Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Who's Getting Bang For Their Buck? Not Edmonton.


Despite having the third highest payroll in the league, the Edmonton Oilers are third last in the NHL with 36 points in 40 games. According to NHLSCAP.COM only the Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers are projected to pay more player salaries than the Oilers $50,827,922 amount.

The only other teams now projected to break the 50 million mark in salaries are the Philadelphia Flyers and the Anaheim Ducks.

Conversely, the Nashville Predators are only projected to pay over 35 million and come in 16 million below the cap. The Phoenix Coyotes and the Washington Capitals are the only other teams in the league expected to pay below 40 million in salaries.

So what does this all mean exactly? Not much. It looks like if you go cheap, you’re going to get what you paid for but if you overspend, you’re still not guaranteed a winner.

The two most dominant teams in the league so far, the Ottawa Senators and the Detroit Red Wings both have almost identical payrolls in the plus 47 million range with room to spare to pick up a player or two at the trade deadline.

Who gets the most bang for their buck? Probably the San Jose Sharks whose payroll is expected to be in the 41 million range while currently sitting fourth in the Western Conference. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a similar payroll and sit fifth in the East.

Things don’t get any easier for the Oilers come next season. Their top 8 highest paid are all under contract for next year while restricted free agents Joni Pitkanen and Jarret Stoll will need new contracts.

Dustin Penner, with a whopping 22 points so far, is under contract at a rate of $4.25 million for the next four seasons.

Nice work Kevin.
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P.S. What's with the pajama's that Edmonton wears? Time to bring back the bright orange and blue for some of that vintage vibe.

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