

[ijuka]

Jets 98 points. Re-signed all major players. San Jose 45 points. Picking up Cap dumps for draft picks. One team is winning the other is losing. How are they tied in ratings?

What's the criteria for being a good owner?

I mean, sometimes you need to rebuild.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Pegula

 

[eartotheground]

It's the opposite. These owners are perceived as great owners due to the lack of state income tax.

guess the local governments need to get good so their hockey can, too

 

[Crow]

Surprised the Chicago owners are even mentioned

Why?

Do you even know who “they” are?

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

What is the methodology?

 

[Section 104]

Consider who owns the Athletic and you can understand why they are stupid