[News] Capfriendly sold, has gone offline. RIP CapFriendly.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by edslunch

Is it possible the current owners weren’t making money off it and jumped at the chance to sell / join the Caps? We’re all bemoaning the loss of a free site that I doubt made a ton of advertising money. Any idea what clubs would have been paying to access info from it?

The purpose was probably to build it up and eventually sell it.

[InternationalVillager]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

I would love to see a business case study around this.

Not in the sense of good or bad but what’s the real asset, multiple, and all that geeky stuff because for a single team to buy it makes me wonder what they are really buying. The connections? The people? It’s pretty interesting.

Yep - same. I don't see the business case behind it unless the acquisition comes along with the human capital behind the site. Maybe they real assets is the acquisition of the people. Caps might have went to them asking for a $$ they would take to shut down the website and come work for them.

[dustygoon]

Thinking more on this. I would be pissed if the flames bought it for instance. My team just took away something that makes me enjoy the experience more and makes little sense.

And another thing, isn't there less incentive for agents to share info to just one team vs a platform that announces contract numbers to the world?

Leonsis is smart, so i'm obviously missing something.

[Tuco]

Is everything on Cap Friendly proprietary? All the calculators, simulators, and tools? What's stopping some AI wiz from scrubbing that entire site and making a replica? I wonder what the site sold for! It's a pretty cool ending for whoever the creators are!

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

The NHL clubs already have all the information via the NHLPA, I would be shocked if they didn't have a system set up.

Would have to track down exactly what teams and where it was featured but various behind the scenes draft videos shows teams with CapFriendly open on their monitor. Teams didn't need to set up a system, because it was available for free and incredibly well done.

[InternationalVillager]

Originally Posted by Tuco

Is everything on Cap Friendly proprietary? All the calculators, simulators, and tools? What's stopping some AI wiz from scrubbing that entire site and making a replica? I wonder what the site sold for! It's a pretty cool ending for whoever the creators are!

Even if proprietary.

Teams can just scrub the site before it's shuttered and just use it for personal use. I mean no harm if not publicly advertised.

[FiveSeven]

Originally Posted by Tuco

Is everything on Cap Friendly proprietary? All the calculators, simulators, and tools? What's stopping some AI wiz from scrubbing that entire site and making a replica? I wonder what the site sold for! It's a pretty cool ending for whoever the creators are!

Not going to go into details in case of repercussions but I already have all of the current data on the entire site. Within two weeks me and my friend should have a near replica complete. Not exactly sure how they're getting their data, through some sort of NHL API, manual analysis, or whatnot. I was thinking of just using AI through X API to track an aggregate of trusted X sources to fill out the small number of required datasets like players, numbers, teams, trade conditions, etc, and doing a simple manual click approval so that one man can easily keep up. Not exactly sure but we will figure out the best way and will likely be quicker than the current method they use...which is probably manual input as they don't seem to be very fast. This was absolutely needless and pissed me off so we're going to go Robinhood on their ass. Good on the sellers, but F the caps. This is public information with no upside in the sense of having an advantage over another team. - If the site ends up not being used and failing because of people already seeking an alternative then so be it, a few weeks of lost effort is of no worry when the potential upside is pissing off a bunch of elite asshat gatekeepers.

[yourbestfriend]

Originally Posted by FiveSeven

Not going to go into details in case of repercussions but I already have all of the current data on the entire site. Within two weeks me and my friend should have a near replica complete. Not exactly sure how they're getting their data, through some sort of NHL API, manual analysis, or whatnot. I was thinking of just using AI through X API to track an aggregate of trusted X sources to fill out the small number of required datasets like players, numbers, teams, trade conditions, etc, and doing a simple manual click approval so that one man can easily keep up. Not exactly sure but we will figure out the best way and will likely be quicker than the current method they use...which is probably manual input as they don't seem to be very fast. This was absolutely needless and pissed me off so we're going to go Robinhood on their ass. Good on the sellers, but F the caps. This is public information with no upside in the sense of having an advantage over another team. - If the site ends up not being used and failing because of people already seeking an alternative then so be it, a few weeks of lost effort is of no worry when the potential upside is pissing off a bunch of elite asshat gatekeepers.

My 2cents.
The Caps are buying the interface. The entire system is extremely easy to use and intuitive (GM mode is super fun), so much so that a 65year old Brian MacLellan could use it.
I'm going to guess that most NHL teams (the Caps for sure) don't have an internal tool that is as sophisticated as capfriendly hence the purchase. Wouldn't surprise me at all if most teams are still using excel for their salary cap related work - this is a massive upgrade. I think up until a few years ago the NHL central registry still used fax machines? The Caps now just have to plug this into the now hopefully digital NHL central registry which I think will give them a massive advantage during trade deadline time. The more I think about this, the more i'm shocked this didn't happen earlier.

Good on you for trying to create your own system. However, after reading the article, I would assert that relationships with NHL teams is equally as important as the interface when looking at this kind of tool. I always wondered how they were so accurate and fast in getting contract details - it actually explains a lot that they had relationships with NHL teams (probably all of them) to get information via APIs. These relationships probably took years to develop, I think this is the main hurdle to overcome.

In terms of the Capitals closing it down, it does make sense unfortunately. They get no benefit from keeping it open. They could keep it open publicly as is, but then they'd have to hire a team to maintain it and keep it updated. Not only would they likely lose money doing this, but their also not in the business of maintaining a salary cap website, so why bother.

Overall, sucks for probably everybody on this site and all of the hockey nerds out there. Hopefully we get an alternative soon. Puckpedia is good, but the interface isn't as good nor does it have a lot of the functionality that Capfriendly does.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by yourbestfriend

My 2cents.
The Caps are buying the interface. The entire system is extremely easy to use and intuitive (GM mode is super fun), so much so that a 65year old Brian MacLellan could use it.
I'm going to guess that most NHL teams (the Caps for sure) don't have an internal tool that is as sophisticated as capfriendly hence the purchase. Wouldn't surprise me at all if most teams are still using excel for their salary cap related work - this is a massive upgrade. I think up until a few years ago the NHL central registry still used fax machines? The Caps now just have to plug this into the now hopefully digital NHL central registry which I think will give them a massive advantage during trade deadline time. The more I think about this, the more i'm shocked this didn't happen earlier.

Good on you for trying to create your own system. However, after reading the article, I would assert that relationships with NHL teams is equally as important as the interface when looking at this kind of tool. I always wondered how they were so accurate and fast in getting contract details - it actually explains a lot that they had relationships with NHL teams (probably all of them) to get information via APIs. These relationships probably took years to develop, I think this is the main hurdle to overcome.

In terms of the Capitals closing it down, it does make sense unfortunately. They get no benefit from keeping it open. They could keep it open publicly as is, but then they'd have to hire a team to maintain it and keep it updated. Not only would they likely lose money doing this, but their also not in the business of maintaining a salary cap website, so why bother.

Overall, sucks for probably everybody on this site and all of the hockey nerds out there. Hopefully we get an alternative soon. Puckpedia is good, but the interface isn't as good nor does it have a lot of the functionality that Capfriendly does.

So... the Caps bought this just for the domain name?

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by yourbestfriend

My 2cents.
The Caps are buying the interface. The entire system is extremely easy to use and intuitive (GM mode is super fun), so much so that a 65year old Brian MacLellan could use it.
I'm going to guess that most NHL teams (the Caps for sure) don't have an internal tool that is as sophisticated as capfriendly hence the purchase. Wouldn't surprise me at all if most teams are still using excel for their salary cap related work - this is a massive upgrade. I think up until a few years ago the NHL central registry still used fax machines? The Caps now just have to plug this into the now hopefully digital NHL central registry which I think will give them a massive advantage during trade deadline time. The more I think about this, the more i'm shocked this didn't happen earlier.

Good on you for trying to create your own system. However, after reading the article, I would assert that relationships with NHL teams is equally as important as the interface when looking at this kind of tool. I always wondered how they were so accurate and fast in getting contract details - it actually explains a lot that they had relationships with NHL teams (probably all of them) to get information via APIs. These relationships probably took years to develop, I think this is the main hurdle to overcome.

In terms of the Capitals closing it down, it does make sense unfortunately. They get no benefit from keeping it open. They could keep it open publicly as is, but then they'd have to hire a team to maintain it and keep it updated. Not only would they likely lose money doing this, but their also not in the business of maintaining a salary cap website, so why bother.

Overall, sucks for probably everybody on this site and all of the hockey nerds out there. Hopefully we get an alternative soon. Puckpedia is good, but the interface isn't as good nor does it have a lot of the functionality that Capfriendly does.

Maybe, but if it’s just the interface they already had that - for free.
They’ll still need a team to maintain it and it’s reported augment it.

You raise a good point in where the data comes from. It can’t be teams, or they’d all stop. Agents would face a lot of pressure by teams to stop as well.
If it’s nhl central registry though, especially digitally, it might make sense.
If other teams had already started building their own tools, the caps might have looked at build v buy and decided they get a better in house tool faster or cheaper (or both)

It’s a fun little thought exercise

[1991 Canadian]

I'm a bit surprised the NHL hasn't put out a basic salary cap section on their site.

Having a salary cap tool available to fans keeps the conversation going, especially in the offseason.

Hardcore fans will really dive into capspace, buyouts, etc... but even casual fans are aware of cap hits these days. Even your most bandwagony Oiler fan knows Nurse has a brutal contract.

[Toonage]

This was a dick move, but it was a dick move any of the teams could have made.

Execs used this tool. Heard several stories of GMs with this open on the draft floor the last few years etc. No idea if those were valid but I could see it.

That said, I'd imagine each team can put together something like this or have their staff work on something. Caps just went the easy route and threw money at it. No work to do.

[PeteMoss]

The NHL is miles behind other sports when it comes to internal analytics departments.

You would think the NHL would offer an official salary info database to teams that they could build off. Outside of the data itself, most developers could probably re-create 95% of the functionality of capfriendly in two weeks - its not splitting the atom in terms of what it is doing. But capfriendly is user friendly which a lot of internal tools are not which is a lot of the battle when it comes to internal tools.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

The NHL is miles behind other sports when it comes to internal analytics departments.

You would think the NHL would offer an official salary info database to teams that they could build off. Outside of the data itself, most developers could probably re-create 95% of the functionality of capfriendly in two weeks - its not splitting the atom in terms of what it is doing. But capfriendly is user friendly which a lot of internal tools are not which is a lot of the battle when it comes to internal tools.

This is what I don't understand - the League ABSOLUTELY MUST have it's own similar database already, THey have to check that all teams are complying with cap, roster limits, etc.

It by definition has to be at least as good as CapFriendly.

So, the Caps CAN'T be buying capfriendly for the data - they must have all of the data from the league already.

[Ba'alzamon]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

This is what I don't understand - the League ABSOLUTELY MUST have it's own similar database already, THey have to check that all teams are complying with cap, roster limits, etc.

It by definition has to be at least as good as CapFriendly.

So, the Caps CAN'T be buying capfriendly for the data - they must have all of the data from the league already.

Considering how innovative and cutting-edge the NHL often seems to be, I wouldn't be surprised if all the cap stuff was tracked and determined using an abacus by a single pince nez-bedecked man in a dusty little office.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

Considering how innovative and cutting-edge the NHL often seems to be, I wouldn't be surprised if all the cap stuff was tracked and determined using an abacus by a single pince nez-bedecked man in a dusty little office.

I kind of also pictured something like the maesters from game of thrones carrying all the contracts/scrolls.

[getbak]

These sorts of tech deals are often to acquire one small piece of the existing system. Then, once the sale is done, they scrap the 90% of the tool they don't care about and just keep the 10% they want. Meanwhile, the people who actually found the 90% useful get annoyed by the whole thing.

Of course, where this gets short sighted is the people who miss the features that were removed will eventually decide to recreate their own version of it. Then, that will often grow to a point where it's competing with the original thing. That never would have happened if they had just kept the original thing active.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I can't wait to see future trades with Washington weaponizing CapFriendly as barter:

To WSH
(D) Cody Ceci

To EDM
- a 2 yr "Platinum" Subscription to CapFriendly
- Player(s) to be named later

[cral12]

Puckpedia with good timing on website revamp and adding new features:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1799910716583071757

[cral12]

@TheDanKingerski
·
4m
"They bought the infrastructure and data.
Teams have been paying CF and PuckPedia for it.
Now Caps can add more internal data and projections, thereby having a user-friendly website for all of their people without the trial and error of building it."