How much are the Leafs players charging for a goal/assist

It is not a surprise that this season as well, the Toronto Maple Leafs are again fading away from the playoff spot. Most of the Leafs fans blame the coaching staff for that. Some blame the players. The problem lies elsewhere. A look at the stats indicate that the problem lies with the guys who don't even step on ice. Plainly put it lies with the Leafs front office. 

Don't take my word for it. Just look at the stats. The Leafs are paying Phil Kessel $135,000 per point. This is way more expensive than $3.7 M that Chris Kunitz of the Pittsburgh Penguins is getting for his 49 points - approx $76,000 per point. Not just Kessel, the Leafs also has overspent on their other "stars". Lupul, one of the Alternate Captains is earning $5.25M, yet has scored 24 points thus far at almost $219,000 per point. 

By putting together a team of low performers and paying them big, the Leafs cant compete with most of the teams.

Though it is interesting to look at the $$ per point, it is also worth noting that not one of the Leafs has been selected for Team Canada! Goes to tell you the talent that the front office has amassed!

Perhaps the front office has no reason to put a competitive team together. Why should they burn the midnight oil. After all, Toronto Maple Leafs is a business venture. And it is hugely successful. Forbes rated the Leafs as the most valuable NHL franchise. New York Rangers is a distant second.

So the score is pretty simple. Leafs (franchise) is winning. The Leafs fans are losing

Here are the details of how the Leafs players are stacking up as on Jan 13, 2014

Player		Points		Salary		$/Point
Mason Raymond		28		$1,000,000		$35,714
Trevor Smith		9		$550,000		$61,111
Jake Gardiner		13		$875,000		$67,308
Morgan Rielly		12		$894,167		$74,514
Peter Holland		9		$810,000		$90,000
Cody Franson		20		$2,000,000		$100,000
Paul Ranger		9		$1,000,000		$111,111
Nazem Kadri		26		$2,900,000		$111,538
James van Riemsdyk		33		$4,250,000		$128,788
Phil Kessel		40		$5,400,000		$135,000
Joffrey Lupul		24		$5,250,000		$218,750
Tyler Bozak		18		$4,200,000		$233,333
Nikolai Kulemin		11		$2,800,000		$254,545
Jay McClement		5		$1,500,000		$300,000
Dave Bolland		10		$3,375,000		$337,500
Dion Phaneuf		17		$6,500,000		$382,353
Jerry D'Amigo		2		$870,000		$435,000
Carl Gunnarsson		5		$3,150,000		$630,000
David Clarkson		8		$5,250,000		$656,250
Carter Ashton		1		$840,000		$840,000
Mark Fraser		1		$1,275,000		$1,275,000
Colton Orr		0		$925,000		#DIV/0!

Is anyone reading this? Please comment "Yes" if you are. Thanks

The common thread in Why a school trip failed and a contractor lost his contract

People grossly underestimate the value of keeping others informed. It is absolutely critical that what we are thinking , be they are assumptions, feelings, thoughts, next steps etc are shared with the right people. We are so engulfed in our own thinking that we mostly assume that our assumption is a universal truth. Well, that's not always the case. The absence of information, creates a communication void. And when there is a void, it will get filled up with all kinds of stuff. Most often with negative thoughts. All this can be easily avoided by keeping each other in the (communication) loop. Even saying that I dont have an update is an update.

Here is an example of how 2 scenarios could have turned out so differently had the customers been kept in the loop. There was no other changes required only keeping the customer in the loop!

Scenario 1: 

Bob was in grade 6 and went on an out of town school trip for a 3 days. Bob's parents were nervous. After all this was his first trip outside home without the parents being there. They gave Bob a phone and asked him to send updates on a regular basis. As luck would have it, the phone's battery died and Bob lost the charger the very first hour of the trip. Bob's parents were scrambling for information. They called other parents. Emailed school and any other contact that they could think of but no luck. They knew that Bob was safe but still wanted to get the assurance. The school charged $750 for the trip. There were a no. of staff who went with the class to ensure safety and comfort. Yet none of the teachers and organizers thought that they should keep providing a simple email update to the parents! They planned every single aspect of the trip, except communication.

The trend continued for the rest of the trip. 

The kids had a great time but parents were furious. In the minds of the parents the trip didnt go well. Now if only the teachers would have thought the importance of updates

Scenario 2:

I scheduled a handyman to do some repairs around the house. He was supposed to have come at 7pm but didn't show up. After waiting impatiently till 8pm, I called him, "We are running late. We should be there in the next hour or so", was the response. I told him to not worry about it. Now if he only would have told me earlier that he would be late, I probably would have been able to juggle my plans around his availability. 

We tend to underestimate the value of updates but they are absolutely the key when it comes to customer service. 

Big Rocks

As long as you focus on the big rocks of your life, you will be ok. What are the big rocks in your life? As most of the cases, the answer is "It is up to you to decide" For some it will be  vacation, family time, for others it will be career or something else.

But whatever it is, it is critical that you take care of the big items in your life

So have you moved the big rocks from your life today? 

Today's Lesson

Do not react based on an assumption

It ain't done until it is done. Ask the Spurs or the Leafs

Success formula

In my mind success can be created by the following process.

1- Vision
A vision in my mind is an evolving goal. I think that we must have the end goal/objective in mind as we   begin the journey. We always evolve the goals and thats ok however it is critical that we begin with the end in mind (ref Covey)

2- Thinking. 
Thinking to figure out the right choices. After all it is our choices which determine who we are. In order to make these "correct" choices, we need to think correctly

By the way, the correct choice will be correct for each individual. In other words, what is correct for one may be completely different for another. As an example, someone may think that the best way to spend the day is to go fishing, whereas the other may decide that the best way to spend the day is working at the career to get ahead. They are both "correct" choices as long as they align with the life goals off the individual

3- Discipline
The thinking will not be enacted on its own. It requires a lot of will power and sacrifices of the secondary choices. For example, for the person deciding to fish, he will need to understand that because he is not working on the career, he will not be getting the next big promotion and all that is associated with it. Same for the person working on the career, he will be sacrificing a lot for that promotion as well. As long as you have the discipline to follow through on the choices thats what counts

After this, I think you need luck. Often times, life happens and this can throw us off track. This is both in a good way as well as not so good. 

What is your formula for success?

If you look, then I will run

Home crowd is considered to be an advantage. With crowds cheering, players are likely to perform better. I guess they tend to become more aware that their are some who care

Well, bloggers are no different. They also tend to go to the stats to see how many people are interested in what they are saying. Also, they tend to get excited by the fact that people from far away lands are interested in hearing about some topics. So if you reading this blog, it will be fantastic if you can provide your comments - either about this one or another one which was written previously. Thank you