NHL Franchise Boys

Montreal Canadiens franco-fans will be protesting the angolophone interim headcoach Randy Cunneyworth on January 7th with what’s being called a “language rally.”

Mario Beaulieu, president of The French Quebec Movement, and Denis Trudel of French Movement Montreal  will be holding a rally outside of Bell Centre to protest what they call “the Anglicization of the Montreal hockey club.” Beaulieu says that not having a coach that speaks French is the last straw for a team that calls Quebec home, a home where French is the primary language.

For now, they might not have to worry long about Cunneyworth if he can’t get the team to win games. Then those “anti-anglo”  fans can push the Habs to hire Bob Hartley or Michel Therrien or Claude Jodoin or Denis Savard and leave the rest of the league knowing why most coaches won’t even bother considering Montreal when looking for a job. Making matters worse, the anti-anglos say there are just two or three players capable of speaking French on the team as well.

By continuing with the never-ending language issue, they are creating an atmosphere in which no one—English, French Canadian, American or European—will want to play or coach in Montreal. The Habs are poised to go backwards as they may never get the best coaches or players possible for a rebuilding team because of the language issue. 

Mr. Bettman…  All we want for Chrsitmas is an NHL franchise in Quebec City so the anti-anglos can leave our Habs alone!!!!

Pending approval from the NHLPA, the yet-to-be-named four conference set-up to be in place starting with the 2012-13 season.

The new alignment enables the NHL to create a balanced schedule in which all teams will play each other at least twice every season, once at home and once on the road, giving fans a chance to see every team and superstar in the league. The remaining games will be played within the conferences.

In the seven-team Conferences, teams would play six times — three home, three away. In the eight-team Conferences, teams would play either five or six times in a season on a rotating basis.

As a result of the new four-conference alignment, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will follow a different format as well. The top four teams in each Conference will qualify for the playoffs. The first-place team in each conference would play the fourth-place team in the same conference; the second-place team would play the third-place team. The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup.

The average hockey team is now worth $240 million, 5% more than last year due to a 5% increase in revenue during the 2010-11 season, to an average of $103 million per team. The sport’s popularity on television is up, as is the revenue from those platforms. Sponsorship and merchandise sales have also been increasing. But margins are getting squeezed. During the 2010-11 season the league posted operating income of $126 million, 21% lower than the previous year. Main reason: Player costs increased 11%, to $59 million. Last season 18 of the league’s 30 teams lost money even before they had to pay bank loans or write down assets, compared with 16 the prior year.

The league’s most valuable team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, is now worth $521 million and generated $81.8 million in operating income last season. The New York Rangers earned $41.4 million last year and are the NHL’s second-most valuable team, worth $507 million. And the Montreal Canadiens, placing third with a $445 million valuation, earned $47.7 million. Thus the top three teams posted an aggregate operating profit greater than the rest of the league combined.  The average NHL team is worth 47% more than it was before the lockout that cancelled the 2004-05 season. Let’s hope a the NHL can get a more economically sound CBA without having another work stoppage.