On June 24th in 2000, New York Islanders GM Mike Milbury traded Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen to the Florida Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. The 2000 NHL Entry Draft day play saw the Isles select goalie Rick DiPietro 1st overall ahead of future all-stars Dany Heatley (2nd), Marian Gaborik (3rd) and Henrik Lundqvist (205th), to name a few.
In response to the move Milbury surmised, "In the end, we thought the quality that DiPietro will bring is just a notch above Luongo. If we're wrong, we may have made an unbelievable mistake. It'll be bonehead city. It's my job. If we're not a better team immediately, off with my head. I've been here five years, and I'm tired of losing."
Safe to say the Isles would have been better off with future Vezina/Hart/Pearson finalist Luongo, Calder winner and two-time 50 goal scorer Heatley, and Finnish national teamer Jokinen than the trio of DiPietro, Parrish, and Kvasha. Alas, the Milbury legacy lives on and on.
That's today in NHL history.
* See also Today In NHL History - Luongo's Playoff Poop.
* See also Today In NHL History - Luongo's Stick Gets Stuck.
* See also Today In NHL History - Luongo Trade (FLA-VAN).
* See also Roberto Luongo Interview - 2011 NHL Awards.
* See also Roberto Luongo Interview - 2009 NHL Awards.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Today In NHL History - Luongo Trade (NYI-FLA)
Friday, June 23, 2017
Today In NHL History - Luongo Trade (FLA-VAN)
On June 23rd in 2006, Florida Panthers GM Mike Keenan traded Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek, and a 6th round pick (Sergei Shirokov) in the next day's 2006 NHL Entry Draft to the host city's Vancouver Canucks for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen, and Alex Auld.
Both Bertuzzi (7 games) and Auld (27 games) enjoyed limited play during their one season down south while Allen (284 games) was a fixture for Florida before being traded to Carolina for forward Sergei Samsonov (20 games), skating in his final NHL season.
On September 2, 2009, Luongo signed a 12 year contract extension with Vancouver through 2022 where he's won Olympic Gold (2010), presided over two Presidents' Trophy wins (2011, 2012), been named to three NHL All-Star Games (2007, 2008, 2009), received four NHL Award nominations (Vezina 2007 & 2011, Pearson 2007, Hart 2007), captured a Jennings Trophy (2011) with Cory Schneider, set several Canucks franchise records, and authored a popular Twitter feed @strombone1.
Despite these successes, Luongo has been widely criticized for spectacular playoff losses to the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, blamed for the Canucks failure to capture the Stanley Cup in 2011, and remains to this day a favorite whipping boy for hockey pundits everywhere.
That's today in NHL history.
* See also Today In NHL History - Luongo's Playoff Poop.
* See also Today In NHL History - Luongo's Stick Gets Stuck.
* See also Today In NHL History - Luongo Trade (NYI-FLA).
* See also Roberto Luongo Interview - 2011 NHL Awards.
* See also Roberto Luongo Interview - 2009 NHL Awards.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
NHL Minimum Wage & Maximum Wage By Year
In July of 2005, the NHL and NHLPA finalized the 2005 CBA ending a 310 day lockout that resulted in the loss of a season. The core feature of the accord was the introduction a salary cap, setting team spending limits based on league revenue and tying player salaries to such limits.
The maximum player salary was capped at 20% of the team salary cap. Meanwhile, the minimum player salary jumped 257% from $180,000 to $450,000 with fixed bumps in future years. The chart below shows NHL minimum and maximum player salaries by year since 2005.
| Year | Salary Cap | NHL Minimum | NHL Maximum |
| 2005-2006 |
$39.0m
|
$450,000
|
$7.8m
|
| 2006-2007 |
$44.0m
|
$450,000
|
$8.8m
|
| 2007-2008 |
$50.3m
|
$475,000
|
$10.06m
|
| 2008-2009 |
$56.7m
|
$475,000
|
$11.34m
|
| 2009-2010 |
$56.8m
|
$500,000
|
$11.36m
|
| 2010-2011 |
$59.4m
|
$500,000
|
$11.88m
|
| 2011-2012 |
$64.3m
|
$525,000
|
$12.86m
|
| 2012-2013 |
$70.2m
|
$525,000
|
$14.04m
|
| 2013-2014 |
$64.3m
|
$550,000
|
$12.86m
|
| 2014-2015 |
$69.0m
|
$550,000
|
$13.8m
|
| 2015-2016 |
$71.4m
|
$575,000
|
$14.3m
|
| 2016-2017 |
$73.0m
|
$575,000
|
$14.6m
|
| 2017-2018 |
$75.0m
|
$650,000
|
$15.0m
|
| Year | NHL Minimum | % of Cap | 1.15% of Cap |
| 2005-2006 |
$450,000
|
1.15%
|
$450,000
|
| 2006-2007 |
$450,000
|
1.02%
|
$506,000
|
| 2007-2008 |
$475,000
|
.944%
|
$578,000
|
| 2008-2009 |
$475,000
|
.837%
|
$652,000
|
| 2009-2010 |
$500,000
|
.880%
|
$653,000
|
| 2010-2011 |
$500,000
|
.841%
|
$683,000
|
| 2011-2012 |
$525,000
|
.816%
|
$739,000
|
| 2012-2013 |
$525,000
|
.747%
|
$807,000
|
| 2013-2014 |
$550,000
|
.816%
|
$739,000
|
| 2014-2015 |
$550,000
|
.797%
|
$793,000
|
| 2015-2016 |
$575,000
|
.805%
|
$821,100
|
| 2016-2017 |
$575,000
|
.787%
|
$829,500
|
| 2017-2018 |
$650,000
|
.867%
|
$862,500
|
If minimum wage had been tied to 1.15% of the team salary cap instead of anchoring it to a fixed dollar rate schedule, NHL minimum earners would have received an extra $100,000 in 2007-2008, $200,000 more in 2011-2012, and almost $300,000 more in 2012-2013. In fact, in the eleven years since the 2005 wage hike, tying it to such a percentage would have yielded an extra $2.327m for such skaters during that span, equaling an additional $193,000 each year on average.
The NHL's minimum wage is scheduled to increase in the coming years reaching $650,000 in 2017-2018, $700,000 in 2019-2020, and $750,000 in 2021-2022. The maximum player salary shall remain at 20% of team salary cap during this span.
When the current CBA expires after the 2021-2022 season, perhaps the NHLPA should vie to tie minimum wage to a percentage of the team salary cap (with a floor of a 5% bump on prior year pay) so players at both ends of the hockey spectrum can share in increased NHL revenues. Equity for all skaters, regardless of role and talent.
* See also NHL Highest Paid Players By Year.
* See also NHL Highest Player Salary & Cap Hit By Position.
* See also Rethinking NHL Player Salary Structure.
NHL League Size And Regular Season Length
With this week's release of the regular season schedule for the NHL's 101th season of operation (100th season of actual play), it's a good time to consider this season's offering in the historical context of the number of participating teams and regular season games played since the league's inception 101 years ago.
Games
Teams
Games
Teams
1917-1918
1978-1979
1918-1919
1979-1991
1919-1924
1991-1992
1924-1925
1992-1993
1925-1926
1993-1994
1926-1931
1994-1995
1931-1932
1995-1998
1932-1935
1998-2000
1935-1938
2000-2004
1938-1942
2004-2005
1942-1946
2005-2012
1946-1949
2012-2013
1949-1967
2013-2017
1967-1968
2017-2018
1968-1970
1970-1972
1972-1974
1974-1978
Rising from 3 to 31 teams and 18 to 84 games since 1918, the NHL regular season now sits at 31 teams playing 82 times a piece for a total of 1,271 games. Aside from three work stoppages - abbreviating, canceling and abbreviating the proceedings respectively (1994-1995, 2004-2005, 2012-2013) - and a fire finishing a team (Montreal Wanderers) part-way through the year (1917-1918), most NHL regular season schedules have been played as planned with few, if any, interruptions.
Amidst endless stories of financially troubled clubs, the league has done well to quell rumors of NHL relocation, embracing NHL expansion in Las Vegas with Quebec City and Seattle as frontrunners for the league's 32nd team to balance the conferences.
On the heels of 2013's NHL realignment, expect regular season length to remain at 82 games for the foreseeable future in order to preserve their commitment to extended divisional play, every team visiting every rink each year, and the pursuit of the all-mighty dollar which directly influences player salaries. In short, fans' preference for fewer regular season games appears unlikely to be realized anytime soon.
* See also Fewest And Most Games Needed to Win Stanley Cup.
* See also NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Length By Days And Games.
* See also History of NHL Expansion.
* See also History of NHL Relocation.
* See also History of NHL Contraction.
* See also History of NHL Team Renaming.
History of NHL Expansion
Since the league's beginnings in 1917, the NHL has welcomed 37 teams. Of those, thirteen have relocated to a new city, eleven have changed their team name while remaining in the same city, and six have fallen on financial hard times and folded their operations.
The chart below shows the history of NHL expansion by year, team name and the expansion fee levied on the buyer by the league.
* Team was victim of NHL Renaming
^ Team was victim of NHL Relocation
# Team was victim of NHL Contraction
As indicated by the footnotes above, several teams have endured change in the form of renaming, relocation and contraction. The ordering of the symbols indicates the chronology of these events. The number of NHL teams and regular season games played by year may be found here.
The first five members of the NHL in 1917 gained admission without having to pay an expansion fee. Since then, all teams have paid a fee to join the league. Hovering between $12,000 and $15,000 in the 1920s, expansions fees jumped to $2 million in 1967 and tripled three years later in 1970 to $6 million where they remained (save surcharges to other teams and leagues) through the remainder of the decade.
After a twelve year span of a 21 team NHL, expansion began again in 1991 with fees 7.5 times higher than those paid by teams entering in the 1970s, ultimately ending up over 13.3 times by 2000. Current franchise valuations estimate the value of NHL teams ranging from $186 million (Florida Panthers) to $1.2 billion (New York Rangers).
On June 22, 2016, the NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved a yet-to-be-named Las Vegas team as its 31st franchise. The club, coming at a cost of $500 million (6.25 times greater than the cost of it's next youngest siblings, Minnesota and Columbus from 2000) shall compete in the Pacific Division commencing in 2017. The NHL expansion draft to fill their roster is scheduled occurred on June 21, 2017.
Despite the escalating costs of purchasing a NHL team through expansion, the inflation calculator shows these teams to be more than holding their value in the terms of purchase price. This does not account for the annual operating losses for most NHL teams, which in the case of the Phoenix Coyotes resulted in losses of $54 million in 2009.
Two years ago the Glendale counsel voting 4-3 to keep the Coyotes for five more years, dashing the hopes of Seattle or Quebec City acquiring the club through relocation. Despite Quebec City being passed over today for an expansion franchise, allegedly owing to a lack of geographic balance and a weak Canadian dollar, Seattle and Quebec City remain frontrunners to host the NHL's next franchise, if the league opts to expand to 32 teams.
* See also History of NHL Contraction.
* See also History of NHL Relocation.
* See also History of NHL Team Renaming.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Today In NHL History - Stevens Hits Kozlov
On June 20th in 1995, New Jersey Devils defenseman Scott Stevens dealt a devastating blow to Detroit Red Wings forward Vyacheslav Kozlov in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, turning the tide of the game and series.
The 2nd period collision sparked the Devils, turning a 1-1 tie into a 4-2 win and eventually sweeping the series 4-0 to clinch their first Cup.
That's today in NHL history.
* See also Today In NHL History - Stevens Hits Lindros.
* See also Today In NHL History - Stevens Hits Kariya.
