NHL Ownership Grades (The Athletic)

[Osprey]

I'm surprised that the Kings owner got only a C+. He lets the organization spend to the cap every year despite the team not winning a playoff round in 11 years, lets his employees repeatedly screw up without firing them and hasn't visited the team facilities in years. Sounds like a dream boss to me.

 

[archangel2]

Oilers F after this off season

 

[Some Other Flame]

Flames owner Murray Edwards being near the bottom is completely accurate. Probably the single biggest obstacle towards any semblance of sustainable organizational success

 

[eojsmada]

Why?

Do you even know who “they” are?

The ones who let the Kyle Beech situation happen

 

[Crow]

The ones who let the Kyle Beech situation happen

He’s dead. Also very unclear if he ever had an idea.

 

[Bouboumaster]

B+ for Molson is fair
I'd even go at A IMO

Geoff Molson wanted to do too much in the Bergevin Era, but now that he's more hands off, he's much better

I truly believes he loves the team and I think he understand the importance of it

Plus, he has pretty much unlimited fund

 

[HabzSauce]

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.

I like Molson. He stays out of the picture for most part. Let's the hockey guys do their thing.

 

[Beige Van]

Good for the Panthers. They aren't too many years removed from things such as this

 

[Shonky]

Canucks 2nd last seems generous

 

[Leafs87]

Detroit should be higher. The Ilitchs have always been very well regarded

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Detroit should be higher. The Ilitchs have always been very well regarded

Chris is not his father - the passion is not there at all.

Not to mention the unbelievable district Detroit failure.

 

[norrisnick]

Detroit should be higher. The Ilitchs have always been very well regarded

Mike and Marian, sure. Until the tail end of Mike's life. His unwillingness to accept that a rebuild is needed has led to where the Wings are currently trying to climb out of. That and various grudges with former players. Yes, he owned the team that had a great 25 year run. But there have always been suspect things going on. Chris is just kind of there.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Mike and Marian, sure. Until the tail end of Mike's life. His unwillingness to accept that a rebuild is needed has led to where the Wings are currently trying to climb out of. That and various grudges with former players. Yes, he owned the team that had a great 25 year run. But there have always been suspect things going on. Chris is just kind of there.

The Ilitch family needs to get over the Fedorov thing.

If Roy can return to the Habs and have his number retired after how he left, there’s no reason why Fedorov can’t in Detroit.

 

[hirawl]

Somehow I find it a bit odd that the business side of business is completely forgotten as criteria when rating business ownership.

 

[Breakers]

Aquilini may spend to the cap

But he is on record saying he won’t pay for a good coach, and it backfired as he was paying 3 seperate coaches at once recently

He hired a golf chiropractor as his head of medicine that backfired immensely with medical advice he was giving out

He hired a high end sleep doctor from Manchester United then refused to pay him

He is obsessed with those 2 playoff games and revenue from it, the problem is they have missed the playoffs 7 of the past 9 years and 1 of those 2 years was from a technicality of Covid, as he never sells at the deadline by his demand

Aquilini hates draft picks, like despises them at a molecular level.

 

[madmike77]

A C for Murray Edwards is generous.

 

[VaporTrail]

When the Buffalo owner says he believes in the current group and that the answer lies in the locker room, then he is ranked right where he should be.

 

[TageGod]

Canucks 2nd last seems generous

Sabres win this hands down lol.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

The Ilitch family needs to get over the Fedorov thing.

If Roy can return to the Habs and have his number retired after how he left, there’s no reason why Fedorov can’t in Detroit.

What's the beef with Fedorov? First I hear of this.

 

[MoneyManny]

B+ for Molson is fair
I'd even go at A IMO

Geoff Molson wanted to do too much in the Bergevin Era, but now that he's more hands off, he's much better

I truly believes he loves the team and I think he understand the importance of it

Plus, he has pretty much unlimited fund

Under Molson we won the first Clarence S Campbell bowl in 100+ years of Habs history, awarded to the Western conference playoff champions!

 

[newsportsfan123]

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.

Why are you surprised Carolina is a B+? Canes have been competitive since Dundon took over and has put the right people in charge ensuring that Carolina is successful.

 

[NYRfan85]

I think if James Dolan was as involved with the Rangers as he is with the Knicks, then he'd be closer to an F. Giving him a C+ is generous as far as I'm concerned. I am just thankful he generally lets the hockey people do their thing for the Rangers and focuses his meddling on the Knicks.

Also, how quickly everyone forgets just how bloody awful Florida and Tampa were for most of their existence. Two prime examples of how the right ownership makes a huge difference!

 

[Canovin]

This ranking will look really dumb when the salary cap is 110M and the cheap owners only allow their teams to spend 90M

 

[BKarchitect]

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.

What’s your problem with Utah getting a B+? They’ve done a pretty good job in a very short time period to work in to energize a new market and create an attractive project. And they definitely have a road map for what they want to do.

Don’t conflate this with their time in Arizona. This isn’t Meruelo. It’s entirely different ownership. We will see how things pan out over a longer period, but it’s a solid enough start.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

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.

As a Tampa fan I hate to give the Panthers any praise but my boys just played in a ball hockey tournament put on by the Panthers outside their arena this weekend and they went above and beyond making it a great event for the kids. The best owners not only invest in their team and players but also in the community to support and grow the fanbase.

"No State Income tax" has a hell of a lot to do with it, let's not kid ourselves.