Salary Cap: Per cap era, why was Montreal never a huge spender?

[Frank Drebin]

As the title states, in the big money pre cap years (late 90s through 2004) I seem to remember certain teams like Dallas, Detroit, Philly, Toronto, nyr spending piles of money but Montreal could never attract the big ufas.

Am I mis remembering or was there a reason for this? Or do the habs not make as much money as I think?

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[PuckNorris]

Weak Canadian dollar and the Molson family were not big spenders.

 

[Naslundforever]

As the title states, in the big money pre cap years (late 90s through 2004) I seem to remember certain teams like Dallas, Detroit, Philly, Toronto, nyr spending piles of money but Montreal could never attract the big ufas.

Am I mis remembering or was there a reason for this? Or do the habs not make as much money as I think?

Interesting; I wiki’d “Canadiens ownership” I don’t disagree with whoever wrote this:

…”By the late 1990s, with both an ailing team and monetary losses exacerbated by a record-low value of the Canadian dollar, Montreal fans feared their team would end up relocated to the United States. Team owner Molson Brewery sold control of the franchise and the Molson Centre to American businessman George N. Gillett”

sounds like part of it - team sucked post Roy too

Montreal Canadiens - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Scintillating10]

As the title states, in the big money pre cap years (late 90s through 2004) I seem to remember certain teams like Dallas, Detroit, Philly, Toronto, nyr spending piles of money but Montreal could never attract the big ufas.

Am I mis remembering or was there a reason for this? Or do the habs not make as much money as I think?

We were in dire straits financially when Gillette bought team.

 

[dcyhabs]

The owners pinched pennies when they could only have succeeded by spending and winning. Why is the team still bad? Because the owners have stunk for three decades. Salaries were peanuts before that.

 

[the]

This is before my time but it's probably because the whole Molson family is cheap.

 

[Gustave]

Weak Canadian dollar and the Molson family were not big spenders.

The Molson family weren’t the owners per say, it was through the brewery.

Your point still stands though; they weren’t big spenders, they were cheap.

 

[Team_Spirit]

When the modern arena was ready in 1996 the Canadian dollar tanked between 1.40 and 1.60 until 2002.

In that same period salaries exploded and teams were paying Jagr and co the same money superstars touch today, 10M, 11M a year.

Kinda OT but they also failed to draft and develop a single 1st rounder other than Koivu in the entire 90s so that hurt gate/sponsor revenu.

 

[Corky]

Houle was a terrible GM but to be fair to him, he had to trade away a bunch of players due to the fact that we had to decrease payroll (I’m not counting Roy here, this was something else). His mistake was getting vets in return and not draft picks or young players.

If he had stockpiled draft picks, we could have had a completely different 2000-2010 decade, but back then, not making the playoffs in Montreal was not an option (even though we ended up sucking anyway).

 

[Team_Spirit]

Houle was a terrible GM but to be fair to him, he had to trade away a bunch of players due to the fact that we had to decrease payroll (I’m not counting Roy here, this was something else). His mistake was getting vets in return and not draft picks or young players.

If he had stockpiled draft picks, we could have had a completely different 2000-2010 decade, but back then, not making the playoffs in Montreal was not an option (even though we ended up sucking anyway).

In theory yes but in the 90s they only hit on Koivu in 93.

The Damphousse pick in 1999 was Marcel Hossa (16). Sorry for going ot.

 

[Kaiden Ghoul]

In theory yes but in the 90s they only hit on Koivu in 93.

The Damphousse pick in 1999 was Marcel Hossa (16). Sorry for going ot.

Theres got to be more, on the top of my head Markov come to my mind

Édit Markov Ribeiro Ryder Theodore Vokoun Koivu in ten years lmao

With the like of Savage Hossa Bure

 

[salbutera]

The owners pinched pennies when they could only have succeeded by spending and winning. Why is the team still bad? Because the owners have stunk for three decades. Salaries were peanuts before that.

Players had close to zero say pre-1994 strike. Langway wanted out of Quebec / Canada in 1982 Grundman obliged, and even in summer 1992 Corey & Savard had to fly to NY and promise Brian Bellows they’d trade him to whichever US team he wanted as long as he stayed w Habs for 2-years to get him to come to Mtl… but those were the rare players using their leverage position.

Post 1994 it started changing dramatically, especially with teams popping up in sunny warm weather locales w low taxation

 

[JianYang]

The Habs were amongst the highest payrolls in the league even during the turgeon era.

Things shifted downward quickly in the late 90s though. Of course, there were economic factors out of the habs control, but the team was also trending in the wrong direction on the ice, which usually correlates to smaller payroll.

But after Molson sold the team, I felt like the Habs were on the upswing again. Brett hull had his bags packed for Montreal before the red wings swooped in last second. I'm sure he wasn't coming cheap.

I also recall the Habs were paying over 11 million dollars a year in municipal taxes for the new Molson center, which was an astronomical figure compared to other nhl teams. Gillette was eventually able to get a reduction on this although I don't remember by how much.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Players had close to zero say pre-1994 strike. Langway wanted out of Quebec / Canada in 1982 Grundman obliged, and even in summer 1992 Corey & Savard had to fly to NY and promise Brian Bellows they’d trade him to whichever US team he wanted as long as he stayed w Habs for 2-years to get him to come to Mtl… but those were the rare players using their leverage position.

Post 1994 it started changing dramatically, especially with teams popping up in sunny warm weather locales w low taxation

What? Really? I remember being upset that Bellows was traded

 

[dinodebino]

Habs have always been cheapskates over the eras. They would pay dirt cheap salaries to their icons, remember? Maurice had to BEG to get a better salary. Guy Lafleur had to go on a strike to get paid as the best player of the team, like he was.

Cheap, cheap, cheap. They litterally exploited their stars. The only one who understood his leverage was Jean Béliveau.

It took George Gillet to start the trend on the other side. BTW, I still think that Bergevin had an internal cap when he was 'retooling'. Molson wanted to save because the team wasn't going to make the playoffs.

He changed with Gorton, because that probably was a condition presented by Gorton : you want to have a winning team, you will need to rebuild and pay the price. You want me, this is the way.

 

[salbutera]

What? Really? I remember being upset that Bellows was traded

Serge Savard himself was the one to spill the beans a couple of years back on Mitch Melnick’s show, when asked about how hard it is to get players to come to Mtl

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

As the title states, in the big money pre cap years (late 90s through 2004) I seem to remember certain teams like Dallas, Detroit, Philly, Toronto, nyr spending piles of money but Montreal could never attract the big ufas.

Am I mis remembering or was there a reason for this? Or do the habs not make as much money as I think?

Canada was in a huge recession and Montreal was the ashtray of the world. I remember that time well. 45 cent pizza slices, 99 cent breakfasts, your choice of apartment for about 400$ a month. Good times.

 

[salbutera]

Canada was in a huge recession and Montreal was the ashtray of the world. I remember that time well. 45 cent pizza slices, 99 cent breakfasts, your choice of apartment for about 400$ a month. Good times.

Decarie hot dogs - $1 + $1.50 for fries…

Forget the name of the Italian trattoria down the street from the old forum - they closed up some 5-years ago? After some 50-years…ahh memories

 

[themilosh]

Canada was in a huge recession and Montreal was the ashtray of the world. I remember that time well. 45 cent pizza slices, 99 cent breakfasts, your choice of apartment for about 400$ a month. Good times.

I used to live on Cote-des-neiges/Cedar during Uni.. food was ridiculously cheap, and delicious. I had a 1,500sqf apartment (indoor parking) panoramic view of the entire city South facing (felt like 50th floor)... $805/month all in.. never had a better set up in my life (from a rental perspective). 98-01.. i'd love to know what that apt would go for today?? $2500?

 

[yianik]

The dollar tanked, and unlike the Leafs, when the teams play sucked the money still didn't roll in. And yeah, the Habs were paying huge property taxes, as in more than X American teams combined.

Unlike other corporate owners who put up with losses due to crosselling , Molson Inc said no. Habs had a $40M budget as that was the break even point. The big spenders were forking out over $60M so we couldn't compete on the UFAs.

And for real there was a fear the team would move. Bettman had to step in and say that wasn't going to happen.

Lousy owner, lousy management, lousy team and lousy time to be a Habs fan. It was bleak.

 

[Scintillating10]

The dollar tanked, and unlike the Leafs, when the teams play sucked the money still didn't roll in. And yeah, the Habs were paying huge property taxes, as in more than X American teams combined.

Unlike other corporate owners who put up with losses due to crosselling , Molson Inc said no. Habs had a $40M budget as that was the break even point. The big spenders were forking out over $60M so we couldn't compete on the UFAs.

And for real there was a fear the team would move. Bettman had to step in and say that wasn't going to happen.

Lousy owner, lousy management, lousy team and lousy time to be a Habs fan. It was bleak.

We must had big local tv contracts back then. Montreal has best tv and radio revenue in league today.

 

[MrNasty]

delete - I see you meant "pre" cap era

 

[tooji]

supply needs demand. Just because we had a lot of cash doesn't mean FAs wanted to play here.

 

[Garbageyuk]

Cheap ownership. Remember when the Habs traded away nearly every star the team had after the 1993 Cup win? Traded them all for nothing; it wasn’t for hockey reasons. By the late 90s, the team was barren except for Koivu, basically.

 

[lillypad33]

We were in dire straits financially when Gillette bought team.

Gillette and Hicks also put the biggest football club in England into receivership.