As we sit poised to enter the third month of he NHL lockout, the business of hockey is stalled and the two sides (the League and the Players Association) are still looking at how to divide up hockey fans money to the tune of an estimated $3 billion US.  Looked at another way if we take last season’s revenue of $3.303 billion factor in a growth of 5 per cent means the total projected Hockey Related Revenue for a full 2012-13 season that the players and League are fighting over would be $3.468 billion.

Since the last lockout, the value of the average NHL team has increased from $159 million in 2003, to $240 million in 2011, at the same time while the average salary for a hockey player has increased from $1.6 million to $2.4 million.  The business of hockey is pretty good.  The game of professional NHL hockey not so much.  We do expect a different reaction from hockey fans the longer the lockout goes on.  So the business of hockey is pretty good if you are an owner, not so much if you are a player or a hockey fan at this stage.  Here a review of the NHL team valuations. (Previous post)

NHL Team Worth 2012

Let’s take a look at the worth of each of the 30 NHL teams.  Two things are for sure:

• original six teams continue to increase their value substantially
• sunbelt teams not so much

Rank	Team	Current Value ($mil)	1-Yr Value Change (%)	Revenue ($mil)	Operating Income ($mil)
1	Toronto Maple Leafs	521	3	193	81.8
2	New York Rangers	507	10	169	41.4
3	Montreal Canadiens	445	9	165	47.7
4	Detroit Red Wings	336	7	127	16.3
5	Boston Bruins	325	8	125	2.7
6	Chicago Blackhawks	306	2	118	8.7
7	Vancouver Canucks	300	15	146	23.5
8	Philadelphia Flyers	290	-4	111	3.2
9	Pittsburgh Penguins	264	12	110	-0.2
10	Los Angeles Kings	232	8	101	-2
11	Dallas Stars	230	1	90	-1.1
12	Washington Capitals	225	14	94	-7.5
13	Calgary Flames	220	7	105	1.1
14	Minnesota Wild	213	5	97	-5.9
15	Edmonton Oilers	212	16	96	17.3
16	San Jose Sharks	211	9	96	-7.8
17	Ottawa Senators	201	3	100	2.8
18	Colorado Avalanche	198	0	83	6.1
19	Anaheim Ducks	184	-2	84	-8.4
20	New Jersey Devils	181	-17	100	-6.1
21	Tampa Bay Lightning	174	20	87	-8.5
22	Buffalo Sabres	173	2	87	-5.6
23	Carolina Hurricanes	169	4	81	-4.4
24	Winnipeg Jets	164	21	71	-5.2
25	Nashville Predators	163	10	82	-7.5
26	Florida Panthers	162	-4	81	-7
27	St Louis Blues	157	-5	78	-2.7
28	Columbus Blue Jackets	152	-1	80	-13.7
29	New York Islanders	149	-1	63	-8.1
30	Phoenix Coyotes	134	0	70	-24.4

*Source:  Forbes

The fact is with an NHL lockout no one wins.  Not sure if Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr actually realize that yet.