One advantage of having an intelligent readership here at The Copper & Blue is the constant stream of critiques and feedback that we receive via comments and e-mails. When I re-introduced Marginal Cap Efficiency in the first Darryl Sutter article, an e-mailer asked for a rolling average so that an exceptionally good year or bad year would be washed out over time. His idea was a series of two-year rolling averages using the same MCE calculations from the first article. It was an excellent idea that gave us a better look at General Manager performance by capturing smaller segments of time. In the comments section of that article one of our readers based in Asia (we have a disproportionate amount of overseas-based commenters here) came up with a really good idea: rank the Marginal Floor Efficiency of General Managers around the league.
The idea is beautiful in it's simplicity: the mandatory salary floor is locked in at $16,000,000 below the salary cap. Each General Manager is forced to spend to the floor and the money spent between the floor and the cap ceiling are the marginal dollars applied to the team directly by the hand of the GM. Now, of course there are flaws to that line of thinking, but for now, we're going to look at points per million dollars over the salary floor. Put simply, how many points over the minimum are general managers extracting from the excess $16 million? After the jump, we'll look at what I'm calling Marginal Floor Efficiency since the lockout.
First up is the yearly MFE, starting in 2005-2006, though note that Long Island does not have a value for 2009-2010 because, according to CapGeek, the Islanders were under the floor for the season.
*This table is sortable by column, simply click on the header record
| 05-06 | 06-07 | 07-08 | 08-09 | 09-10 | PL Avg | |
| NSH | 12.31 | 7.36 | 45.93 | 4.71 | 22.86 | 10.21 |
| PHX | 6.50 | 3.14 | 22.57 | 8.81 | 39.55 | 8.86 |
| WSH | 18.61 | 18.31 | 8.09 | 5.55 | 7.61 | 8.28 |
| LI | 4.11 | 5.61 | 6.48 | 5.01 | N/A | 7.00 |
| SJS | 9.85 | 5.04 | 11.46 | 6.09 | 5.65 | 6.80 |
| BUF | 14.15 | 5.26 | 6.14 | 6.78 | 5.38 | 6.65 |
| CBJ | 4.58 | 4.24 | 11.07 | 6.42 | 9.63 | 6.34 |
| PIT | 4.37 | 10.02 | 7.71 | 5.00 | 4.90 | 6.08 |
| CAR | 10.46 | 5.32 | 5.12 | 6.87 | 4.23 | 6.05 |
| FLA | 14.59 | 5.69 | 5.31 | 5.30 | 4.34 | 5.91 |
| ATL | 3.78 | 4.74 | 5.67 | 11.27 | 11.02 | 5.81 |
| LAK | 4.91 | 3.48 | 4.36 | 17.78 | 7.88 | 5.81 |
| STL | 5.10 | 6.69 | 3.77 | 5.48 | 10.73 | 5.80 |
| DAL | 5.94 | 5.46 | 4.84 | 5.12 | 8.90 | 5.76 |
| MIN | 26.47 | 5.37 | 5.61 | 4.73 | 4.04 | 5.75 |
| NHL MED | 5.52 | 5.01 | 5.29 | 5.36 | 5.22 | 5.75 |
| NJD | 5.00 | 3.82 | 5.89 | 15.46 | 5.73 | 5.75 |
| DET | 5.67 | 5.13 | 6.51 | 5.78 | 4.95 | 5.58 |
| OTT | 6.86 | 5.28 | 5.26 | 4.72 | 4.57 | 5.31 |
| VAN | 4.05 | 5.05 | 4.47 | 11.54 | 5.01 | 5.29 |
| ANA | 6.75 | 6.11 | 4.34 | 4.59 | 5.22 | 5.28 |
| COL | 4.34 | 4.56 | 5.27 | 4.29 | 8.96 | 5.15 |
| CGY | 5.77 | 4.73 | 4.98 | 5.31 | 4.35 | 5.01 |
| TBL | 4.53 | 4.40 | 5.90 | 3.04 | 11.08 | 4.90 |
| MTL | 5.36 | 4.42 | 6.43 | 4.45 | 4.19 | 4.90 |
| NYR | 6.66 | 4.97 | 4.28 | 4.58 | 4.12 | 4.81 |
| CHI | 4.00 | 3.13 | 4.32 | 5.13 | 5.96 | 4.54 |
| TOR | 4.51 | 4.18 | 3.98 | 6.97 | 3.31 | 4.35 |
| PHI | 4.55 | 2.19 | 4.49 | 5.40 | 4.08 | 4.14 |
| EDM | 5.73 | 3.73 | 4.22 | 4.70 | 2.53 | 4.12 |
| BOS | 3.60 | 2.81 | 3.88 | 5.83 | 4.64 | 4.08 |
- Except for 05-06, the Sharks have been among the league's spending leaders and they continue to deliver regular season results. They've not had the benefit of cheap entry-level contracts, either. The key players on those teams have been on second contracts or unrestricted free agent deals.
- The Capitals benefited from entry-level deals after the lockout, but as their second and third deals kick in, they'll have to continue to put up 100+ point seasons to beat the league median.
- A number of losing teams make the list by way of not spending to the cap, nor anywhere near it. The Coyotes, Islanders, Blue Jackets, Panthers, and Thrashers are beating the league in this metric because they don't spend money.
- On the other hand, a number of teams spending to the cap are in the third quarter of this list. Without an enormous season like the Caps or Hawks had in 2009-10, it's impossible to spend to the cap and out rank some of the lesser spending teams that pile up points like the Predators.
- The Bruins and Flyers are at the bottom of all of these efficiency lists because coming into this year, they are second and third in total cap spending since the lockout, trailing only the Red Wings. Neither the Flyers nor the Bruins have been able to deliver the results the Wings have and end up at the bottom of the list with the Oilers.
Next we'll use two-year rolling averages to try and filter out the seasons that vary wildly, both positively and negatively.
*This table is sortable by column, simply click on the header record
| 05-07 | 06-08 | 07-09 | 08-10 | |
| NYI | 4.83 | 5.97 | 5.79 | 19.35 |
| PHX | 4.45 | 6.24 | 12.87 | 16.50 |
| ATL | 4.23 | 5.09 | 7.55 | 11.14 |
| LAK | 4.21 | 3.88 | 7.34 | 10.28 |
| NJD | 4.31 | 4.59 | 8.70 | 8.43 |
| NSH | 9.16 | 11.65 | 8.70 | 8.27 |
| CBJ | 4.40 | 6.31 | 7.93 | 7.55 |
| STL | 6.00 | 4.85 | 4.56 | 7.22 |
| VAN | 4.54 | 4.78 | 6.70 | 6.94 |
| DAL | 5.70 | 5.15 | 4.96 | 6.57 |
| WSH | 18.46 | 10.40 | 6.47 | 6.49 |
| COL | 4.45 | 4.89 | 4.84 | 6.29 |
| BUF | 7.61 | 5.61 | 6.45 | 5.95 |
| SJS | 6.56 | 7.02 | 7.83 | 5.86 |
| CHI | 3.48 | 3.72 | 4.73 | 5.53 |
| NHL MED | 5.04 | 5.14 | 5.32 | 5.47 |
| CAR | 7.43 | 5.21 | 5.90 | 5.41 |
| DET | 5.40 | 5.75 | 6.13 | 5.36 |
| BOS | 3.15 | 3.34 | 4.76 | 5.25 |
| TBL | 4.46 | 4.91 | 4.08 | 5.18 |
| PIT | 7.22 | 8.74 | 6.09 | 4.95 |
| ANA | 6.39 | 5.12 | 4.46 | 4.88 |
| FLA | 8.16 | 5.50 | 5.30 | 4.83 |
| CGY | 5.22 | 4.85 | 5.14 | 4.81 |
| PHI | 3.44 | 3.37 | 4.92 | 4.70 |
| OTT | 6.00 | 5.27 | 5.00 | 4.63 |
| TOR | 4.33 | 4.08 | 5.04 | 4.59 |
| MIN | 8.17 | 5.49 | 5.16 | 4.37 |
| NYR | 5.73 | 4.59 | 4.42 | 4.35 |
| MTL | 4.86 | 5.33 | 5.33 | 4.32 |
| EDM | 4.72 | 4.00 | 4.44 | 3.53 |
- The Islanders were under the floor and get a spending credit from last season, so the two-year average on Long Island looks fantastic even though they finished in the bottom ten of the league again.
- The Penguins had three years of entry-level contracts during their rise to the top, but since they've spent to the cap the points have come down a bit and the 09-10 ratio was much lower.
- The Predators, Sharks, Sabres, and Capitals have beaten the league median each of the four measured periods.
- The Maple Leafs, Oilers, Canadiens and Rangers are at the bottom of the list. Each spends to the cap every year and struggles to make the playoffs.
Up tomorrow: Marginal Floor Efficiency based on playoff performance.