Athletic agent poll- Calgary is 5th most disliked destination by agents

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by mennoknight

20 Agents. This is borderline meaningless.

To be fair, do you really think there are that many more influential agents in the game? 20 individuals seems like it is probably getting close to a significant portion of anyone who is worth listening to on this matter.

[agubuan]

As a Canadian living in the USA (currently in the San Francisco Bay Area, working for a company based in NYC), my observations indicate that WA CA HI OR NY NJ PA has citizens complying (with minimal pushback by the citizens) to federal mandates similar to what Canada has enforced nationwide.

Anybody outside of these states above, the COVID mandates are in place, but the level of enforcement is minimal. For example, FL TX and TN, life is more or less business as usual (masks optional, full capacity in indoor public spaces).

As it relates to a professional athlete looking to change teams, they experience first hand, how vastly different each city/state enforces the mandates, as they travel for work(games).

Most agents will ruthlessly maximize contract value (first and foremost as they want their cut and what's best for their respective agencies) and secondarily, manage the negatives/cons of a player's concerns about the projected destination/team.

As for my go-to comparisons to American friends, Calgary is similar to Denver (altitude, rocky mountains), Edmonton is similar to Pittsburgh (industrial, blue collar).

As a player's agent, FL and TB have to be at the top of the list right now. Both teams are contending, weather is great, tax situation is the most favorable for high earners in Canada and USA, COVID mandates are least restrictive in all of North America. It's an easy sell.

[Kipper_3434]

The Oilers made neither list. Not even an after thought lol. Also the pros list seems less accurate IMO (WINNIPEG). Seems like a trash poll, could have asked agents to pick more than one team to get more data.

[stamps]

Guess things have changed .... https://morning-skate.com/2020/02/04...-to-end-up-in/

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Kipper_3434

could have asked agents to pick more than one team to get more data.

They did, the total adds up to more than 20.

[Plett25]

I don't think the 1's and 2's are particularly important. 1 is chance, 2 is coincidence, 3 is a pattern. IMO, less than 3 is probably just noise in the big picture.

Or 10% of agents recommend avoiding Calgary, while 90% of agents have no feelings either way. At worst, this is a slight disadvantage.

The outliers are more important to look at.

Avoid:

• 10 - Arizona - ownership tire fire
• 7 - Ottawa - cheap ownership
• 5 - Carolina - know-it-all hands on ownership

Attractive:

• Tampa - 11 - winning, weather, taxes
• Toronto - 6 - big city, big market
• Philly - 4 - big city, big market
• NYR - 3 - big city, big market
• NYI - 3 - big city, big market

The Flames' ownership is fine and the only controllable factor is winning. The Flames are in pretty much the same boat as 24 other teams.

[GioforPM]

Look at Toronto’s contract negotiations and ask “why would an agent pick them”.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

@EE

Crap answer. Americans don't know #### about Canada. Full stop. Their thoughts and understanding on Canada are embarrassingly simplistic and incomplete. The average American can't even pick out Canada on a map or name more than two provinces. How the hell would they be able to determine Canada was a #### show? How about some specifics please?

One of every 20 Americans think they can name our president.

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

20 agents is representative of 11% of the NHLPA's certified agents. Inferences are made on public policy issues using much smaller populations. Not really a meaningless survey in that context.

While that is true, it is also possible that the agents who actually responded are the least prominent, too. Advice to a Sydney Crosby will be vastly different than to a just-became-UFA 4th line grinder.

[Press Level]

Keep in mind, some areas of Canada have had much more strict restrictions in place than we have. Quebec had a curfew in place until very recently and many businesses in Quebec and Ontario were in lockdown until just this week.

[stamps]

https://morning-skate.com/2020/02/04...-to-end-up-in/ ......... In 2 years Winnipeg went from 12 to 0 , Edmonton went from 7 to zero ... seems a little fishy ....

[FanIn80]

OK, we may be 5th on this list, and the bar looks pretty big... but the graph literally says 2, as in 2 whole agents don't like us.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

This survey isn’t a big deal in itself. But when you add it to a bunch of other data we have about market desirability - player polls over the years, leaked info about no trade lists, etc - you have to be willfully blind at this point not to recognize that Calgary is in the bottom 6 or 8 cities in the league in terms of destinations for players. And that this puts the franchise at a competitive disadvantage.

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Also, 11% of all registered agents... so it's not meaningless. This is a legitimate concern and could impair our ability to perform as a franchise.

Only if you want to rely on UFAs and trading for players eligible for NTCs to build your team.

Look at Tampa: They acquired 1 guy with some form of trade protection - McDonagh (12 team no-go list)

Coleman, Goodrow, and Savard were each eligible for a NTC, but none had one.

UFAs signed: Maroon 2x900k, Schenn 1x700k, Shattenkirk 1x1.75M, Bogosian 1x1.3 (midseason)

It would be nice to be able to sign post-buyout guys on the cheap, but it seems fair to say that contender status had more to do with where those guys signed their 1 year or less deals.


STL big UFA fish were Perron (already had two previous stints in STL), Bozak, and Pat Maroon. Schenn and ROR were available to anyone willing to pay the price.


You gotta go a long way back to find the Hossa and Chara and Niedermayer game changers

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

You mean you think two agents picked on Calgary in an Athletic article to get leverage on Calgary for upcoming negotiations? But other agents didn't do this to other teams? I might be missing your point.

Other agents may have. It would be as good a reason as any...it's a nothingburger, but if they got lucky and Calgary ended up at the bottom of the list it might mean a tiny bit of something.

I suspect a few agents were simply jaded over recent negotiations, too.

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

To be fair, do you really think there are that many more influential agents in the game? 20 individuals seems like it is probably getting close to a significant portion of anyone who is worth listening to on this matter.

We don't know if the influential agents would bother responding to this

[delayedreflex]

Given that this was a poll of the agents, not the players, I have to wonder how much of this has to do with whether the team is likely to fork over big $ for star players. Quite a few of these teams don't have any salaries over $8M AAV (Flames, Bruins, Coyotes, Red Wings, Ducks, Canucks and Blues, plus Canadiens if you count out their LTIR) and many of those teams have top salaries under $7M AAV. Would be curious to know the reasoning behind Colorado's and Vegas' inclusion on this list though.

[Sandman]

They did a player poll like this a few years ago in the Hockey News, and Buffalo was the least desirable, followed by Edmonton. Calgary wasn’t in the top 5.

[OldDutch]

What each player is looking for and values is different. I don't know how an agent can say blanket that Calgary should be avoided. Especially to a player who is married and has young kids. Safe, quiet, rich, clean, mountain activities, and love of the game. Oh and I think the Flames are run fairly professionally compared to some other clubs. Calgary is all of these things.

I do agree a young RFA/UFA who wants to live like a bachelor, it isn't a first choice.

I do think facilities and yes COVID restrictions play a part, but again that probably speaks to younger single guys than married with kids ones.

All that said, this is a survey on ownership/team not necessarily destination. Not sure how to detangle that without explanation. Would the recommendation change if ownership person changed? That's a grudge more than a slight on Calgary. I think it is too seeing you can live in Scottsdale and most agents voted PHX.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Plett25

The Flames' ownership is fine and the only controllable factor is winning. The Flames are in pretty much the same boat as 24 other teams.

Agreed with everything else in your post, but on this note, I'll say something they could do other than winning is opening their wallets and building an arena. Facilities make a bigger difference than people think, and Calgary's are crap

[stamps]

Originally Posted by Sandman

They did a player poll like this a few years ago in the Hockey News, and Buffalo was the least desirable, followed by Edmonton. Calgary wasn’t in the top 5.

The agents poll 2 years ago had Winnipeg at 12 and Edmonton at 7 ... can things really change that drastically in two years? The media has lost a lot of credibility during this pandemic ... I'm not saying this latest poll isn't true but it doesn't really make sense to me ... just saying .

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by SutterBrother

Sample size is too small to be meaningful. But I’d guess:

No playoff success (the biggest issue by far)
Climate
Taxes
Secondary tier city (no big endorsement deals, limited international culture)
Sub standard facilities
Team is under microscope

Pretty much this, if Edmonton didnt have Mcdavid and a new rink they would be below Calgary.