NHL Salary Efficiency Rating Post Lockout

Which franchise gets the most for their money?

Under the salary cap every GM must get a solid return for the money he spends on player payroll. So which teams have fared the best in the post-lockout salary cap world? Today I rank all 30 NHL teams in all three post-lockout seasons.

(If you don't care about the MATH details of how I got this skip down). The payroll numbers come straight off Irish Blues site which I consider to be the most accurate source available. I'm using the salary efficiency method posted on Baseball Prospectus website (marginal points/marginal $$). The idea is how much did each team spend beyond the minimum per player ($475,000) or roughly an $11 million payroll (I know teams are required to spend more but this is the conceptual bottom). How many points did a team earn beyond what a roster filled with AHLers would get? (I assume a AHLer team would get 23 standing points). Once you figure out marginal points and marginal payroll you divide and viola you see how many additional points each team gained for each additional million spent on payroll.

2005-06 Salary Efficiency Rankings
1. BUF
2. NAS
3. CAR
4. MIN
5. SJS
6. FLA
7. OTT
8. DET
9. DAL
10 NYR
11 ANA
12 WAS
13 CGY
14 EDM
15 NJD
16 MON
17 PHX
18 PHI
19 LAK
20 TBL
21 COL
22 TOR
23 VAN
24 ATL
25 CBJ
26 NYI
27 BOS
28 CHI
29 STL
30 PIT


2006-07 Salary Efficiency Rankings
1. PIT
2. NAS
3. ANA
4. BUF
5. DET
6. DAL
7. MIN
8. OTT
9. SJS
10 VAN
11 WAS
12 NYI
13 NYR
14 ATL
15 STL
16 CGY
17 FLA
18 CAR
19 COL
20 NJD
21 TBL
22 MON
23 TOR
24 CBJ
25 EDM
26 LAK
27 CHI
28 BOS
29 PHX
30 PHI

2007-08 Salary Efficiency Rankings (through March 21st, 2008)
1. SJS
2. NAS
3. DET
4. PIT
5. PHX
6. WAS
7. MON
8. CBJ
9. OTT
10 NJD
11 MIN
12 CAL
13 ANA
14 CAR
15 COL
16 BUF
17 DAL
18 FLA
19 VAN
20 NYR
21 NYI
22 EDM
23 TOR
24 ATL
25 CHI
26 PHI
27 TBL
28 BOS
29 LAK
30 STL

Personally I think the final list should be the starting point for ranking the GMs. The teams at the top of the list are consistently well managed while the teams at the bottom are not (and many have fired their GMs as a result).

Combined Post-Lockout 2005-2008 Salary Efficiency Rankings
1. NAS
2. SJS
3. BUF
4. DET
5. CAR
6. MIN
7. OTT
8. ANA
9. DAL
10 PIT
11 WAS
12 FLA
13 CAL
14 NYR
15 MON
16 NJD
17 VAN
18 COL
19 NYI
20 PHX
21 ATL
22 TBL
23 TOR
24 EDM
25 CBJ
26 STL
27 LAK
28 PHI
29 CHI
30 BOS

The Nashville Predators are hands down the most efficient team in recent NHL history. Since they came into the NHL in 1998 the Predators have finished 1st, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd. If I were an owner and David Poile became available I would fall all over myself trying to hire that man to manage my franchises budget.