This scatter diagram shows that, for NHL hockey, the answer is ‘maybe’. Annual team salaries in $US are shown on the left axis, and points per game this season-to-date are shown on the bottom axis, which suggests:
1. Since in an average year you need 1.1 pts/game over the season to make the playoffs, on average (see trend line) $45M will get you into the playoffs, and generally the more you spend the more you get. But…
2. Spending money doesn’t seem to help if you’re the NY Rangers, and
3. If you have great management or coaching like Minnesota (first year in the league!), Vancouver or Ottawa (so poor they’re in bankruptcy protection) you can do just fine on a shoestring.
Would be interesting to see if that applies in other sports…
