If I'm being completely transparent, the entire paragraph above has moments of truth, but is mostly a satirical look at my fan status when it comes to the Capitals. I honestly don't wish ill will on any team, and I certainly don't want to land in the jaws of a shark or the chipper of a woodchipper. Today's news does suck in a big way, though, and the Capitals are entirely to blame for another amazing hockey resource going dark in less than a month's time.
For anyone who has ever looked up a hockey player's contract, CapFriendly is the site where all the information about that contract can be found. It's one of those sites that would rank in the top-five of all hockey resources on the internet, and a lot of the credit for how valuable the site's information has become goes to Dominik Zrim, the website's co-owner and director.
Today, though, it was announced that the Washington Capitals have reached an agreement to purchase the outstanding CapFriendly website, and the website and all its resources would go private after the transaction is completed on what is expected to be July 5. According to Sportsnet's Elloitte Friedman, "sources stressed that both the Capitals and CapFriendly wanted the site to be publicly available and independently operated through the 2024 NHL Draft and the start of free agency".
In multiple reports, it was stated that "NHL teams that had agreements to use their tools/Application Programming Interface (API) recently received notice that these contracts would be terminated" which clearly meant that something was up with the CapFriendly site. After all, having deals with NHL teams gave CapFriendly insight into a lot of the contract details while their API would guarantee a revenue stream. As per The Athletic, "Several teams were interested in buying the site and the owners held discussions with other clubs," so it seems that the site had the "For Sale" sign up for a least a few weeks.
Mark Colley of the Toronto Star wrote, "CapFriendly was preceded by CapGeek, founded by Matthew Wuest, who died of cancer in 2015. In early 2016, CapFriendly merged with Hockey's Cap to create the current platform, which was inspired by CapGeek. It became the NHL's most authoritative resource on salaries for fans and media."
With the Washington Capitals owning the API, they'll have full use of its capabilities while other teams will either have to come up with their own tools or pay the Capitals for access to that tool. I don't fault Ted Leonsis for capitalizing on something that will affect the other 31 teams in his league whereby he gets an advantage, but I do fault him for eliminating one of the best sites for cap-related information on the internet. As a fan, my hope is someone will fill that void, but the previous paragraph shows just how long it took for CapFriendly to become this web-based institution for hockey fans.
Just so we're clear, I don't hate the Washington Capitals, but this transaction today makes it a lot harder to like them. I was already sour over their idea to squeeze billions out of Alexandria, Virginia for a new sports and entertainment complex which took my dislike of them from their years of battles with the Penguins to a new low. I wouldn't say they crossed the line into me hating them as "hate" is a strong word, but it seems like the Washington Capitals are hellbent on doing everything they can to make people dislike them.
Today, they found a new way to ruin hockey for the rest of us.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
As a Caps fan, I too was unhappy to learn that public access to the site was not going to be allowed following the draft. But as you mentioned, the site apparently had a "For Sale" sign hanging for at least a few weeks. That meant that likely some team was going to buy it. You don't mention if you would be just as sour if your team bought it.
ReplyDeleteIf it was going to be made unavailable, I guess better that my team did get it rather than some other team, but I guess what is not clear is whether this site somehow has access to contract information that the teams themselves do not get to access directly from the league. If so, that seems quite backwards to me.
Maybe this is an opportunity for someone else to start a similar site and make it public again, and hopefully gain some revenue from advertising to make it worth their while.
You're entirely right that the "For Sale" sign was up, and, as I wrote, kudos on Ted Leonsis for acquiring the tools used by many in the NHL. That's a wise move. I cannot fault him for seeing value in something and acquiring it. Frankly, I'd be just as peeved if any team, including the Penguins, had bought it because it was a resource for a number of teams via their API and a whole lot more fans who used the info for a variety of purposes.
ReplyDeleteI identified Dominik Zrim due to his ties to both the Sharks and Blackhawks behind the scenes, so he may have had access to information the public simply wasn't privy to see. I'm not saying that's the case nor do I have any proof, but it would appear someone within the CapFriendly ranks had more access than you or I do. If that's the case, the NHL may have wanted that loophole closed.
I'm also hopeful something new will come out of this, but it seems the NHL doesn't want that information made public moving forward based on reports. If that's the case, it might be a long time before a CapGeek 2.0 or some other site pops up.
Great comment, though! This will be discussed more on The Hockey Show this week!