hockeynut writes " There is no doubt that the most storied championship in all of professional sports is the Stanley Cup. No other title carries the same type of history as Lord Stanley's contribution to the NHL. Every Cup championship is full of stories generated by the time each player and coach gets to spend with the cup during the off-season.
But, for the first time in the history of the NHL the combined payrolls have topped $1 billion. Quite a cost for a chance at your name on the Cup. This years salaries compared to last season jumped to $1,140,114,521.00 from $951,341,723.00, a rate of 19.84%. All teams, with the exception of Montreal, increased salaries this season. Montreal dropped by 4.76%.
Here are the numbers for this season and last.
Team
2001-02 Payroll
2000-01 Payroll
Anaheim
$35,734,000
$33,520,000
Atlanta
$23,137,270
$16,633,175
Boston
$37,285,800
$27,541,576
Buffalo
$28,641,666
$23,912,916
Calgary
$28,867,500
$26,014,500
Carolina
$33,614,125
$30,523,750
Chicago
$37,612,500
$31,925,000
Colorado
$48,998,921
$37,352,500
Columbus
$23,311,000
$20,647,400
Dallas
$57,336,500
$52,765,000
Detroit
$64,818,850
$57,612,500
Edmonton
$26,217,250
$19,912,500
Florida
$38,613,100
$32,855,900
Los Angeles
$38,625,288
$31,502,500
Minnesota
$19,183,576
$15,712,500
Montreal
$35,472,370
$37,246,700
Nashville
$22,100,000
$18,637,500
New Jersey
$39,889,378
$30,201,118
NY Islanders
$33,925,079
$24,869,760
NY Rangers
$58,163,539
$45,242,037
Ottawa
$26,920,850
$21,873,000
Philadelphia
$56,072,500
$45,675,000
Phoenix
$31,388,936
$22,631,833
Pittsburgh
$31,758,500
$21,903,663
San Jose
$47,000,000
$43,445,000
St. Louis
$57,180,000
$45,406,000
Tampa Bay
$27,211,271
$19,825,000
Toronto
$47,870,958
$40,840,687
Vancouver
$27,414,579
$25,555,000
Washington
$55,749,415
$49,557,708
These are alarming numbers considering that the NHL does not have the same type of revenues generated by other major sports. What is even more alarming is the fact that these numbers do not include any deferred salaries, contract buyouts or the recent extension signed by Washington's Jaromir Jagr.
For example, the Rangers payroll including all deferments and buyouts would increase from the roughly $58 million in active salaries to almost $74 million with the deferments and buyouts currently on their books.
Detroit comes in with the largest payroll in the NHL with Pittsburgh pulling in with the largest percentage of increase over last season.
Bottom line is, if the NHL wants to compete with the three other major sports in the U.S. they will need to get a major television deal comparable to that of the NFL and place a cap on player salaries. If not, the NHL can expect some rough times ahead similar with the situation that Major League Baseball is facing with its impending lockout next season.
Lets hope that the greatest team sport on the face of this earth can find a way to get the salaries under control and bring some parity to the league. And at the same time get that major television deal that it needs to bring this sport in line with the NFL, NBA and
MLB.
Payroll numbers according to the NHL Players Association as released to the media.
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