Joseph Woll will finally make his season debut when the Toronto Maple Leafs host the St. Louis Blues, Fraser Minten takes the morning skate and Max Pacioretty remains out with a lower-body injury. The Toronto Maple Leafs remain the most valuable franchise in the NHL. However, according to Sportico's most recent NHL valuation ranking [https://www.sportico.com/valuations/teams/2024/nhl-team-values-hockey-maple-leafs-billion-1234803140/]s, the club is now worth over $1 billion more than it was last year. According to their latest NHL valuation rankings, Sportico pegs the Leafs' franchise value to be $3.66 billion US. That's a steep increase over the $2.65 billion US it was worth in their rankings a year ago. There are several factors in the huge increase. The most notable surrounding Toronto was Rogers Communications purchasing an additional 37.5 percent in the Leafs' parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment from Bell for $4.7 billion in Canadian funds. The sale of the company that includes the Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Scotiabank Arena, Toronto FC and others in its portfolio is not expected to close until mid-2025. Before that purchaser, MLSE minority owner Larry Tanenbaum would a five percent ownership skate to pension firm OMERS or $400 million US,. The NHL's recent sales of the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning in addition to the relocation and purchase of the Arizona Coyotes by Ryan Smith to Utah has helped the NHL's overall valuations on average to $1.79 billion US, an increase of 37 percent. Although NHL valuations are increasing, they are still a far cry from the NBA and NFL, which have an average franchise valuation of $4 billion US and $5.93 billion US, respectively. Do you agree with Sportico's rankings? Let us know on the forum?
