Ed Willes of The Province talks about what he thinks is greed in the NHL. Come on, Ed, you don’t really mean that, do you?

Now, they don’t even try to hide it. They just rely on the paying customers’ unreasoned ability to absorb the bloated costs of their game.

Do we exaggerate? You tell me. In 1994-95, according to Team Marketing Report, the NHL’s average ticket price was $33.49. In ’98-99 it was $42.78. Two years later it was $47.70, which was about the point Team Marketing stopped including premium seating in its numbers.

Well, when you put it that way…

Then along came Mark Spector of the National Post, who dug up a confidential NHL memo last season which contained more eye-popping data. Among other things, the memo reported average ticket prices had risen by 5.9 per cent from ’05-06 to ’06-07 around the league and 26 of 30 clubs raised ticket prices last season.

The document also revealed the league’s average ticket price was a whopping $52.31 US.

Hey, wait. What?

Want more? The Edmonton Oilers raised their tickets an astonishing 21.4 per cent last season after their 2006 Stanley Cup run. The six Canadian teams also raised their ticket prices by an average of 8.7 per cent last season which, when coupled with the pumped-up Canadian dollar, explains why all six teams were in the league’s top-12 revenue producers.

HOLY!!!!!! OK, OK, breathe, TL, breathe. At least there aren’t any poor intentions with these jerseys, right? I mean, the NHL is pure of heart an soul with the new duds, right? Right?

The Ottawa Senators unveiled new jerseys with a new logo this summer and the replica models are going for $130 Cdn, while the “pro-authentic” number goes for $300. The Canucks jerseys, for their part, are $97.51 and $474.59.

I think I just threw up in my own mouth. Read the rest of the article. It’s worth it.

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