Maple Leafs worth $1B, Sabres come in at $175M on Forbes list

Forbes has released it's annual report on the net worth of NHL teams.

Lo and behold, Toronto tops the list. Of note is that the Maple Leafs are the first $1 billion team in the league.

And, in a nod to baseball's Chicago Cubs, they continue to be a veritable ATM for their owners despite their lack of a championship for four-plus decades including a seven year span between lockouts where they failed to qualify for the playoffs.

If that wasn't enough, the face of the franchise that Forbes put on their slide show was non other than former Sabre forward, Clarke MacArthur.

Not that he's a bad player, but he's no Mats Sundin, Borje Salming, or Johnny Bower.

Anyhow, despite "Mac" being the face, the Leafs are worth $1 billion, with revenues of $200 million and a profit of $81.9 million last season.

Where do I sign up for that?

The Buffalo Sabres, on the other hand, are worth $175M, about what Terry Pegula paid for the team in 2011. They had $95M in revenue and ended up losing $10.4M last season.

The Sabres are one of 13 teams that lost money last season (before revenue sharing.) On one end, the San Jose Sharks lost 900K while at the other end, the Phoenix Coyotes lost $20.6M. Total losses by those clubs--$130.2M. Total profits for the other 17 teams equalled $380.5M. Total league operating income for the 2011/12 season--$250.3M. Divided by 30 teams, that comes out to an average of about $8.5M per team.

For those of you who hate slide-shows (sorry, bleacher report, that's why I rarely visit,) I've taken one on the chin for the team, and with the patience of a saint while waiting for each slide to load like a 2002 dial-up, the following info was gathered for you:

Team--Net Worth, 2011/12 Revenue, 2011/12 Operating Income

  1. Toronto Maple Leafs- $1B, $200M, 81.9M
  2. NY Rangers-750M, 199M, 74M
  3. Montreal Canadians--579M, 169M, 51.6M
  4. Chicago Blackhawks--350M, 125M, 20.5M
  5. Boston Bruins--348M, 129M, 14.2M
  6. Detroit Red Wings--346M, 128M, 20.8M
  7. Vancouver Canucks--342M, 143M, 30.4M
  8. Philadelphia Flyers--336M, 124M, 10.9M
  9. Pittsburgh Penguins--288M, 120M, 9.1M
10. LA Kings--276M, 120M, 1.8M
11. Washington Capitals--259M, 106M, -1M
12. Calgary Flames--245M, 117M, 11M
13. Dallas Stars--240M, 100M, 3M
14. Edmonton Oilers--225M, 106M, 16.2M
15. San Jose Sharks--223M, 103M, -900K
16. Ottawa Senators--220M, 113M, 14.5M
17. Minnesota Wild--218M, 99M, -3.9M
18. Colorado Avalanche--210M, 91M, 4.5M
19. NJ Devils--205M, 122M, 2.8M
20. Winnipeg Jets--200M, 105M, 13.3M
21. Anaheim Ducks--192M, 91M, -10.8M
22. Buffalo Sabres--175M, 95M, -10.4M
23. Tampa Bay Lightning--174M, 88M, -13.1M
24. Florida Panthers--170M, 87M, -12M
25. Nashville Predators--167M, 88M, -3.4M
26. Carolina Hurricanes--162M, 85M, -9.4M
27. NY Islanders--155M, 66M, -16M
28. Columbus Blue Jackets--145M, 85M, -18.7M
29. Phoenix Coyotes--134M, 83M, -20.6M
30. St. Louis Blues--130M, 89M, -10M