Hockey Randomness

[NTP66]

Whereas #11 can

[FistOfCaufield]

Whose the blonde?

[shoeshine boy]

The CWHL's dumbest move was expanding into China. That was the beginning of the end of the league, which wasn't in great financial shape to begin with.

truth. I remember when I read that I was like, "huh?". they jumped that gun on that by at least 8 years.

[mikey]

Carolina trades the rights to Adam Fox to NYR for pick #37 and a conditional 3rd in 2020 (clicks on if Fox plays 30 or more games in 2019-20). Good recoup by Carolina, as they were in a tight spot...

[meow]

Fox is bueno

[mikey]

He is.

[Tomas]

Contract terms in the Czech Extraleague are pretty much never disclosed. Here is one exception: the fresh Extraleague Champion, Trinec Steelers, just signed G Patrik Bartosak: CZK 700,000/month + CZK 30,000 for each team point (in 3-point/game league, 52 regular season games. In this season, Trinec finished 2nd in the regular season with 99 points).

Sure, not the NHL level (where Bartosak will never play due to the domestic assault charge against him), but that's still some serious cash...

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

How much is that in real money?

[mikey]

$300 to $400k for the year more or less...more than he'd make on a two-way...

[Tomas]

The translation to USD (say USD 1 = between CZK 22 and 23 in the last 1/2 year) does not matter that much. Maybe the more relevant comparison is that the average Czech salary would be somewhere around CZK 30,000/month. And this kind of cash should - especially in case of both partners in marriage working - allow for a "normal" middle-class life (car, apartment, 1 vacation/year, no need to save for retirement, health insurance (government + employers) or education (free)). Now, hockey players may not be "employees", but rather "independent contractors" - so they may be responsible for for insurance, but still...

[Gaucho]

Trey Fix-Wolansky is a great name.

[crusherstasiak]

Trey Fix-Wolansky is a great name.

if susan broken marries this guy she'll be susan fix-wolansky-broken

[crusherstasiak]

or susan broken-fix-wolansky depending on how she plays it

[shafnutz05]

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/2665 ... ro-leagues

Many players have gone on the record to say they want the NHL to support a women's league with financial and infrastructural resources, and sources told ESPN that the players hope the joint announcement could apply pressure on the NHL to act.

How difficult is it to understand that if an idea is doomed to lose money, why would the NHL risk millions upon millions on it? I enjoy watching the women at the Olympics, but the men's product is light years better. It would be like a less successful version of the WNBA.

Rather than demanding this and that, why not just take a real job like the rest of us?

[Kane]

A thing isn't beautiful because it lasts.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Aren't they already doing that in some fashion?

[shmenguin]

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/2665 ... ro-leagues

Many players have gone on the record to say they want the NHL to support a women's league with financial and infrastructural resources, and sources told ESPN that the players hope the joint announcement could apply pressure on the NHL to act.

How difficult is it to understand that if an idea is doomed to lose money, why would the NHL risk millions upon millions on it? I enjoy watching the women at the Olympics, but the men's product is light years better. It would be like a less successful version of the WNBA.

Rather than demanding this and that, why not just take a real job like the rest of us?

The nhl isn’t being strong armed or anything. They’re going to voluntarily throw money at a cause that will aim to improve overall hockey popularity, by catering specifically towards an underrepresented demographic. This is a big bowl of whatever.

[llipgh2]

Regarding the WNBA:

1. The NBA throws a boatload of money to the league.
2 The WNBA is a summer league and doesn't compete with the NBA
3. They play in NBA arenas, not little local arenas. Bigger capacity, bigger crowds, more money.
4. The league has a TV contract with ESPN and NBATV.
5. The women play abroad in the off season, where they can earn a million or more dollars per season in pay and endorsements. Only a few WNBA players make what is considered good money, and even they play abroad.

Apparently attendance and revenue for the league has increased over the past few years, and now players are starting to push for salary increases, so they don't have to play abroad. This is a make or break point for the league. Can they offer competitive salaries and survive?

So if a league that has a lot of pluses can't/won't pay its' players, there is no way a women's hockey league (as much as I'd like to see one) has a chance to survive. Let alone get started.

[shafnutz05]

Regarding the WNBA:

1. The NBA throws a boatload of money to the league.
2 The WNBA is a summer league and doesn't compete with the NBA
3. They play in NBA arenas, not little local arenas. Bigger capacity, bigger crowds, more money.
4. The league has a TV contract with ESPN and NBATV.
5. The women play abroad in the off season, where they can earn a million or more dollars per season in pay and endorsements. Only a few WNBA players make what is considered good money, and even they play abroad.

Apparently attendance and revenue for the league has increased over the past few years, and now players are starting to push for salary increases, so they don't have to play abroad. This is a make or break point for the league. Can they offer competitive salaries and survive?

So if a league that has a lot of pluses can't/won't pay its' players, there is no way a women's hockey league (as much as I'd like to see one) has a chance to survive. Let alone get started.

This is an interesting post, thanks. I think the WNBA has managed as much success as it has because women's college basketball is at least somewhat in the mainstream, largely thanks to UConn's story over the last twenty years. Of course, basketball in general gets much more love from Sportscenter etc. Hard to see hockey getting as much love.

[llipgh2]

Aren't they already doing that in some fashion?

The NHL contributed $100,000 apiece to the CWHL and the NWHL.

Some NHL teams offer support to the teams in their city, but it's more marketing and promotions than cash.

The Buffalo Beauts (NWHL) are the only team in either league owned an entity other than the league. Pegula Sports and Entertainment. They thrive as a team, because Pegula has the cash to support them.

[shmenguin]

this should be looked through the lens of a minor league - not a women's league. and minor leagues exist because they contribute to THE league in one way or another. they all go kaput without the head honcho. so whether it's the WNBA or the women's hockey league, the question is, "you wanna earn a living wage doing what you love. here you go. call me don't call me". that's what AHL players have to deal with. minor league baseball players too. and same with D league in the NBA, i imagine.

there's room for one popular league and several low paying feeder leagues that draw in families and weirdos at the gate for cheap tickets. and you hope the amount that leave for europe doesn't reach critical mass.

[Dickie Dunn]

Regarding the WNBA, from an article after last season:

Yet those numbers haven’t led to the league and its owners making money. The WNBA said it has lost a significant amount of money over the last 22 years, including $12 million last season.

“On average (we’ve lost) over $10 million every year we’ve operated,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told the AP in a phone interview in October.

And that’s a league actually does have eyeballs watching it and some players whose name people might recognize. No one cares about women’s hockey. The general public barely cares about the NHL.

[MR25]

Gary Bettman denied the link between CTE and hockey yesterday.

When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman testified Wednesday before a Canadian govt hearing, he misrepresented his meeting with Boston-based CTE researchers, they say.
Neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee has found CTE in the brain of every NHL player she tested for the disease.
Statement: https://t.co/Qf4x8U4Fat

https://twitter.com/rwesthead/status/11 ... 21312?s=19

[nocera]

"Misrepresented." Why don't these reports ever just flat out say lied?

[NTP66]

Because those people have no courage.