It’s funny how time has made me appreciate the trade in more overall terms. Would there be NHL hockey in the southeast and southwest United States if the trade had not been made? The answer is no and the Kings franchise became a respectable one, not just one who had cool away uniforms. Looking back I feel like if Michael Jordan was traded to the Raptors, in his prime, from the bulls basketball would grow throughout Canada and the important growth in any sport starts with kids playing hockey. Those 6 and 7 year olds playing Pee Wee and Mite hockey today, in 20 years those are you season ticket holders and sponsors and advertisers.

So, at the time I was crest fallen that my favorite player was leaving a cool team to head to LA of all places, who I felt didn’t deserve him, but just like everything he does, it turned out that things turned to gold and Hockey in the USA would not be at the level that it is at w/out the trade. There’s plenty of room for growth but the Great One did all that he could and that’s saying a lot for someone who was the league for such a long time. Bruce McNall, wherever you are, you and Peter Pocklington helped USA hockey more then you’ll ever know.

Thanks for reading, comments are always welcome!

Howard Shapiro

Author, “Hockey Days” and “Hockey Player For Life”

www.howardshapiro.net

866.520.4286

This is a rivalry of the original six and it will be a heated battle as well as a memorable one. The Chicago Blackhawks have revamped their team will some much needed offense, defense, and net minding while Detroit recently acquired Marian Hossa. This will be a good showdown.

As everyone knows, once the play-offs start, the refs take a little break, as for the amount of games refereed in the play-offs, the amount of penalties called is usually less than if there were to be the same amount of games in the regular season. With that in mind, they should hire new refs for the post season, the regular season refs were absolutely, oblivious to what was happening on the ice, for the most part.

What’s funny is that the league added another ref to the ice surface so that the missed calls would not be missed. Really? Have they league officials been watching the games for the past few years? This season alone around the league referees have been thrown to the dogs for their missed calls, and their lack of consistency. Some refs call many penalties, border line or not, then the next game, they call almost nothing, some refs just call what they have to, there is no consistency between the refs, either the rookies don’t want to show up the veterans, or the veterans want to be the star attraction of any particular game.

Wow, the play-offs are set for next week, and the best refs for the season will get the calls. Question is, were there any good referees this year, maybe, but the league will most likely go with the least worst for the play-offs. Look I’m not saying that being a ref is easy, the game is very fast, but when there is a slash right in front of their face, and they don’t call it, but the ref down the ice does, there’s a problem somewhere. Get some consistency among the refs, all across the board, teams don’t know how one bunch of refs will call the game compared to another bunch, at least if all the refs called the game the same way, the players would know what to expect every game.

In the play-offs traditionally, refs usually put the whistles in their pockets and let teams play, unless there is a major infraction, so compared to not calling penalties that should be called in the regular season, have the refs been on vacation all season long? Will they start doing what they are paid to do now that the post season is here, or continue to bask in the spotlight? Referees don’t need a break, they’ve been on break all season long!

Too often I’ve seen players injure their hands worse than usual while fighting someone with a visor, if you want to be the type of player that likes to exact payment for cheap-shots, then you shouldn’t be wearing a visor, or else stand back and let the big boys take care of business. Sure visors are for eye safety, but don’t pick a fight if you have one, or be subject to a stiff fine, and suspension from the league.

I know that hockey is a rough sport, and for the most part it’s on the fly, meaning that a player usually doesn’t plan a fight, but if you are wearing a visor, unfortunately for you, you can’t fight as the brawler will get even more injured for trying to protect a team-mate, this has no place in the sport.

Although most teams are following the example of not having any pugilists on their team, the players that are a Chris Neil type and wear a visor, which Neil doesn’t, should not be allowed to try and intimidate the other team as they are cheating the un-said code of no visor, or no fight, of course some players don’t care for this rule and try to go around it by claiming cheap play from the other team.

It’s simple, if you wear a visor, either you don’t even think of fighting, or if you chose to fight then take your helmet off, that’s it, no being a baby, you fight with a visor, you get penalized, such as the rule of if a player has a brace to protect his wrist and gets involved in a fight, and injures someone with that brace, that player gets suspended.

Sure players should wear visors, with all the eye injuries that have occurred in the past few years, it makes sense, but fighting with one doesn’t.

The wizards ( NHL planning directors ), thought of something controversial, the team that wins in overtime gets 2 points, the one which loses gets 1 point. By doing this I find that the wizards are rewarding losers, which once you become a professional, should not exist, the players are not children anymore, they don’t have to reward effort, you lose, tough luck, no points. Why should teams be babied, to tell owners that the wizards have their back, well who has the fans back??

The shoot-out is a different story, if both teams have made it past the overtime, then they should have at least one point each, with the extra point going to the winner of the shoot-out. That is the way it should be, if you make it past the overtime, you get a point, you lose in overtime, no point for you, enough with the constant child like rewards.

Unfortunately, the loser point has made things interesting in the race for the play-offs this season as a multitude of teams which should not be in the hunt are. Teams like the Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, and so on, even teams which are at the top would possibly not be there if the loser point wasn’t there, but some teams at the top also lost in the shoot-out, so some would still be at the top anyway.

In the current situation, I do not think that the NHL will remove this loser point anytime soon, it’s giving teams which arguably shouldn’t be in the race a chance to get into the play-offs, in the end the owners of low market teams probably like it that way, some teams don’t want to spend more then the floor cap, and they are happy to be in the hunt for the play-offs. It is exciting as all spots are pretty much up for grabs, however they should be challenged by winners, not overtime loser points, shoot-out loss is o.k. as both teams made it past overtime, by the old standard, they both get a point, but please, players, and owners are past the age of positive reinforcement.

Last week San Jose Sharks player Torrey Mitchell injured Minnesota Wild player Kurtis Foster, the incident occurred when both players where in a race for the puck, and foster got hammered into the boards breaking his leg, it was a play for the puck, but someone got injured, so perhaps it’s time for the league to stop looking at more ways to make money, and start looking more carefully at increasing the safety of the players who bring the league money.

The NHL, more like Gary Bettman, is trying so hard to introduce the basketball aspect to the game that safety is put on the back burner, why else would it take so long to implement no touch icing? Well, there have been some reports that Bettman likes the NASCAR aspect, meaning that two players are racing for the puck, and there is a crash at the end. There is only one problem with that, in NASCAR the cars do the crashes, not the people driving them, in hockey, it;s the players that do the crashing, but when it comes to full on racing for a call that could have been made already, well that’s just ridiculous.

The NHLPA I’m sure, is all for the league adopting this rule of no touch icing, look, the season is already long, add the play-offs to that and it’s even longer. The NHL is even toying with adding more games, are they nuts? The players are already tired at the end of the season thanks to some moronic scheduling by the league, the schedule is too ridiculous, some teams don’t play each other for a year or two, most teams play let’s say, two games in California, fly to Phoenix, then come back to Cali, what is up with that? Some, or most players are tired enough as it is, why give them a schedule like that, and plus, now, the league is looking at possibly adding more games. Like I said, stop with the trying to make money, and concentrate on player safety, if you would like your product to stay and help you make money!!

With the increasing injuries, the NHL has no choice but to adopt the no touch icing rule, under certain factors of course, not to just have it be an automatic, but it should still be implemented some how, I’m sure that the self called NHL wizards will come up with a way to install this rule while still preserving the race aspect, after all, they do such a bang up job with the way they schedule games, and the way they are not bias when handing out suspensions, that this latest rule should be a piece of cake right?

Baseball has had numerous bench clearing brawls over the last few years, and it was the talk of MLB. Fans cheered as they saw their pitcher, or their batter running to the mound, and a brawl would happen, everyone in the stands would cheer for their team in the fight, granted fights don’t happen as often in baseball as it does in hockey but it still does, and the fact that fans cheer, says that they get excited for it.

Football has their occasional fights, or players heaving their helmets at someone, and some pushing and shoving, and what do fans do, that’s right, they cheer for their team in the fight, as well as defend the actions of their players implicated in the scrum.

Basketball has their share of happenings as well, as players strangle coaches, elbow other players that are going for a lay-up, throwing the ball at officials, or fans, or camera operators etc, and occasionally fighting as well, but that sport is still marketable, how can they say hockey isn’t because of it’s violent nature?

Let’s not forget boxing which in itself is a sport built on violence, after-all the sport consists of boxing (hitting) each other until someone falls, or how about Ultimate Fighting which is also a sport based on violence, although this one takes the cake, funny how those two sports can be marketed!

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Kovalev, Evgeni Nabokov, Jaromir Jagr, Marian Hossa, Martin Brodeur, Niklas Lidstrom, and so on, are hockey’s marketable players goons? No, and even if they were so what, if all other sports can be marketed with their share of violence, why not hockey? I’ll tell you why, because Gary Bettman would like hockey to be nothing other than basketball on ice, and he’s trying to do everything he can to bring the aspect of basketball to hockey. Taking away the instigator rule was ridiculous, trying to market the game, yeah right, if you can’t market the game that has so much talent be it European, or North American, then maybe you should hire a new marketing staff. Using the fact that hockey has some violence in it and in turn is hard to market in the U.S., then why does he keep putting teams there that lose money, put them back in Canada where he won’t make as much as being in the U.S. but at least he won’t lose as much either.

Cop-out! That’s what I say to those who are with Bettman, yes the league is violent, with it’s hitting, and physical play, and also fighting, but that’s what the game is, and one could not say that our superstars are goons because they are not, the goons are goons, or pugilists if you prefer, but that is what the game is, everyone playing, or wanting to play knows that, so what is the problem? Stop using violence as a cop-out Gary, if you cant market the game in the U.S. then stop putting teams there, and tell people that your are trying to bring basketball to the ice, with all the non-goon players we have in the league, it shouldn’t be difficult to market the game, especially with the few players I mentioned above. Go back to basketball if you miss it so much Gary, leave hockey the way it is, and the majority of our superstars are not goons, so hire the right people and market the game properly, explain to them why there is violence instead of trying to cancel it out all together, because like the NHL has shown since the instigator rule came into effect, take out fighting, and more cheap-shots will appear, or be more severe.

Our superstars are not goons, funny thing is, in the other sports I mentioned above, some of their superstars are!

I still stand by that position, even its purely theoretical basis. But this year there is no argument to make. Alex Ovechkin is the league MVP. Period. Crosby was cruising before busting his ankle in January and missing 20+ games. But when he went down, Ovechkin went up (not easily). He’s stretching the distance between him and the second-leading goal-scorer—Ilya Kovalchuk scored number 50 tonight—to an uncatchable number. He’s thus far provided somewhere in the area of thirty percent of the Capitals’ offense, and is tops in hits. He works even strength, dominates the powerplay, hustles shorthanded, and has scored more game-winning goals than anyone in the NHL. I could give you exact numbers, but that much copying and pasting will put you down. His easily-reviewed statistics make the decision. Check them out.

A quieter conversation being had across the NHL over the past few weeks is about Evgeni Malkin. When the Pittsburgh captain limped off the pond, the Penguins bench collectively shit its pants. (They’ve got those new weightless techno jerseys; it’s no big deal.) Malkin began to own games, violently abusing the second half of the season. He’s only been held pointless in eight games since January 1st. By now the argument for OV is growing obvious. Malkin has only skated half an MVP season. Well, sort of. Much like OV, he too has played well all season. (It’s worth mentioning that OV has played this way since Bruce Boudreau was still coaching in Hershey.) But attention is obligated to find Crosby. Still, the two Russians differ in that Malkin hasn’t carried his team for three years, and until now he hasn’t had to. The Pens were a good team before the season (and didn’t falter in Sid’s absence, and made a huge move to pick up Marian Hossa for the playoff stretch). OV has not avoided such pressure, but he has laughed at it. The Caps have built their team around OV—thirteen-years for $124 mil does that. The only reason Malkin won’t win this year is because Crosby got drafted before he did.

Let me leave you with one thought. A question gaining its popularity in hockey circles is whether a player should be awarded the Hart Trophy if his or her[1] team doesn’t make the post-season. It’s not a new one, but has lay dormant since Mario won it without making the first-round back in the 1980s.

So, what do you think: should a player fall from contention for the MVP award if his team misses the playoffs? Consider this quickly: don’t teams make the playoffs while individuals win awards? Gnaw on that. I’ve got my answer. What’s yours?

————————————————–

Footnote

[1]: Manon Rheaume, anyone?

As long as the New Jersey Devils have Martin Brodeur on their team, they will be in the race for first in the east, as their whole team is built around Brodeur, and a boring put you to sleep style of play, but at least it seems to work for them in the win column, they have a great All-Star goalie and that helps win championships in the NHL, however they lack scoring punch.

The Ottawa Senators are a good offensive team, and have some good defenseman, but will they be able to solidify the goalie position by the time the play-offs begin? The Sens have skill almost everywhere, but their recent demise has let other teams in the race for first in the conference as it looked like the Sens were running away with it earlier this season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Malone, Petr Sykora, Jordan Staal, Marian Hossa, I think they have enough scoring punch, but even-though their defence can score, they lack defensively, and who will be their no.1 goalie? The Pens also lost their grit master in Colby Armstrong, but they seem to be doing well anyway.

The re-surging New York Rangers, with Brendan Shannahan, Jaromir Jagr, Scott Gomez, Martin Straka, and Chris Drury, the Rangers have scoring punch, and a really good goalie which is why they are only 6 points back of the #1 seat in the east, their defence seems to be picking it up at the right time as well.

The Montreal Canadiens, with all the players that have scored for them this year helping the Habs be three goals away from having the most in the NHL, they have enough scoring, Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak are the ones who will have to carry the load which is the question mark for the Habs, their defence is good, not great, but good, but their goal-tending will determine what the outcome will be for them in the end.

Every team listed above has question marks surrounding them as they head into the play-offs, which is why it is so entertaining to watch this year, call it parody if you will, I call it every team needs something, and that might be what makes the east this year, whatever the outcome of the end of the season, it will be interesting to watch the next ten games in the regular season for each team.

Why did the general managers agree to these clauses? Is it because they were afraid of losing these players, or maybe because they had a momentary laps of reason. whatever the reasoning is behind the no trade clauses being accepted, the GMs hopefully now see that clauses like that in the long run do not help the team.

Unfortunately the clauses are not all the same, some even have stipulations attached to them, for example, one would have their team not trading them unless they agree to the team that the trade would take place with, unless their team does not make the play-offs in a certain year. Can you believe that, not only do these players have final say where they go but, there are also stipulations within the clauses.

The new NHL is better with more scoring, more end to end action, although there are also some games where even with two referees some calls are not being made, which is particularly funny as NHL president Gary Bettman has stated that the players are far more bigger than before. Really? Then why would the league insert another referee in the mix, if their is already not as much room on the ice.

The NHL is getting better, slowly, but Bettman should think about the hockey aspect of it instead of trying to find ways to turn it into basketball on ice!

NHL general managers will have to decide in the future that no trade, no movement clauses be retracted form players contracts. The last time I checked, when one works for someone the employee does not control the employer. If players are stating to gm’s that they would sign with them but only if there is a no trade clause in the contract, then it’s up to the general managers to unify and say no! I f the gm’s all unify with this then players will slowly see that GMs run the team, not the players.

The 56th annual NHL All-Star game goes Sunday, January 27, at 6 p.m. ET from the Philips Arena in Atlanta.

So, which players will be participating in the All-Star week-end?

The 2008 Eastern Conference starters as selected by the fans are forwards Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins (replaced by teammate Evgeni Malkin), Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators.

The defensemen are Andrei Markov of the Montreal Canadiens and Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins.

Goalie Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils was supposed to start, but he will be replaced by Boston Bruins’ Tim Thomas.

The rest of the Eastern Conference All-Stars includes forwards Scott Gomez, Dany Heatley (replaced by Marc Savard), Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin, Mike Richards, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal, and Martin St. Louis; defensemen Brian Campbell, Sergei Gonchar, Tomas Kaberle, and Kimmo Timonen; and Rick DiPietro and Tomas Vokoun in net.

The Western Conference will start with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings, and Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames at forward.

On defense they will have Nicklas Lidstrom of the Red Wings and Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames.

Since Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks has decided to skip the All-Star game, one of Manny Legace, Evgeni Nabokov, and Chris Osgood will have to start.

The rest of the Western Conference All-Stars includes defensemen Ed Jovanovski, Duncan Keith, Chris Pronger, and Sergei Zubov (replaced with Scott Niedermayer); forwards Henrik Zetterberg (replaced with Mike Ribeiro), Jason Arnott, Marian Gaborik, Ryan Getzlaf, Shawn Horcoff, Anze Kopitar, Rick Nash, Henrik Sedin, Paul Stastny (replaced with Corey Perry), and Joe Thornton; goalies

Here’s the Eastern Conference and Western Conference 2008 YoungStars rosters.

How is a trade made?

After two clubs have come to an agreement on a trade, the clubs must advise the League office, either by telephone or by FAX, of the terms of the trade. The League office then schedules a conference call with the two teams to review the transaction and give final approval for the deal. Prior to the trade call, the League office will ensure that the team has the appropriate salary cap space to make the deal; if draft choices are involved, that the club has the available choices; and that the team has available space on its reserve list to add the player (s). It should be noted that the 23-man roster restriction is no longer in force from February 27 on.

On the trade call, the League will a) review the terms of the player contracts and ensure that teams are aware of their respective obligations to the player (s) involved; b) ensure that, should a player have a no-trade clause, that the player has waived that right; and c) ensure that any conditions to consummation of the transaction have been clearly defined and agreed upon.

The trade becomes official after the trade call has taken place.

What if a player involved in a transaction has a “no trade” clause?

No trade clauses can vary from player to player. For example, a player may have a list of teams that he has agreed to be traded to. The League requires written documentation from the player that he has waived his no trade clause. If applicable, the documentation must also stipulate which teams the player has agreed it is permissible for him to be traded to.

Can a trade take place after the 3:00 P.M. ET deadline on February 27, 2007?

Trade calls may take place after the 3:00 p.m. deadline but the League must have been advised of any and all transactions, including the specific details, prior to 3:00 p.m. It is not unusual that a number of trades are agreed to between the clubs just before 3:00 p.m. However, due to the volume of trades occurring just prior to the deadline, the League may not be able to conduct the actual trade call until after 3:00 p.m. There are four League officials that conduct trade calls and calls may last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes depending on the complexity of the deal.

How is a player’s salary charged against a team’s salary cap when a trade is made at the deadline?

The salary that is charged against a team’s cap is the pro rated amount remaining of the player’s average yearly salary. For example, if a player has an average yearly salary of $2 million, the amount charged against the acquiring team’s cap is the pro-rated amount remaining of $2 million.

This is calculated by dividing $2 million by the number of days in the season (187). The amount ($10,695) is then multiplied by the number of days remaining in the season from the day the trade is made (41 days if trade is on deadline day) to ascertain the amount charged against the team’s cap ($438,502).

Here is the Western Conference line-up:

Coaches

• Head coach - Randy Carlyle, Anaheim Ducks
• Assistant - Barry Trotz, Nashville Predators

Forwards

• Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks [Starting]
• Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche [Starting]
• Jonathan Cheechoo, San Jose Sharks [Starting]
• Teemu Selanne, Anaheim
• Patrick Marleau, San Jose
• Rick Nash, Columbus
• Martin Havlat, Chicago
• Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit
• Brian Rolston, Minnesota
• Bill Guerin, St. Louis
• Ryan Smyth, Edmonton
• Yanic Perreault, Phoenix

Defensemen

• Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks [Starting]
• Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings [Starting]
• Dion Phaneuf, Calgary
• Kimmo Timonen, Nashville
• Philippe Boucher, Dallas
• Lubomir Visnovsky, Los Angeles

Goalies

• Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks [Starting]
• Marty Turco, Dallas
• Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary

Here is the Eastern Conference line-up:

Coaches

• Head coach - Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres
• Assistant - Bob Hartley, Atlanta Thrashers

Forwards

• Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins [Starting]
• Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals [Starting]
• Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres [Starting]
• Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay
• Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay
• Marian Hossa, Atlanta
• Jason Blake, N.Y. Islanders
• Dany Heatley, Ottawa
• Simon Gagne, Philadelphia
• Eric Staal, Carolina
• Brendan Shanahan, N.Y. Rangers
• Justin Williams, Carolina

Defensemen

• Sheldon Souray, Montreal Canadiens [Starting]
• Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres [Starting]
• Tomas Kaberle, Toronto
• Brian Rafalski, New Jersey
• Zdeno Chara, Boston
• Jay Bouwmeester, Florida

Goalies

• Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres [Starting]
• Cristobal Huet, Montreal
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey

The period would begin on the first day players can become free agents — July 1st — and last for several days, after which they would be officially allowed to sign new contracts.

This is something that could prevent both, the teams, and the players from making mistakes. Mistakes that are amplified by the salary cap system that the NHL now operates under.

Teams would have a the chance of sitting down face-to-face with a player, and get a better feel for how he would fit within the organization, on and off the ice. Players can travel from city to city, and meet with “real estate agents, review the area, and talk to folks about schools.” Since many players also have wives and kids, it would be important for their families to “travel around … town and see if it seems like a good fit” for them.

From the League’s point of view, an extended period of speculation on where free agents might end up going, would ensure even more media coverage. “Instead of receiving one day of media attention for free agent signings,” there would be a few days’ “worth of coverage as players come into town for interviews.”

Instituting this interview process might even “eliminate the need to cheat.” Ever wonder how teams announce a free agent signing at 12:01 am on July 1st? It’s most likely due to the fact that “GMs and agents are defying the rules by talking before July 1.”

All in all, it’s a win-win situation for teams, players, and those fans who can’t get enough of rumors and speculation.

So, what does this mean?

Basically, the NHL will have their own Brand Channel at www.youtube.com/NHL, where they will provide short video clips featuring highlights of regular season games. The videos will be available 24 hours after the original broadcast. In addition to the game highlights, the NHL will also present various other “on and off ice footage.” The agreement is for the 2006-2007 season, and is supposed to premier this month.

So, what’s the big deal? NHL game highlights run 24/7 on every sports station.

True. But this partnership is not targeted towards hockey fans, who watch sports stations to catch up on their favorite team’s recent game highlights. It’s targeted towards the YouTube community, and those that may not be hockey fans. The NHL’s plan here is clear:

“The partnership will enable the NHL to expose YouTube’s vast audience to all of the excitement and drama of the new NHL,” said Doug Perlman, NHL Executive Vice President, Media. “What a great way to showcase the talent of our athletes.”

For those that are hockey fans, you can watch full-length games over at Google Video. As a matter of fact, we are currently featuring Game 6 of the 1967 Stanley Cup finals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens in our Watch Now section.

Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson sounded excited about the development, and apparently has already set aside some $175,000 of the Leafs’ donation for various programs.

“This is going to be a regional centre for us that will be a great place to hang our hat,” said Nicholson. “In the future, we can do national junior camps, under-18 camps, women’s camps - that was a big part of this - and it’s going to be sledge hockey friendly so we can get our Paralympic team ready for tournaments.”

Maple Leafs GM John Ferguson, too, sounded excited by his team’s involvement with Hockey Canada.

“We aspire to make Leafs Nation Hockey Headquarters synonymous with hockey development and a successful global model - an intelligence centre that will set the standard for training and high performance in hockey worldwide,” said Ferguson.

Of course, the association between these two Canadian hockey icons has been in the works for a while now. Back on November 8, it was reported that Hockey Canada will be one of the tenants at the Leafs’ new $29 million (US), 20,000 square feet, state-of-the-art practice facility.

“The Maple Leafs are the gold standard in the NHL and no one else is really close,” said Forbes associate editor Kurt Badenhausen, who co-authored the magazine’s annual valuation of franchises.

As a matter of fact, as Paul Hunter reports in the Toronto Star, the Leafs had an operating income of $41.5 million last year. To put that into perspective, that was “more than twice that generated by any of the league’s other 29 franchises.” As a matter of fact, it was greater than the “combined operating income of 26 other teams,” including the “Canadian-based franchises Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton.”

Naturally, the head honchos at Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment did not agree with Forbes’ numbers.

“We’re a privately held company so therefore Forbes doesn’t have access to our financial books,” said team spokesman John Lashway.

“Their ranking is based on numbers they’ve come up with based on their own methods of speculation. They’re incredibly wrong. They’re significantly way too high. When they say numbers like that, they’re not recognizing taxes, amortization and other factors.”

These “methods of speculation” Lashway was referring to include the viewing of “income statements for past years for the Leafs,” which Badenhausen admits that Forbes has done. So, the fine people at Forbes can’t be that far off.

But wait, there is more.

Not only are the Leafs the most profitable franchise in the National Hockey League, they are the most high-priced franchise, as well. The Leafs have an “estimated value of $332 million, up from $325 million in 2005.”

So, what about the other teams? If the Leafs are first, who’s second? Well, according to Badenhausen:

“The only team that deserves to be in the same conversation with Toronto, financially, is the New York Rangers.”

The Rangers come in second to the Leafs in both operating income ($17.7 million) and franchise value ($306 million). Everyone else has still some catching up to do.

Operating income is profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

The leadership award will be awarded monthly, as well as at the end of the year. Both Messier and the league will select the winner.

Later tonight, the first winner of the award will be announced at the famous Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“At the time it was clear that they were trading me to Detroit, Toronto, Chicago or Colorado,” Roy said, as he joined Leaf/Hab Dick Duff, Flames executive Harley Hotchkiss and the late Herb Brooks as the Hall’s newest inductees. “But if we start talking about ‘if and if and if’, we’re not going to go very far.”

Maybe not Patrick, but us fans sure like to talk about the possibilities of you ending with any of the other three teams.

I mean, would the Avalanche win any of their Stanley Cups? How many more Stanley Cups would the Red Wings have won if you were their starting goaltender? How would Habs fans react if you were traded to the hated Leafs? Would the Blackhawks still be the miserable franchise they are today had you graced them with your presence? And which players would these three teams have traded in return for you, Patrick? And more importantly, would you have ever end giving us fans these precious moments?

Sure, we’ll never know the answers to any of these questions, but it’s fun to “what if” once in a while.

Even the people in charge of running the aforementioned franchises responded to Roy’s revelation.

Ex Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman confirmed that he was contacted by the Canadiens GM at the time, Rejean Houle. However, then Maple Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher does not recall any trade talks involving Roy.

“Yes, he called us, I was handling trades at the time for Detroit,” Bowman said at the Hall of Fame festivities. “But we had just got (goalie) Mike Vernon a year or two before from Calgary. I didn’t think I could make a trade with them. But I figured maybe I could get the price up. We didn’t do it. They moved him pretty quick. I knew he’d be going somewhere, but I was just hoping it wouldn’t be Colorado.”

“Honestly I don’t ever recollect talking to Montreal about Patrick,” Fletcher said before the ceremony.

As we all know, Roy — along with winger Mike Keane — was traded by the Montreal Canadiens in 1995 for forwards Andrei Kovalenko and Martin Rucinsky and goalie Jocelyn Thibault. The trade ended up being a blessing in disguise for St. Patrick, who won a Cup with the Avalanche just six months later.