For the Fans....

The NHL is one of the world's most interesting of sports. For one....its played completely on ice...or is it? Well the actual play is, but a lot of the sport is also played in boardrooms, offices, on blackberry's, or the internet. The NHL has gone through many changes, from expansion, to lock out's, to jersey changes. Any avid fan knows that these days, a player doesn't stay on any certain teams lineup for all too long. Some players have so many different jersey's its a wonder how they have a life...(i.e. Mike Sillinger 12 different teams). These days when fans buy a jersey, they have to put alot of thought into their purchase. Its not buying the best player, or the player with most heart, or even your favorite player, now fans are trying to guess who will be around the longest! NHL lineups have one of the biggest turnover rates in sports. No longer does a fan have that favorite player, who sticks around til almost forever, heck even Gretzky was traded!

It does say something when this last trade deadline, watching TSN's coverage. The analysts were sorely disappointed at the LACK of trades. 22 trades, 45 players moved. THAT IS INSANE! Over one day, 45 players were packing their bags and heading to different cities! Not only that, but this happens every season. One can go back maybe only 3 years, and their favorite teams lineup can be completely different.

Lets take the Oilers for example, as they are my favorite (no one could have guessed). So lets see what their lineup was in 2005-2006 when they went on that magical Stanley cup run. We will go by what it was at the beginning of the season, and beside each players name, I will list where they are currently residing (i.e. Retirement, another team, minors, etc...).

2005-2006 Edmonton Oilers

RW-Ales Hemsky
C-Shawn Horcoff
C-Jarret Stoll-->Traded to LA along with Matt Greene for (D) Lubomir Visnovsky
LW-Raffi Torres-->Traded to Columbus for (F) Gilbert Brule
C-Michael Peca-->UFA signed with Toronto now with Columbus
C-Todd Harvey-->Retired
LW-Georges Laraque--> UFA signed with Pittsburgh now with Montreal
LW-Fernando Pisani
RW-Ethan Moreau
C-Marty Reasoner-->UFA signed with Atlanta
RW-Radek Dvorak-->UFA signed with Florida is now retired
LW-Brad Wincester--> unsigned RFA now with St Louis
LW-Ryan Smyth-->Traded to New York Islanders for (F)Robert Nilsson (F) Ryan O'Marra 1st round draft pick (Alex Plante) Smyth is now with Colorado
D-Chris Pronger-->Traded to Anaheim for (F) Joffrey Lupul (then traded to Philadelphia), (D) Ladislav Smid, 1st round pick in 07 (Riley Nash), and a conditional 1st round pick in 08 (Jordan Eberle)
D-Matt Greene-->Traded along with Jarret Stoll to LA for Lubomir Visnovky
D-Marc-Andre Bergeron--.Traded to New York Islanders for Dennis Grebeshkov, now with Minnesota
D-Jason Smith-->Traded along with Joffrey Lupul to Philadelphia for (D) Joni Pitkanen (then traded to Carolina for Erik Cole) and (F) Geoff Sanderson (now retired)
D-Cory Cross-->Traded to Pittsburgh along with Jani Rita for Dick Tarnstrom(now in elite league), Cross is now retired
D-Igor Ulanov-->Retired
D-Steve Staios
G-Jussi Markanen-->Retired
G-Ty Conklin-->UFA signed with Pittsburgh, now with Detroit
*players highlighted in red are still with the club

So in 4 seasons, the Oilers have had 36 players come and go, with only 5 remaining from the 05-06 lineup. From the players traded out of that roster, the Oilers currently have 11 players to show. If you were one of those lucky few that decided to buy a Pronger jersey, I feel sorry for you. Number one jersey to buy over the past 3 seasons: #83 Ales Hemsky (he is signed till 2012-2013). Now the Oilers may be an overly great example of the NHL's high turnover rate, so I thought it would be better to juxtapose them next to another team, one that has had success...
The Detroit Red Wings. So here is the Red Wings 05-06 lineup and what happened to everyone.

2005-2006 Detroit Red Wings
C-Pavel Datyuk
C-Henrik Zetterburg
LW-Brendan Shanahan--> UFA signed with New York Rangers, now with New Jersey
C-Robert Lang-->UFA signed with Chicago, now with Montreal
LW-Tomas Holmstrom
C-Jason Williams-->Traded to Chicago, now with Columbus
RW-Mikael Samuelson
C-Steve Yzerman-->Retired
C-Khris Draper
LW-Johan Franzen
RW-Mark Mowers-->Signed with Boston, now retired
RW-Dan Cleary
LW-Kirk Maltby
D-Nicklas Lidstrom
D-Mathieu Schnieder-->Signed with Anaheim, now with Montreal
D-Nicklas Kronwall
D-Jason Wooley-->Retired
D-Andreas Lilja
D-Chris Chelios
D-Brett Lebda
G-Chris Osgood
G-Manny Legace-->UFA signed with St Louis
*players highlighted in red are still with the club

So the Red Wings don't have nearly the same turnover rate as the Oilers, but they have won two Presidents Trophies, and a Stanley Cup, so why change a good thing right? They biggest key to the Red Wings success at keeping their players, and keeping a good team, has been locking up some key guys. Lidstrom, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg are all on long term deals. The Wings organization also makes a point of keeping their Captain/star players contract the highest, and noone else on the team makes more. So Lidstrom's contract is the "cap" so to say for players contracts with the Wings, which makes for a good idea, as no one is getting 8, 9, or 10 million dollar deals, and players are keen on being part of a winning team, so they are willing to take pay cuts (i.e. Marian Hossa).

So with those two examples aside, I thought it a good idea to put down how every team has done at keeping players, since the 05-06 season. So I will list each team and the number of players left from that seasons opening roster.

Anaheim--8
Atlanta--6
Boston--6
Buffalo--12
Calgary--6
Carolina--9
Chicago--5
Colorado--8
Columbus--5
Dallas--8
Florida--6
LA--3
Minnesota--9
Montreal--8
Nashville--10
New Jersey--10
New York Islanders--5
New York Rangers--4
Ottawa--9
Philadelphia--6
Phoenix--3
Pittsburgh--6
San Jose--9
St Louis--6
Tampa Bay--5
Toronto--4
Vancouver--6
Washington--6

So the team with the most players left over would be Buffalo on this list, but Detroit beats even them out with their whopping 14 players still in the lineup. Meanwhile the Coyotes and Kings have undergone the leagues highest turnovers with only 3 players left each, from that 05-06 roster. The average players left on a team for the league is 6.9....or rounded to 7 players.

As a fan it is slowly becoming harder and harder to, well, be a FAN. Teams are constantly changing, and NO player is safe anymore (nor were they ever, as per Gretzky). Players such as Joe Sakic, Jarome Iginla, and Martin Brodeur, are certainly tough to come by these days. Those players that DO, stick with a team for long periods of time either are being paid alot of money to be there, or deserve props for staying where they like playing. Many fans may love the abundunce of player movement within the NHL these days, but for me, I enjoy the guys who stick around.

Iginla (12 Seasons with Calgary)
Sakic (20 seasons with the Quebec/Colorado franchise)
Martin Brodeur (15 seasons with New Jersey)
Ethan Moreau (10 seasons with Edmonton)
P.J. Axelsson (11 seasons with Boston)
Mike Modano (19 seasons with Dallas/Minnesotta)
Sergei Zubov (12 seasons with Dallas)
Jere Lehtinen (13 season with Dallas)
Nicklas Lidstrom (17 seasons with Detroit)
Saku Koivu (13 seasons with Montreal)
Patrick Elias (13 seasons with New Jersey)
Jay Pandolfo (12 seasons with New Jersey)
Daniel Alfredsoon (13 seasons in Ottawa)
Chris Philips (11 seasons in Ottawa)
Shane Doan (13 seasons in Winnipeg and Phoenix)
Patrick Marleau (11 seasons in San Jose)
Matthias Ohlund (11 seasons in Vancouver)
Tomas Kaberle (10 seasons in Toronto)
Vincent Lecalvier (10 seasons in Tampa Bay)
Chris Chelios (10 seasons with Detroit)
Tomas Holmstrom (10 seasons with Detroit)
Kris Draper (15 seasons with Detroit)
Milan Hejduk (10 seasons with Colorado)


props to you guys....


-Sporer