Toronto: Who would want the job ?

The Toronto Maple Leafs are on an another skid, and of course, the vulchers are out. When you look at the situation, who in his right mind would want to take on a sinking ship ? And if they do decide to can Ferguson jr and Paul Maurice, will the people coming in, make it a better team ? I doubt it.

I can tell you right off the bat,eliminate Scotty Bowman, he is not interested. Do the same with Steve Yzerman, as he is being schooled to take over in Detroit, which is and has been the sunnier side of the moon for sometime now. Who is left ?

A poll in the Toronto star, shows that Colin Campbell and Steve Yzerman would make the best pairing. Glen Healy and Mark Messier, came in second. It’s no time to bring in on the job trainees. No too many experienced candidates for the GM position. For the coaching position, you may have better luck. Would you want to bring back a coach that you have fired before?

All of this, the circus atmosphere,has to surely bring back old memories, you remember when Harold Ballard was running the show. Not much different, just different actors and different times, same old show.The Ballard show ran for over twenty years, how long will the sequel run for ?

Forbes NHL team valuation

The famed financial magazine released it's NHL team valuations last week.To nobody's surprise a big market team came in first, the Toronto Maple Leafs were valuated at 413 million. The Toronto club is owned by the Ontario teachers pension plan, who bought them in 1994 for 102 million. The Nashville Predators came in last at 143 million, the Predators are in the middle of being sold. Besides Toronto, two other canadian market teams are in the top ten. The most storied franchise in the history of the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens are fourth, at 283 million and Vancouver comes in ninth at 211 million.

Canada's small market franchises come in at number 14, 18 and 20. The Ottawa Senators are valuated at 186 million, the Calgary Flames are at 164 and Edmonton at 157 million.When you tally up everything, the average valuation for an NHL franchise,is 200 million. Two thirds of the league franchises are below that average.

In order to establish the salary cap limit, the NHL adds up the total revenue of its clubs. The total that established this season's 50.3 million cap limit, is 2,436 billion, the average comes to 81.2 million per club. The Toronto Maple Leafs came in first, at 138 million. The New York Islanders came in last with a total of 60 million in revenue. Nineteen of the leagues thirty franchises are below the 81.2 million average.

In 2006-07, the Toronto Maple Leafs paid out 49 million in salary to the players (not cap numbers).Which represents 35.5 % of it's total revenue. At the other end of the spectrum, the New York Islanders paid out 45 million is salary, which represents 75% of it's total revenue.Because their are in the New York market, they are not eligible for revenue sharing.

The other canadian markets paid out as follows:The Montreal Canadiens, 46 million for 42.2 % of it's total revenue to the players. The Vancouver Canucks also paid out 46 million in salary for 48% of it's revenue. Ottawa followed Montreal and Vancouver and paid 46 million in salary for 49.4% of it's total revenue of 93 million.Calgary dolled out 46 million also, for 60% of the 77 million in revenue. The Edmonton Oilers forked out 42 million of it's 71 million to the players, for 59.1 %. All monies mentionned here are in US currency.

Remember when Gary Bettman mentionned that the lockout was necessary in order to make the game more affordable to us the fans ? It was a little white lie.Daniel Tolensky at hockeybuzz, has a good piece on this.

Let's take a look at how much an average ticket cost in the different canadian markets. The average ticket price in Toronto is 70 $. In Montreal, it's 57$. In Vancouver it's 59$. The average ticket price to see the 2007 cup finalist, the Ottawa Senators is 46$. In Calgary it's 47$. The average price to see the 2006 cup finalist, Edmonton Oilers, is 52$.

Enjoy your Sunday, if you drink, don't drive, save a life and take a cab.