The Toronto Maple Leafs should follow the Blues' lead on this

The Toronto Maple Leafs should take a page out of the St. Louis Blue playbook. No, I’m not referring to offer sheeting everyone in the NHL. I’m referring to the salary cap reference tool on the Blues’ official team website.

The tool presents a rather rudimentary list of every roster player, their current contract status, and how the player was acquired. While the overall amount of information and interface pale in comparison to PuckPedia or CapFriendly, the tool sparked a question in my mind: Why aren’t the Toronto Maple Leafs doing it, too?

CapFriendly was to default, go-to tool for fans and analysts to get information on player salaries and team rosters. Since CapFriendly went off the air, PuckPedia has become the go-to source.

But there’s an issue with PuckPedia. It’s second-hand information. Of course, PuckPedia is quite accurate. There hasn’t been any false or misleading information on it that we know of. But PuckPedia is not an “official” source.

That situation begs the question, “Shouldn’t there be an official source for salary cap information?”

The Toronto Maple Leafs should follow the Blues' lead on this

A cursory look at the Toronto Maple Leafs official team site, we find a wealth of information. However, there is no data on player salaries or how current roster players came to the club.

Now, why that information isn’t there is debatable. Perhaps no one on the team has ever thought it would matter. Perhaps the Leafs, among other clubs, are happy to outsource that task to someone else. Perhaps NHL clubs think that fans don’t care about such matters.

But there is a value to having an “official” source of salary cap and player contract information. In today’s data-driven society, there is a demand for as much detailed information on everything possible. Fans want to get the most up-to-date information on everything imaginable.

While there’s an entertainment value to it, the rise of sports betting has also prompted fans to dig deeper into the numbers.

Then, there’s another key element. NHL teams, like all sports franchises, compete on the ice, but also in cyberspace. Advertising revenue from clicks and views means as much to teams as wins on the scoreboard.

The visibility that comes from social media presence, branding, and other marketing endeavours makes adding something like official salary cap information worthwhile.

Thus far, the Blues have taken the lead on publishing salary cap information. But it will only be a matter of time before other teams follow the Blues’ lead. When other teams see the value that comes from engaging fans in this manner, teams will invest time into releasing their “official” cap numbers.