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NHL Owners By Winning Percentage

Who are the league's best and worst owners? We'll find out below.

By Derek Zona
Bruce Bennett

Below is a table containing the overall records, win % (OTL included as a L) and percent of seasons the team has made the playoffs under each owner:

Team Owner W L OTL Win % Playoff %
Detroit Red Wings Mike Ilitch 1231 809 88 0.578 0.90
Boston Bruins Jeremy Jacobs 1486 1002 109 0.572 0.86
Chicago Blackhawks Rocky Wirtz 248 136 51 0.570 0.80
Vancouver Canucks Francesco Aquilini 340 193 64 0.570 0.71
San Jose Sharks Sharks Ent. Enterprises 421 233 86 0.569 0.89
New Jersey Devils Jeffery Vanderbeek 337 210 52 0.563 0.86
Philadelphia Flyers Comcast-Spectator 638 422 92 0.554 0.93
Phoenix Coyotes NHL 147 88 36 0.542 1.00
St. Louis Blues Tom Stillman 13 9 2 0.542 NA
Anaheim Ducks Henry & Susan Samueli 273 181 60 0.531 0.67
Colorado Avalanche Stan Kroenke 465 341 75 0.528 0.64
Calgary Flames CFLP 1178 962 98 0.526 0.65
Ottawa Senators Eugene Melnyk 352 246 73 0.525 0.75
Nashville Predators Predators Holdings LLC 215 152 46 0.521 0.80
Washington Capitals Ted Leonsis 487 377 92 0.509 0.67
Dallas Stars Tom Gaglardi 46 39 7 0.500 0.00
Toronto Maple Leafs M.L.S.E 482 386 97 0.499 0.42
New York Rangers MSG 2560 2482 91 0.499 0.64
Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux & Ron Burkle 482 402 86 0.497 0.67
Tampa Bay Lightning Jeff Vinik 102 86 21 0.488 0.33
Carolina Hurricanes Peter Karmanos 528 470 87 0.487 0.36
Buffalo Sabres Terrence Pegula 64 50 18 0.485 0.50
Montreal Canadiens Molson Family 131 103 38 0.482 0.67
Minnesota Wild Craig Leipold 183 160 46 0.470 0.20
Los Angeles Kings AEG 579 557 95 0.470 0.44
Winnipeg Jets True North Sports 48 46 11 0.457 0.00
New York Islanders Charles Wang 361 370 84 0.443 0.40
Florida Panthers Cliff Viner & Stu Siegel 101 106 48 0.396 0.33
Columbus Blue Jackets John McConnell 350 453 90 0.392 0.09
Edmonton Oilers Daryl Katz 130 177 44 0.370 0.00

*Records as of 3/9/2013

Items of note:

  • Mike Ilitch is really amazing. He took a franchise that was in the toilet and turned it into one of the greatest franchises in sports. Maybe it was just his management and he was hands off - but he's a smart enough manager to stay hands off and let good management work. There are other examples in this list of owners muddling in operations and apathetic owners letting bad management run their teams into the ground, but Ilitch knows what he's doing with the Red Wings.
  • In four years, Daryl Katz has already missed the playoffs more than Mike Ilitch has in 29 years. If the Oilers miss the playoffs again this season, Katz will have missed the playoffs the same amount of times that Jeremy Jacobs has in 37 years.
  • The NHL should take over the ownership and operations of more teams. They're the 8th-most successful owner in the league, and the only owner to make the playoffs 100% of seasons owned.
  • Henry & Susan Samueli aren't recognized as good owners, but the teams they've owned have been very good. Of course, it helps when they're gifted Chris Pronger, but still, the numbers don't lie.
  • Another not-often-mentioned ownership group is Predators Holdings, LLC under the direction (or wallet) of David Freeman. The Predators are a winning club and have 4 playoff appearances in 5 years and they've shelled out the dough to keep Pekka Rinne and Shea Weber.
  • Maple Leafs fans decry MLSE, but it could be worse. Far, far worse.