Team Payroll System

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When observing the attendance vs. team payroll graph for the Montreal Canadiens, the general trend is positive with a slope of 0.0938. Therefore, the trend shows that as the team payroll increases, the attendance increases as well. A higher team payroll is typically seen by fans as commitment by management to form a team that has a high chance of competing for the Stanley Cup. This leads to higher demand by fans to attend home games as they believe the team is more competitive and has a high chance of winning. In terms of outliers, the 1994-95 season had an attendance percentage of 93.2% and team payroll of $9 million. Based on the trend line, with a payroll of $9 million, the attendance percentage is expected to be much higher than 93.2%. …show more content…
For example, during the 2007-08 season, the Montreal Canadiens had a winning percentage of 64.5% and adjusted payroll of $38.1 million. Based on this trend relationship, a much lower winning percentage is anticipated for the payroll mentioned. The Montreal Canadiens signed free agents Roman Hamrlik, Bryan Smolinski, Tom Kostopoulos, and Patrice Brisebois for the 2007-08 season Savard (Our History - Montreal Canadiens 2007-08, n.d.). Despite the signing of these free agents which led to an increase in payroll from the previous season, there are other events that significantly impacted the winning percentage to a higher degree. Firstly, right winger Alex Kovalev greatly influenced this season. In addition to 49 assists, he scored 35 goals throughout the 82 games played, making him the highest scorer on the Montreal Canadiens for the 2007-08 season (Our History - Montreal Canadiens 2007-08, n.d.). This is surprising given that during the previous season, Kovalev scored only 18 goals and assisted 29 times for the 73 games played for the Montreal Canadiens (Hockeydb.com, n.d.). This turn of events shows that it is difficult to truly know the impact that a player can have on a team as it can vary dramatically from season to season. In addition, Carey Price made his debut in the NHL as backup goalie to Cristobal Huet on October 10, 2007 (Our History - Montreal Canadiens 2007-08, n.d.). The addition of Carey Price to the roster also increased the payroll. Due to Huet becoming injured, Price became the starting goalie (Our History - Montreal Canadiens 2007-08, n.d.). Price was able to finish the season with a saving percentage of 0.920, shutouts of 3, and 24 wins, making him the leader of rookie goaltenders in these three areas (Our History - Montreal Canadiens 2007-08, n.d.). In this case, Price’s success during his time for American Hockey League affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs translated during his debut for the Montreal