Ex-Penguins Update: November 21, 2015

1. Jagr continues to impress us all.15 points to date and at his age.Amazing. Same can be said about Iginla. But to me there a few surprises on your list worth mentioning.Jordan Staal with only 6 points in 19 games?? Brandon Sutter,with a greatly expanded role with the Canucks ,has only 8 points in 16 games ?? How about our star 1 st round D prospect that the Pens media made such a fuss over when we drafted him,Joe Morrow.He certainly has not lit up the score board like they said he would.Thank God they traded him away.The flip side is that many players the Pens gave up on,or refused to resign, went with other teams and had successful careers. (Muzzin,Strait,Jeffrey,Iginla)….even Jagr would look good in the black and gold again.

   1. Hey Jim,

      Jagr’s been incredible. Anytime anyone mentioned acquiring him over the past few seasons I was like … “Nah, he’s too old.” Yet he continues to outrun father time. He’s an amazing athlete.

      Not that we had tons of cash to throw at him, but Iginla’s made us look foolish. Sixty-six goals in 180 games since leaving the ‘Burgh. Roughly a 30-goal pace per season. Given his toughness and leadership, I’d take that in a heartbeat.

      I agree about Sutter. I was never really sure how I felt about him. I always loved his shot … especially coming down the right side on the rush. But he never seemed to use his size to full advantage, and his advanced stats were poor. Then I saw where someone described him as an “opportunistic scorer”—a guy who’ll cash in on good scoring chances but not much else. I think that pretty much describes him to a tee.

      I do recall the fuss over Morrow. How people raved about him during his first camp, especially for his work on the power play. Heck, there was a big push for him to make the Pens as an 18-year-old, remember?

      The guy I’ve been totally wrong about is Staal. I thought Jordan would blossom in Carolina. His final season here (’11-12) he seemed to put it all together (25 goals in 62 games). Like it finally dawned on him that he’s a big guy and he just needed to take the puck and drive to the net. With his long reach and stick, his shot seemed to fool a lot of goalies … like it came from an angle they weren’t anticipating.

      I know injuries have played a part. But Jordan’s pretty much fizzled with the ‘Canes.

      Another observation. A lot of the guys I considered the Pens “young guns”—Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Tyler Kennedy, Max Talbot, and Ryan Whitney—are already retired or winding down their careers.

      Goodness, how time has flown!

      1. Your absolutely correct Rick. We all are not getting any younger.Colby is doing TV media on one of the hockey shows.He was on a panel interviewing JR last week…It seemed so strange.
         I believe Colby and Crosby are almost the same age.The Pens are not a young team anymore…and it shows in their play,the amount of injuries they have,lack of physical contact in their game.It will be a challenge for our team moving forward.

         1. Hey Rick,
            Forbes just published their new 2015 economic values for the 30 NHL Teams based on the latest audited numbers released by the league for last year.
            The Pens are valued at $ 560 million,11th in the league.Their debt is appx.112 million,( 20 % of value ) Forbes reports.
            Revenues were 151 million, of which only 64 million, were gate receipts.( 42.4 % of total revenue). The profit reported was 20.2 million,and players expenses were 73 million.The actual value of the franchise dropped by 1% from the previous year.Because of our early exit from the playoffs last year,the team forfeits about 30 million + dollars in revenue ,if the had won the Cup.
            By comparison,Chicago’s value,( now 4th in the league) went up 12 % in one year to 925 million dollars with revenues of 182 million. Just about the same revenue numbers the Pens would have if they won the Cup last year.Profit reported was 44.8 million and gate receipts were 88 million.( thanks to winning the Cup). Player expenses were 78 million. THEY HAVE NO DEBT. It pays to be a winner !
            The Rangers,Bruins and Av’s also have no debt.Only 4 teams!
            At the other end of the scale is Florida ,who were valued last at 186 million dollars and they lost 20 million dollars in one year.Their debt ratio was 62 % to value. Gate receipts were only 15 million dollars.Their total revenue was 92 million with player expenses of 70 million.Ouch…
            So really Rick, you think you want to pay 560 million dollars + for a business that makes only 20.2 million. Plus you have already been sold out for the past 4 years in your fancy new arena, so you can not increase your gate receipts unless you raise ticket prices drastically or win a Cup.
            Both are very hard to do,especially when your average ticket price last year was $ 74.( eight highest in the league).
            So Mario has 112 million dollars of Team debt now and reports only 20.2 million in profit, when the new owners show up and have to borrow 200 or 300 million dollars from a bank plus put up another 200 or 300 million of their own money …??? Not such a great deal.
            There is a lot of interesting data in that article Rick. The hockey business is a very tough business to be in.
            FYI…

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