Sports Illustrated's Best and Worst NHL Owners

Sports Illustrated put out their list of the top five owners in the NHL, and with it, the five worst. It shouldn't come with much surprise that Florida Panthers owner Alan Cohen made the bottom five.

The Panthers have been the epitome of mediocrity for nearly a decade, lagging behind the rest of the league most seasons only to come on late and get themselves away from a top pick and away from the playoffs.

A revolving door of coaches and general managers under Cohen's watch should put him on the list. Although, I don't think he should be the second worst owner in the league. Third or fourth? Probably, unfortunately.

The actual list reads like this:

5: Predator Holdings LLC (Nashville Predators)
4: Atlanta Spirit (Atlanta Thrashers)
3: Charles Wang (New York Islanders)
2: Alan Cohen (Florida Panthers)
1: MLSE (Toronto Maple Leafs)

After the start that the Tampa Bay Lightning have had since Oren Koules and Len Barrie took over, I'm not sure how they're not even in the top five. Realistically, they should be either #1 or #2. According to SI, MLSE's problem is that, despite being a nearly $2B entity, their most valuable asset (the Maple Leafs) hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 42 years. Fair enough. But, I think Brian Burke will do well for the Leafs, even if he has to blow up the franchise to do it. So right now, if you're looking for the most spectacularly unsuccessful owners, maybe Koules and Barrie should be #1.

Yes, they might turn out to be decent as they get some more experience, but their start this past season was an abomination. I've tried to destroy my teams in Eastside Hockey Manager and had less success than the Lightning did this past season:

Take for instance, Dan Boyle. Supposedly, the owners threatened to waive Boyle, who would likely be claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers if he didn't agree to waive his no-trade clause. You'd think the first kicker here would be that Boyle signed a contract extension a week earlier, but when Tampa traded him to San Jose, they got Matt Carle, Ty Wishart and a late first in return. Koules then said that acquiring Matt Carle "ensures that our team is better in October and for the next ten years." After 12 games, Matt Carle was traded to Philadelphia for Steve Eminger and Steve Downie. Downie has since been hit with a 20 game AHL suspension for abuse of an official and Steve Eminger is now a Panther. Dan Boyle, it should be noted, put up 57 points this season.

After 16 games, recent hire Barry Melrose became recent fire Barry Melrose.

When they realized the defense was a problem, they decided to just give every defenseman in the league an opportunity - 22 different defensemen played at least one game with the Lightning at some point during the season. Most of the defensemen were AHLers or cast-aways from other clubs, as was the case with Cory Murphy and Noah Welch from Florida. Welch and Murphy played on the top pairing in Tampa at one point, together. Good guys, but top pairing defensemen? Not so fast. And now, with rumblings about a Vincent Lecavalier trade that would get them out of the huge extension he just signed, Koules and Barrie are looking for new investors to help reduce debt.

For Tampa, the way these guys ran their first year would be like taking the Panthers' last eight years and bunching them up in to one huge, collective fail. Maybe it just hasn't been enough time to pass fair judgement, so they didn't make the list. But the fact remains, no matter how they turn out, this was a rough start.

As for Wang in New York, on one hand, he saved the franchise. If you want to call it that. The Islanders haven't done much lately, but he sank a fortune to keep the team on Long Island and they've been unable to get support for a new arena. On the other hand, not more than a week ago, Wang came out and said he regrets buying the team and, "If I had the chance, I wouldn't do it again."

The Thrashers are in the same boat as the Panthers, sort of. Atlanta has a superstar in Ilya Kovalchuk and a promising center in Bryan Little, but like the Cats, there's absolutely no fixed direction and the only thing that the Thrashers are thrashing right now is the checkbook. Nashville's problems have been buried by the drama and financial woes that now have Phoenix on the hot seat.

Phoenix and Tampa Bay should have strong cases to be in that list, but who you bump to get them there is probably where it gets tricky, and I guess Tampa can get a pass since this year can be attributed to their first experiences owning a pro hockey team.

But looking at Alan Cohen's tenure as owner, it's like I said before. The Panthers have had a dozen coaches and general managers, or interim fillers at the position since he took over. That's terrible and it's no wonder we haven't seen playoff hockey here in nearly a decade. You have to commit to something, and I can only hope that it's a lesson finally learned, because we need it. Given the consistent, though gradual, improvements we've been seeing the last couple of years, I hope he's going to be off of those lists very soon.