Getting What You Paid For?
Among the NHL’s 20 highest paid players, how many are displaying their considerable skills in the 2003 Stanley Cup Conference Finals?
Answer: One. Paul Kariya of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks ranks fifth on the NHL salary scale at $10-million per year. Which is not to say the Ducks are finally getting their money’s worth. Kariya is little more than a bit player in Anaheim’s remarkable Stanley Cup playoff run. A few sportswriters try to spin his lack of production (6 points in 12 playoff games) as a positive, claiming that Kariya is playing a more defensively responsible, team-oriented game, like Mike Modano or Steve Yzerman. That hardly explains Kariya’s minus-3 rating.
The return-on-investment picture does not get a whole lot better as you scan further down the NHL salary list. 47 players earned at least $5-million this season. Only five of them are still playing, barely enough to kill a penalty. Two conference finalists, the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild, do not have a single name in the top 50.
The NHL’s fattest cat is Jaromir Jagr (just under $11.5-million), a poster boy for mediocrity since signing a long-term contract in Washington. Right behind him comes Keith Tkachuk of the St. Louis Blues ($11-million), who has made it past the first playoff round just twice in an 11-year career. Other names near the top include a trio of underachieving Rangers – Pavel Bure, Brian Leetch and Bobby Holik – and John Leclair of the Philadelphia Flyers, a fading $9-million man.
Returning to the current Stanley Cup playoffs: The top scorer is Minnesota’s Marion Gaborik (just over $1-million), the best goaltender is Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastian Giguere ($900-thousand), and this year’s clutch scorer, with four game-winning goals, is Jamie Langenbrunner of the Devils (just over $2-million).
Might there be a message in all this? Perhaps. But it will likely go unheeded by the pizza barons, cable television peons, department store heirs and dot-com spendthrifts who run the NHL’s big market teams.
More on The Stanley Cup Conference Finals:
Jiggy's Place in Stanley Cup History
News Flash: Hockey Justice Not Perfect!
More Stanley Cup Notes:
Hockey Experts on the Loose Again!
Upsets and Abuse in the Opening Round
