League News: NHL Talk - (News n' Scores n' Stuff) | 2023-24 Regular Season Edition

[hb13xchamps]

I listened to the Friedman and Marek segment today. Definitely eye opening how many teams do not have a fall back option now. Everything I’ve read online has been pretty negative about Washington doing what they did, whereas they pulled off a very savvy business move here. Friedman did briefly mention that Washington was exploring the idea of developing their own in house “CapFriendly” before they acquired the site and its infrastructure. They viewed buying CapFriendly as a better option due to the time and cost it would take to develop their own FWIW

 

[RedRocking]

NHL’s relationship with CapFriendly was ‘icy’ before Capitals’ purchase, sale has left teams without internal infrastructure ‘scrambling’

The Washington Capitals sent shockwaves through the hockey world when it was revealed on Sunday that they purchased the popular salary-cap site…

russianmachineneverbreaks.com

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I'd like to know how many is "many".

If this is true then it looks like the outrage is probably misplaced.

It's possible the NHL wanted CF down and instead of going through a lengthy legal process they just let one of the teams buy it out. Maybe it gets distributed league-wide, maybe not.

Or maybe this is a fabrication of an excuse after the fact.

Either way, life goes on.

Really not understanding why the league would have a problem with a site like CF. Do they think that fans shouldn’t know the basic details of players’ contracts? It’s 2024 guys, that horse left the barn ages ago.

The NBA Trade Machine has been a thing for decades on ESPN. I imagine the NBA is cool with it because they are partners with ESPN. It’s not my thing - but a certain subset of fan gets into the cap stuff and likes to work out imaginary trades. I don’t see much downside in cultivating that kind of fan engagement.

The league should partner with Rogers/SN/whomever, and provide this info/tools themselves. There will always be more public sites, so why not control the info, and make some ad revenue for you and your partners?

 

[Calicaps]

Really not understanding why the league would have a problem with a site like CF. Do they think that fans shouldn’t know the basic details of players’ contracts? It’s 2024 guys, that horse left the barn ages ago.

The NBA Trade Machine has been a thing for decades on ESPN. I imagine the NBA is cool with it because they are partners with ESPN. It’s not my thing - but a certain subset of fan gets into the cap stuff and likes to work out imaginary trades. I don’t see much downside in cultivating that kind of fan engagement.

The league should partner with Rogers/SN/whomever, and provide this info/tools themselves. There will always be more public sites, so why not control the info, and make some ad revenue for you and your partners?

probably because CF made the league's resources look bad by comparison.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

I was thinking, wouldn’t the NHL itself have some similar tool in house for salary cap oversight for the entire league?

I assume amongst themselves (the franchises) the NHL doesn’t share this information for every player/team? Do we know that for certain?

I find myself wondering why, and I expect some entrepreneurs are thinking, wow do we have a gap in all of professional sports for that kind of offering….

imo the NHLPA would/could/should be the ones to step in and "negotiate" with the league to make the data public. Salary comparisons etc are the most appropriate means by which players and agents can gauge their value. All teams want to ensure they and their competitors are compliant with the cap rules. And based on recent statements, GMs and the league want to crack down on LTIR and related shenanigans like Vegas and TBL have done. So this type of resource is a basic element for all parties to do business, and the fans who put their $$$ into tix and other products should also have access to the data. It's like the NYSE deciding not to publish trading prices for listed stocks. Why would they do that?

 

[Hivemind]

Really not understanding why the league would have a problem with a site like CF. Do they think that fans shouldn’t know the basic details of players’ contracts? It’s 2024 guys, that horse left the barn ages ago.

Bettman: NHL won’t publish player salaries, not sure fans care

“I don’t think it’s a resource we need to provide because I’m not sure fans are as focused on what players make as they are about their performance on the ice,” he said.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Bettman is so out of touch just wow

 

[RedRocking]

Bettman: NHL won’t publish player salaries, not sure fans care

“I don’t think it’s a resource we need to provide because I’m not sure fans are as focused on what players make as they are about their performance on the ice,” he said.

sports.yahoo.com

Thanks. So it’s the usual: short sighted thinking; lack of vision from Gary. Of course, it is hard to say if a significant enough portion of the fanbase really cares (I have no idea). I’ll just again point to the long term popularity of the NBA Trade Machine.

But, I thought the very end of the article may have given away the game:

“It’s one thing when agents or teams self-report their contract numbers; it’s another when every player’s salary can be compared and contrasted, and every general manager’s cap mistake is officially chronicled.”

Would be pretty funny if that’s the main concern: embarrassment, lol. Also wild that they think this info could stay secret - are they aware of social media, and the interwebs? I’m sure this will amuse those posters who think most NHL GMs are morons.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Thanks. So it’s the usual: short sighted thinking; lack of vision from Gary. Of course, it is hard to say if a significant enough portion of the fanbase really cares (I have no idea). I’ll just again point to the long term popularity of the NBA Trade Machine.

But, I thought the very end of the article may have given away the game:

“It’s one thing when agents or teams self-report their contract numbers; it’s another when every player’s salary can be compared and contrasted, and every general manager’s cap mistake is officially chronicled.”

Would be pretty funny if that’s the main concern: embarrassment, lol. I’m sure this will amuse those posters who think most NHL GMs are morons.

I think @twabby has been more right than wrong with this, all along.

Which is ….. kinda sad. Not sad that Twabs was right — he was prescient — but that so many teams are seemingly archaic.

I can’t see that happening to MLB/NFL teams. Maybe I’m wrong.

Analytics by sport:
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NFL?
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NHL

 

[Nice]

Looks like Laine is gonna be on the move again

 

[Langway]

Every team has a cap specialist, typically the AGM. It's not just good ol' boys getting by with back of the napkin math or else there would be violations left and right. Not everyone has a comprehensive league-wide scope to theirs and that's seemingly the difference. The sophistication of cap data and cap-related analytics varies greatly it seems and it's definitely not aided at all by the league's approach to all this. Beyond not simply being content cashing in on ad revenue from some kind of league cap site there should at least be open access to such data from the league. That many have seemingly had to resort to public sites is amateurish. So before crushing teams it's really the league itself that needs to join the 21st century.

 

[DWGie26]

What surprised me is that Drai didn’t even get a fine. Panthers should be running some players tonight!

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Well the article says "70 percent of teams do not have an internal, salary cap infrastructure," so many would seem to be 22-23 teams. He lists 9 he knows have a backup plan, so excluding the Caps themselves that leaves 22 teams with nothing in place. Kind of a bummer that 5 of the 9 that aren't scrambling right now are in the division, though.

That’s very vague….

I just don’t believe the majority of the league was flying blindly…Some donkey has the data in some format….on every team…..of course how they use and apply that data could vary greatly…..but sure I believe most have not developed this kind of app internally….that’s not the business sports teams are in typically.

 

[g00n]

That’s very vague….

I just don’t believe the majority of the league was flying blindly…Some donkey has the data in some format….on every team…..of course how they use and apply that data could vary greatly…..but sure I believe most have not developed this kind of app internally….that’s not the business sports teams are in typically.

Yeah I think people are seeing their own personal vendettas against the league in all this, which is kind of ironic considering the league says they're trying to cover their tracks a bit to avoid exactly that kind of armchair hyperscrutiny.

As Langway and others have said, every team is going to have probably at least a small team of people managing the cap. You simply can't run even a small business with out that, nevermind a multi-million dollar sports franchise with a cap, CBA, and complex financial interrelationships.

Do all these teams have advanced, sophisticated tools that tell them the cap situations of other teams league-wide? Probably not as many, and I think that's what Friedman and his "couple of people" are telling him.

 

[g00n]

Well the article says "70 percent of teams do not have an internal, salary cap infrastructure," so many would seem to be 22-23 teams. He lists 9 he knows have a backup plan, so excluding the Caps themselves that leaves 22 teams with nothing in place. Kind of a bummer that 5 of the 9 that aren't scrambling right now are in the division, though.

Ok let's think about this for a second. The Capitals are not on that list of 9 teams who had "backup plans". Do we believe they had no idea what was going on with the salary cap? Of course not. We know they managed the cap down to the penny, often very skillfully.

So there is a revenge fantasy here from the "I'm a better GM than they are" crowd based on, as usual, limited access to information.

Friedman also mentions "varying levels of concern" for the remaining teams. How much concern, and how many teams?

Are we talking about teams with a monkey perched on a garbage can throwing darts at a cap table?
Or do most teams have full ability to control their own cap situation, but because of web access to free tools have never bothered to write their own software to project the situations for other teams (which hampers their ability to negotiate internally and externally)?

I would be surprised if even one team was truly in the dark about their own contracts, but it wouldn't shock me if visibility into other cap situations around the league was largely dependent on external resources.

 

[Langway]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1801267630533480909

South Carolina developing quite the rep on the NHL coaching tree.

 

[twabby]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1801268862823936127

Another example where a former player with no managerial experience just happens to be the best guy for the job in 2026. What a weird coincidence that this keeps happening!

 

[bacchist]

Really not understanding why the league would have a problem with a site like CF. Do they think that fans shouldn’t know the basic details of players’ contracts? It’s 2024 guys, that horse left the barn ages ago.

The NBA Trade Machine has been a thing for decades on ESPN. I imagine the NBA is cool with it because they are partners with ESPN. It’s not my thing - but a certain subset of fan gets into the cap stuff and likes to work out imaginary trades. I don’t see much downside in cultivating that kind of fan engagement.

The league should partner with Rogers/SN/whomever, and provide this info/tools themselves. There will always be more public sites, so why not control the info, and make some ad revenue for you and your partners?

I don't get it, either. If fans want to geek out over that stuff, I would want to feed that obsession. I just don't see any downside to that information being readily available.

 

[Langway]

One day Tom Wilson will be the Washington Capitals General Manager and on that day I will laugh heartily.

 

[Chokingdogs]

Bettman is so out of touch just wow

As much as I loathe lil Gary, and I do with almost every fiber of my being, I’m sure that’s not his idea. He’s just a mouthpiece, the one to take the slings and arrows form the public, as opposed to the teams/owners who tell him what to do.

 

[Hivemind]

As much as I loathe lil Gary, and I do with almost every fiber of my being, I’m sure that’s not his idea. He’s just a mouthpiece, the one to take the slings and arrows form the public, as opposed to the teams/owners who tell him what to do.

Bettman is actually pretty good at his job. It's just that his job is to represent the interest of 32 billionaires, so he's often required to be a scumlord on their behalf.

 

[Calicaps]

I was sure they had already said they were gonna be Utah HC for the first year, but today's news says they just announced it... whatever. But anyway, they did for sure just release the logo and permanent color scheme. So far this brand disappoints.

Utah HC Logo

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Utah would be in much better shape if the NHL gifted them an expansion draft. Utah is just getting one of the worst run teams.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Black, powder blue, and white. What dogshit.

 

[Kazer]

Utah would be in much better shape if the NHL gifted them an expansion draft. Utah is just getting one of the worst run teams.

Broadly, yes. But, Utah has quite a bit to work with:

• 23 1sts, 2nds, and 3rds over the next three drafts
• #9 prospect pool (Wheeler ranking)
• No 'bad' contracts (other than Weber who can be stashed on LTIR)
• Almost no dead money (only like 500k per year for OEL after 24-25)
• And some solid guys you can build around at the NHL level in Keller and Cooley (and to a lesser extent Ingram)
• Over 40 mil in cap space

It could definitely be a lot worse.

 

[StrikingDistance]

I was sure they had already said they were gonna be Utah HC for the first year, but today's news says they just announced it... whatever. But anyway, they did for sure just release the logo and permanent color scheme. So far this brand disappoints.

Utah HC Logo

LOL all that fanfare to come up with the packaging of the new Klondike bar?