How Much Would You Pay? It’s All About Value?

What do you value or see in a player? What’s important to you? What type of player do you want on your hockey club? How are you going to win with that player?

You can talk about it all day, but when you’re wanting to build a championship caliber team, you better damn well know the value that each one of your players are going to bring.

You see winning and being successful all comes down to value. What do you value or see in a player? How do you project a player’s character, skill or will to compete? How much time are you going to give them to grow and development? What’s your organization’s “winning window” look like?

The 2024 QMJHL Trade Period has been nothing short of a snails pace to date due in large part to value.

You see it all comes down to the value you place on each player and their role on the team.

Sources are reporting that the prices are astronomical right now.

It’s like that every year but with so much parity in the league amongst the top five or six teams, GM’s are holding on to their assets in hopes of hitting a homerun.

It all comes down to value. So, what’s the winning formula? Well that’s what everyone in the hockey world is trying to search for or capture.

When one mentions value, everyone looks to money and contracts at the pro level, in junior hockey it’s all about fine tuning a championship caliber group or trying to build towards something special down the road, but at the end of the day it starts with a commonly shared organizational philosophy amongst the GM, scouting staff and coaching staff.

You hear it all the time, that player or so and so is a ___________  type player. (or insert any NHL or CHL team in that blank). The value placed on players starts at the top of any organization. You hear that mentioned during every draft. “We feel” “we believe”, “we think this player is going to be a great player for us for many years to come.”

Hockey cliché, after hockey cliché, but what you don’t hear often is enough is “we value what this player brings to the game.”

Now when you hear that comment you know damn well that player is going to an organization that gets it.

Sure, some draft picks don’t work out, just like some free agent signees don’t work out, but it all comes down to value. Any hockey trade is all about value as well. Value of the player, value of the return.

Value is at the root of every aspect of the game. You see that’s why analytics are supposedly so cutting edge nowadays, because so many people buy into the fact or believe that analytics perfectly describe and outline the value of a player.

This isn’t “Moneyball” folks, this is hockey and analytics though important don’t always describe or outline the intangibles players possess. That’s where the true value of a player rests, the intangibles. A big buzz phrase in the hockey world nowadays is that the “NHL is a second effort league.”

NO SHIT.  That’s a fantastic line, but it’s also a third and fourth effort league. When you have players that understand effort and the will to compete can outmatch talent and skill you’re going places.

Now don’t get me wrong, you aren’t winning without skill in today’s era, but when your skill has compete and the will to win and battle or an unrelenting drive to be the best that’s when you have a champion.

I hope you can all see the value in that. Several QMJHL teams are looking to add grit and skill to their lineup, that’s where it gets tricky and that scares the shit out of GM’s because they don’t want to over pay for grit because it might make them look bad to pay a high price for a middle 6 forward or a 5 or 6 d man that can lock things down.

In many ways it all comes down to what the organization values in player’s, what they find the most important aspects a player or a collection of players can possess. In a way it’s a guessing game?

In my opinion, the search for the “top secret championship formula” all starts with value and how much you value the intangibles certain players bring to the game.

What’s the value in a shut down pairing on the backend? What’s the value in a number one defencemen that can quarterback your power play? What’s the value in having two solid goaltenders? What’s the value in having a solid leadership group? What’s the value in having skilled players that actually give a shit about going dirty areas to win? What’s the value in having skilled players that actually take a hit to make a play? What’s the value in having a solid bottom six? What’s the value in having a coach that teaches and motivates with the same intensity? What’s the value in having a team built on character and skill? What’s the value in having a scouting staff that appreciates and projects talent and character?

Let’s hope everyone can see the value in that.

Over the next few days you will see what teams and GM’s value, and the price they are willing to pay to acquire it.

How much would you pay?

It all comes down to value!