Sunday Caps Clips

for those of you who dont have the twitter, here’s a bit of cox’s response to ted’s posting, via the @damospin twitter account.

Poor Ted Leonsis. Apparently can’t read. No one said his deal was cap circumventing. His own prez admitted Bettman was against it.

a pattern of mr. cox develops – his comment is technically true, he didn’t directly say “ovechkin’s contract circumvents the cap”, but he includes it in an article whose whole premise is to discuss cap circumventing contracts. in fact, he claims ovie’s nearly straight line contract “influenced” the contract for vinnie in Tampa Bay. huh? lets get a tale of the tape:

- Position: Ovie – W; Vinnie – C
- Age at start of contract: Ovie – 23; Vinnie – 29
- Age at end of contract: Ovie – 35; Vinnie – 40
- High annual salary: Ovie – $10M; Vinnie – $10M
- Low annual salary: Ovie – $9M; Vinnie – $1M
- Cap Hit – Ovie $9.5M; Vinnie $7.7M

clearly an unfair association given that the only thing their contracts have in common is the fact that both will earn $10M at some point during their deal.

as for dick patrick saying bettman was against it, well, if that is true it would be the first time i’ve read damian produce a sourced quote. sorry, but i cant recall any arguement against ovie’s deal other than from canadian media who felt he should play in a real hockey city.

Leonsis was very helpful with the book, btw. But Ovechkin is unhappy, so now Ted has to play like he is, too. I get it.

an owner backing his biggest player against what appears to be an unsourced hatchet job designed to sell books. yeah, i get it too.

Funny how Leonsis, in bragging about his team’s success, doesn’t mention they need $14 mil from rev sharing just to break even.

well, again, factually ted doesnt say this. why should he? and it’s not like ted shy’s away from discussing the fact that this team loses money every year. why? well, as damien well knows, its two fold. the caps have one of the lowest average ticket prices in the league. and two, the team HAD one of the worst leases in pro sports. very little to no advertising revenue and pretty much no concession revenue. not only that, but no revenue from the 3000 club seats that were controlled by WS&E.

so yes, the caps participated in revenue sharing. but give ted credit, he didnt just take the money and run like the NHL version of the pittsburgh pirates. the guy committed big dollars to ov and backs before he ever settled on the VC and wiz. he’ll end up paying nylander $8.5M to NOT play for his team, which is not included in the nearly $60M in salaries he will pay out for guys under the cap.

something tells me this math will change now that monumental is in control. i’m sure the league and NHLPA is very interested in how the money is going to be divided up in the new structure cause it could mean additional NHL league revenue, i.e. higher cap.

But I guess Gare and I are the enemy now. So much for the Caps being an open book franchise. They are, as long as u write what Ted likes.

spare me the dramatics. because ted wont cooperate with guys looking to make a buck off their franchise player all of a sudden they are some north korean dictatorship? dont flatter yourself damien. i dont know how other NHL owners operate, but i think we can all agree that amongst local ownership, there is no one more open than ted. he sure doesnt take shit from anyone and he doesnt shy away from controversial topics. but to suggest that ted only accepts people who write what he wants to hear…well, if only dave fay and george micheal were alive to respond to that. i do hope that he doesnt ban cox from the locker room, as i that would just to aid cox on his desired path to hockey writer martyrdom.

The Ovechkin Project is already getting people upset in DC. Guess that can’t be a bad thing, right?

and herein lies the crux of the matter…selling books. good for you damien. you’re making mike wise look like edward r. murrow.

It is strange how DC fans are so sensitive about Crosby and Pitt fans aren’t bothered at all by Ovie. Must be winning the Cup and all.

my personal favorite. ends with a not so subtle dig at the caps, which followed one of the more unaware comments i’ve ever seen. here’s a posting on thepensblog.com which has 99 comments regarding talbott calling ov a douche.

http://www.thepensblog.com/pensblog-news/jobber-posts/caps-fan-wants-apology.html

in case you didnt get all the way to comment 97, here it is:

#97 zombieorpik 2010-08-16 15:53
fuck ovetchkin
i know he is without a doubt a great player (if you deny this your a fuckin idiot. hes better then almost everyone except for malkin and crosby pretty much)
but hes got some serious fuckin issue and acts like a little bitch all the time. he needs to grow the fuck up already real shit

pretty sure zombieorpik is a high school english teacher in the ’burgh. but to me, the fact that the pens have won a cup yet still obsess over ov is more damning than caps fans being “sensitive” about crosby. again, damien knows the score, but knows that playing crosby off ov sells.

so in the end, damien is doing what guys do who are trying to sell books…promote. and in promotion, nothing sells like controversy. cox and joyce are trying to be the nhl equivalent of the salahi’s, generating controversy at the expense of substance and quality.

perhaps he’s seen the preorder ranking of his book on amazon.com. currently at #49 in all hockey books. behind such classics as:

“Roller Hockey” #34
“Hockey for Dummies” #36
“Beckett Hockey Card Price Guide 2010” #20
and well behind
“Winning Field Hockey for Girls” # 15