Edmonton is one of the smallest market sizes of the 32 NHL teams, but the Oilers still have one of the most loyal, passionate and biggest fan bases in the league. (Think the Green Bay Packers in the NFL.) They have an illustrious history which included two of the best ever players, in Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid.
Since joining the NHL for the 1979-80 season, the Oilers are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the most Stanley Cup wins at five, while also standing alone at the top with eight trips to the Final. Throw in one of -- if not the best - arenas in North America, and they are undoubtedly one of the most prestigious franchises in the NHL today.
With this in mind, it would stand to reason if the Oilers are also one of the NHL's most valuable franchises. Well, now we have some measure of clarity, at least according to a report from Sportico, which looks at the business of sports.
Oilers proudly ranked near the top
Put together by Kurt Badenhausen, you will need a subscription to read the article, so we'll limit our information to the basics. The most important thing for Oilers fans to know though, is that their team ranks seventh in the entire NHL with a franchise value of $2.4 billion USD, which converts to around $3.38 billion CAD.
In addition, the Oilers hold pride of place as the franchise which saw the largest increase in value from last year to this, at 51 percent. All of the aspects we mentioned in the opening two paragraphs of this article, allude to why the team is ranked so highly in the NHL; something which Edmonton should be extremely proud of.
For some more context, the Oilers are also above the average NHL franchise value of $1.79 billion USD, which works out to roughly $2.49 billion. They also rank third-best among Canadian-based franchises specifically, with it no surprise to find the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens ahead of them.
No shock which NHL franchise is most valuable
On the subject of the Leafs specifically, they were -- as expected -- ranked as the NHL's most valuable franchise and it wasn't even particularly close at $3.66 billion USD, which converts to around $5.09 billion CAD. The other five NHL franchises ahead of the Oilers consist of every Original Six team minus the Detroit Red Wings, as well as the Los Angeles Kings at number five.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Columbus Blue Jackets are the NHL's least valuable franchise at $1.06 billion USD, which calculates to about $1.47 billion CAD. And finally, the Winnipeg Jets are the least valuable Canadian franchise at $1.1 billion USD, which converts to around $1.53 billion CAD.
Overall, owner Daryl Katz has worked wonders since taking over the Oilers franchise in 2008, with him building a new arena and by extension, revitalising the team and the downtown area of Edmonton. Now, if they can just finally win another Stanley Cup, it really would make Edmonton the place to be and in turn help the value of the franchise continue to skyrocket.