The disparate economics of the National Hockey League pose steep problems for its Canadian franchises, but that has not stopped those clubs from thriving in the first round of the playoffs. Three Canadian teams reached the Eastern Conference semifinals, prompting renewed hope that a Canadian-based club might make the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1994.
The plight of Canadian clubs, nestled in hockey's heartland, is long chronicled. They pay salaries in American dollars but take in revenues in Canadian funds. The discrepancies in the value of the two currencies is difficult enough to overcome; Canadian teams also lack many of the tax breaks provided to U.S. sports teams, although a movement is afoot to offer teams such relief.
Canadian teams from small cities such as Edmonton and Calgary lack a major revenue base to keep pace with ticket prices increased to keep pace with skyrocketing player salaries, and it is widely assumed that without a hefty payroll teams will not consistently succeed in professional sports.
However, it seems many clubs are overcoming that predicament, at least this season, although these economic issues loom large with the collective bargaining agreement expiring in 2004.
\We have not seen, to the extent that we have witnessed in other sports, that disparities in what you spend on player salaries necessarily results in performance,"" Commissioner Gary Bettman said. ""For example, if you look at the three small-market Canadian clubs that made the playoffs (Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal) and the two of them that survived to the second round, then you look at what Phoenix accomplished (reaching the playoffs), when you look at what Carolina accomplished (winning its division) and when you look at what the Islanders accomplished (making first playoff appearance since 1994)' all with below-average payrolls.
""Then you compare that to teams such as the Rangers, Dallas and Washington, which had higher payrolls and did not make the playoffs, the conclusion you reach is that what you spend does not necessarily correlate to performance in hockey.""
Hopes have been renewed throughout Canada, home to six of the league's 30 teams, after a surprising series of events in the Eastern Conference. Montreal, a team that battled for the final playoff spot until the season's final week, knocked off Boston, the top seed. Ottawa, the seventh seed, throttled Philadelphia in five games despite the Flyers' $56 million payroll, which is more than twice what the Senators pay their players. Toronto knocked off the Islanders in a tough seven-game series, and the Maple Leafs next face Ottawa. Montreal will begin its series with Carolina on Friday.
The enhanced revenue generated by a lengthy playoff run, when owners can inflate ticket prices while not having to pay player salaries (they expire at the end of the regular season), is often enough to keep small-market clubs afloat. Only once in the past eight years had three Canadian teams been among the final eight playoff teams in the NHL, and no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1993 (Vancouver lost to the New York Rangers in seven games in 1994).
Over the past three years, Toronto has been the only Canadian team to reach the conference semifinals, and the Maple Leafs are by far the biggest-spending team in Canada. Toronto, which plays in the country's largest market and has its own television deal, routinely has one of the top payrolls in the NHL and has the luxury of retaining most of its top players once they reach unrestricted free agent status, as well as splurging on other players.
Most other Canadian teams have become accustomed to watching their best players depart for the United States, a financial reality that began to take hold when Wayne Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles in 1988.
