Commentary: Investing in this class of unrestricted free agents is a reach!

According to NHL attendance figures displayed on ESPN.com, there are 11 teams in the National Hockey League who sorely need a boost at the ticket window.

Those are the teams who are drew less than 90 percent capacity in their home arenas during this past season. As we embark on the free agency madness at Noon today, it seems that few unrestricted free agents will even remotely impact ticket sales in those 11 cities. There are a few notable exceptions to that rule. So, the question that begs a qualified answer is what players can make the desired impact at the ticket window for the following teams:  Anaheim, Atlanta, Carolina, Colorado, Columbus, Florida, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Phoenix or Tampa Bay?

I heard a report this morning that said the NBA's Knicks and Nets have sold more than a thousand new season tickets with the expectation that those teams will make a big free agent acquisition. Of course, the NBA is in a rare position this year where several of its top stars can seek new addresses. In the NHL, the ultimate team game with typically 18 active participants on the ice each game, star power doesn't necessarily equate to wins or spikes in attendance. And, from a business perspective, that makes offering long-term contracts at garish annual salaries a huge gamble for NHL teams that draw less than 16,000 fans per game.

The prized free-agent forward available is former Thrasher winger Ilya Kovalchuk. He was traded to the Devils Feb. 3 and made his first appearance in New Jersey's lineup Feb. 5 at Prudential Center vs. Toronto in front of 15,204 fans. But during the next two months spanning a total of 13 home games, the Devils sold out nine times and averaged 16,959 in attendance during New Jersey's late season dash to first place in the Atlantic Division.

The Devils average attendance was 1,739 fans greater with Kovalchuk in the lineup than in the 27 other home contests (the Feb. 10 game vs. Philly attracted only 5,580 fans due to a winter storm and was not included in the tally). Of course, historically, home games in Feb. through April should be in greater demand when any team is fighting for a playoff spot or a division title. Those post-trade figures benefited from the Devils having two home games against Pittsburgh and the Rangers, and one versus contenders Boston, Chicago and Buffalo.

Whether a player like Kovalchuk benefits gate receipts for an entire season is another matter. In Atlanta, attendance steadily declined during the past four seasons even with the Russian sniper in the lineup, and missing the playoffs in nine of 10 seasons certainly has had a bigger impact on ticket purchases than anything Kovalchuk could help the franchise overcome. Yet, it will be interesting to see whether ticket sales at Philips Arena will increase with new GM Rick Dudley's off-season acquisitions.

After the trade deadline, Kovalchuk did make a positive impact on ticket sales for the Devils, but in my opinion there is no one free agent who will make a similar impact. Evgeni Nabokov has been a great regular season goaltender during his career, but perhaps only in Tampa Bay or Atlanta could he make an impact at the gate. There will be plenty of free agents that will help their new teams make an impact in the standings and thus in resulting ticket sales as the 2010-11 season progresses, but this free agent class clearly doesn't have the same cache as some in the past. And, if one of the 11 NHL teams at the bottom of last year's attendance figures truly wishes to increase its ticket revenues, making a huge investment in a free agent from this year's pool is longer than Zdeno Chara's reach.

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