With so many NHL player's missing time this season because of concussions, I have decided to examine the effects that this has on two things. The first is the world of fantasy hockey, the second is the NHL owner's.
Fantasy owner's around the world have seen stars such as Sidney Crosby, Claude Giroux and Chris Pronger miss time with concussions. For owner's of Crosby and Pronger, this issue has lasted much of the season, and it appears as if it could go on for the remainder of the year. The impact that these injuries have on fantasy owner's is huge. Many still had Crosby as a top 10 pick this season, so virtually throwing away your first round pick could be devastating. If you are paying to play, an injury of this nature could cost you big money. These player's are basically un-tradeable because of their injuries, but it would be difficult to put them on free agents in fear that someone else picks them up and they come back. So therein lies the issue facing fantasy owners this season, do you hold onto the player and ride out the injury, or drop him and risk someone else picking him up. Decisions, decisions.
If you think fantasy owner's are the only ones struggling, think again.While fantasy owner's may lose $50-$100, NHL owners could be losing millions because of their star player's being out. The Pittsburgh Penguins have had 9 different players suffer concussions 11 times this season. Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Zbynek Michalek are all big name, big money players who have missed time for the Penguins this year. Philadelphia Flyer's captain Chris Pronger has basically had his career ended because of concussions, and leading scorer Claude Giroux missed time after a freak accident earlier this year.
The impact of these player's being out is huge on the ice and off the ice. While teams have to find players to replace their stars, owners lose money because ticket sales drop. Crosby has been known to sell out arena's everywhere he has went ever since junior, so missing a player like that is a huge loss to owners. Giroux was one of the hottest names in the league early this year as he shot to the top of the scoring race. Having a young player who is easy to identify with miss time because of concussions could be a big loss to the ticket sales of both the Flyer's and the teams they play on the road.
In addition to putting bums in seats, these players are also key contributors to their clubs ... Sidney Crosby and Chris Pronger are prime examples of the highest level of elite players who are extremely valuable to their clubs. Without these huge-name guys out of the lineup for extended periods of time, the team is really going to be missing them. The league really needs to do something about this ... it's definitely out of control.
ReplyDeletei concur, imagine if every team had one star player out for an extended period of time, that would be terrible for both the on ice and off ice product.
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