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Red Wings deemed smartest spenders in NHL

Ken Holland

Our congratulations to Detroit GM Ken Holland. The man knows a bargain when he sees one.

According to Businessweek, the Red Wings have been the “smartest spenders” in the NHL over the past five seasons.

Counting all four major leagues (NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB), the smartest-spending franchise is the Tampa Bay Rays.

The ranking is based on payroll per wins, with bonuses for “wins above .500, playoff wins, and championships.”

For example…

In their Super Bowl winning season in 2011, for instance, the New York Giants got credit for 9 regular season wins, plus a .5 game bonus for their ninth win—the one that put them above .500. Their 4 playoff wins earned them 6.4 more wins. And the Super Bowl victory 8 more, for a total of 23.9 “weighted” wins.

We’re not sure why “wins above .500” get bonus points (a regular-season win is a regular-season win, no?), but here are the full NHL rankings anyway:

1. Detroit
2. Pittsburgh
3. Boston
4. Chicago
5. San Jose
6. Los Angeles
7. Philadelphia
8. Vancouver
9. Nashville
10. Washington
11. New Jersey
12. Phoenix
13. Montreal
14. NY Rangers
15. Dallas
16. Anaheim
17. Tampa Bay
18. Carolina
19. St. Louis
20. Colorado
21. NY Islanders
22. Florida
23. Buffalo
24. Ottawa
25. Winnipeg
26. Minnesota
27. Calgary
28. Columbus
29. Edmonton
30. Toronto

Again, the above ranking comprises the last five seasons. So to be fair to Brian Burke, he’s only just heading into his fifth season as Leafs general manager. I believe they call it “setting the table.” They’ll probably win the Stanley Cup next year.

PS -- The worst spending of all 122 major-league teams are the St. Louis Rams.