2014 Sochi Olympics - Why Canada will Rule (Again) in Hockey

February 6, 2014

A friend of mine from grad school recently got me connected with a buddy of his who writes for the Wall Street Journal. I just wrote my first article for their regular feature The Count. I look at how much NHL Olympians are paid and how this can help us predict who will win gold in Sochi. Check it out here.

Here's a snippet:

A huge chunk of that money is being paid to the 50 players on the two North American teams. The Canadian team, led by Sidney Crosby, makes a combined $157 million in the NHL, up from $126 million in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when host Canada won the gold. The NHLers on the U.S. team earn $127 million, up from $83 million in 2010. At the other end of the spectrum is Norway, which features just one NHL player: Mats Zuccarello, who makes $1.15 million this season for the New York Rangers.