toby91_ca

They were fielding pros, but not their best pros. Only the available players went the world championships, others were still playingn in the NHL playoffs. Even the players that were available didn't necessarily go.

I admit, I think I just made up the playing for a bad team gives the advantage, maybe it has just seemed that that's the way it has gone recently. In some regards though, I think it helps, but in others, not so much.

Canada had not won the world championships or Olympics for many, many years because all of the countries best players were playing in the NHL and were not allowed to play in the Olympics, etc. All of the European countries built teams with their absolute best players. If Canada was able to build a team with any of its players, they probably could have sent 20 teams each year that were better than the teams it sent.

Just one thing to point out is that it is easier to win individual goaltender awards playing for an inferior team, which made it easier for Hasek to pile up awards that Roy did not (other than stanley cups, conne smythes, etc.). Think about all the goalies that have won major awards. How many have been on the top few teams in the league?

The scary thing is that Canada beat Italy 16-0 in the 2006 Olympics, a tournament Slovakia wasn't even good enough to play in.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit biased against Hasek, I always have been, I just don't like the guy. That said, I don't like Roy either, but I do think he was the better goalie. In terms of awards, I just don't think Hasek deserved all of the awards he has received. I won't bother getting into a debate about that though, since I have already said, I'm biased against him, so I wouldn't really be arguing from an objective point of view.

I don't think they handed out the 2008 cup rings yet

As someone already pointed out, they can still likely make more money selling at higher prices, even if the rink isn't full. 10 tickets at $10 each is better than selling 15 tickets $6 each. I understand that it goes beyond ticket sales (concessions, parking, etc.), but I'm sure the team's management understands this as well and takes everything into consideration before they decide what the optimal pricing is for their tickets. You also need to consider what revenues actually end up with the team vs. some other entity.

Deferring money would not help them stay here, unless you mean they play for less. If you mean they defer money meaning they will get paid their contracted amount, just later, that will not help.

I'm not sure how it's possible, without some new major TV deal that is going to bring in revenues. I think there is a real chance the cap falls next year just as much as there is a chance it rises. If you ask me, if the cap goes up again, I'm thinking something shading is going on, where are all the new revenues coming from that were not there a few years ago? They need to increase real revenues just to make up for lost revenues due to the weakening of the Cdn dollar.

I think it would be more accurately described as this: - 9 years in the league where he has 2, 40+ goal seasons and 6, 30+ goals seasons. He had another 2 seasons where he scored 29 goals. - so that basically means that apart from his rookie season, where he scored 15 goals in 60 games, he's had 8 straight seasons of 29 or more goals. Also, he missed a few games in those 29 goal seasons, had he played 82 games each of those years, based on a gpg stat, he would have averaged 32 goals for those 2 years.

I don't think getting rid of Franzen means you can keep Hossa, that's why.

He has the hardware, that's why some experts put him so high, which I disagree with. I always thought (back when he was winning those awards) that he really shouldn't be, maybe he was winning based on perception, reputation, etc., but I really thought he was a bit overrated. Don't get me wrong, he was a great goalie in his day (probably better than great), but not as good as those awards would suggest and not my #2 all-time, no way.

The thing is, it would never come down to a choice between Franzen and Hossa anyway, so it's almostly pointless to discuss. But, if we want to be hypothetical and assume that it could come down to that (meaning salaries would be the same), it should be no question, Hossa is your guy. I agree with the sentiment that you'd have to be an extreme homer or an idiot to think otherwise, but I won't use those words (i.e. I didn't say it, just agreed with it).

Other way around.

I think Briere was their best player, you can say Vanek was arguablely their best player, but I don't think there should be an argument at all. Briere was the best in the regular season and post season and had a proven track record. Also, Briere's cap hit is only $6.5 million if I recall correctly, significantly lower than Vanek's (yes, I think $650k is significant). I also think Briere performed better last year than Vanek (not just because of points). Now, as far as Drury goes, I thought he was extremely overpaid when he signed that contract, along with Gomez, it was absurd, so it's hard to point to that to justify Vanek's salary. Fact is this, Edmonton offered Vanek a boatload of money as a RFA (I'm not misremembering am I? Correct me if I am wrong) and that's why Buffalo is paying him that much now. The guy is overpaid, no question about it.

The previous list was kind of meaningless since it was salary and not cap hit. Ovechkin will definately be the highest cap hit this year, by quite a bit, but it's hard to say if he'll be the highest paid, he'll make $9 million this year, I haven't paid much attention to what everyone else's actual salaries will be this year, but I think Crosby will make $9 million as well and Heatley will make $10 million. Other that, I think there are a few at $8 million, but nothing more.

And that 1 goal will give him 300 on the career. He's also 52 pts from 700. Datsyuk needs 75 pts for 500.

Why hasn't this been deleted yet?

Not likely unless new revenue streams are developed. Not sure what's in the pipe in terms of TV revenues, etc., but there is a real risk that the cap could even fall. The Cdn dollar vs. the US dollar has dropped about 5% or so in the last year and whether Bettman will admit it or not, that will have a pretty big impact in the cap since 30-40% of league revenues are earned in Cdn dollars.

I probably should have been a little more clear, I do understand (mathematically) how the calculation works, I just don't agree with it. I think all players' totals in any given year should only add up to 1.0 and the way it currently works is that you will see the totals add up to quite a bit more than that. I think it might work better if the totals were based on a % of the total available, although I don't like that much either since a guy can receive 100% of the first place votes (basically the best you can possibly do) and only wind up with a .75....don't like that. Ultimately, even you did something like that, the list might look the same anyway.

I dont' get how the calculation works. In any given year, shouldn't all the norris trophy shares for all players add up to a combined 1.0? That should be the case, but in the example they used with Howe, in 86/87, his Norris trophy share was 0.51, yet he didn't even win the trophy, so surely, the winner would have had more than 0.51 and with those two guys, we're already above 1.0.

I was counting cap hits, but screwed up wiht Meech, he wasn't on my list to begin with, so I then just checked his salary for the upcoming season ($475k), I later realized the $500k the followed year.

Figured it out, I had included Ericsson, but not Meech (difference of $417k) and I also had Hossa at $7.4 million vs. your number of $7.45 million.

Yes, but I'm also missing Meech, who's salary is $425k less, so I guess that is the main difference. Although, doesn't the total look more like $58.3 million ($1.6 million over + 2 roster spots over). I guess the assumption is that Ericsson will not be on the roster, so his cap hit is ignored.