Why I Started Puckonomics

The NHL is not an efficient market.  There are players being paid $5 million who are really worth half that and vice versa.  I wanted to see if I could come up with an analysis which gave a more accurate reflection of what a player really ‘earned’ in a given year based solely on their performance.  There are a number of drivers of this efficient market, just like any other capital market or professional sports league.  Some of the drivers include contract restrictions from the CBA such as entry-level contracts,   Restricted Free Agents and the Salary Cap. As well, other traditional economics factors such as the supply and demand of Unrestricted Free Agents play a big role in player salaries.  This analysis will ignore contract status and other off-ice factors and solely look at regular-season on-ice performance to assess a player’s value.