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Sunday, January 13, 2002

Compiled by Dejan Kovacevic

How difficult is keeping the NHL in a small-market Canadian city?

When owner Rod Bryden sold the Senators to a partnership for $116 million this week, he also opened all the team's records for public scrutiny, allowing a rare glimpse into the finances of an NHL franchise.

Among the numbers, converted into U.S. currency:

Ottawa lost $5 million in the 1999-2000 season and $3.6 million last season, despite having its two best attendance showings, and will lose money again this season.

Gate revenue last season, based on 11,400 season tickets and an average crowd of 16,700, was $21.2 million. The revenue from all broadcast rights, local, Canada and U.S., was $8.7 million. Corporate sponsors provided $5.3 million, parking and concessions $1 million and the equally divided share from all NHL merchandise $1.3 million.

The player payroll of $29 million was by far the biggest expenditure, with the $6 million in travel costs finishing a distant second. The total operating expense was $46.6 million, ranking 28th of 30 NHL teams.

Put simply, the franchise is healthy but still can't make money.

So, anyone want Bryden's phone number for a stake?

Don't expect Lou Lamoriello to idly watch much more of these floundering Devils. Sure, they could back into the playoffs as is, but the bar always is set much higher than that in New Jersey. "Do I think this team still has the ability? Yes, but it has to get it done on a consistent basis," Lamoriello told the Newark Star-Ledger. "We'll do anything we can if it's going to make us better."

Knowing he had a fractured left hand, Pavel Bure asked only to be taped up and played the third period of the Panthers' 3-2 loss to the Stars Wednesday. The score had been 1-1 after two, and Bure went on to set up a goal by Olli Jokinen. "I'm sure it was the adrenaline that was flowing," Coach Mike Keenan told the Miami Herald. Bure will be out three weeks.

Jaromir Jagr's long-nagging groin is giving him trouble, and he is seeking an acupuncturist in the D.C. area, just as he had a regular in Pittsburgh for years. Despite his ailment, he has played his best hockey of the season of late on an effective line with Adam Oates and Dainius Zubrus.

Lightning marketing officials are working on a new logo, one which would scrap those difficult-to-read words. They also plan to introduce red to their sweaters.

Figures that a player who spent most of his career in another league registered the NHL's first four-goal game this season. The Flyers' Jiri Dopita, 33, drove to the net Tuesday in a 7-4 rout of the Thrashers and was rewarded by tripling his goal total. He had spent his career in the Czech Extraleague and was widely considered the best player in the world outside the NHL. He slowly is adjusting. "It's different from Europe," he told the Philadelphia Daily News. "There is more checking."

Saku Koivu is about to begin his eighth and final series of chemotherapy treatments for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Montreal. Captains on each NHL team are wearing a "Hockey Fights Cancer" patch for games this weekend through Tuesday. After selected games, the captain will autograph his sweater and donate it to an online auction for cancer research. The program has raised nearly $900,000 since Mario Lemieux helped to start it in 1998.