CapGeek

CapGeek was the name of a Canadian hockey website, specializing on the business aspect of the NHL. The site featured explanations of the salary cap, the status of a players' contract, statistics, etc. Called revolutionary by hockey experts, CapGeek was launched in 2009 by Metro Halifax sports journalist Matthew Wuest. The site garnered commercial and critical success, becoming a top source for information on players' salaries and landed Wuest on The Hockey News' list of Top 100 Most Influential People in Hockey.[1][2]

CapGeek
Type of businessPrivate
Available inEnglish
Founded2009
DissolvedJanuary 3, 2015 (2015-01-03)
Founder(s)Matthew Wuest
Current statusDefunct

CapGeek was disbanded on January 3, 2015, due to the owner's terminal illness and his unwillingness to turn the site over to another operator.[3] Despite being un–accessible for the prior few months, CapGeek still received an estimated 10,360 hits in May, 2015.[4]

History

CapGeek.com was founded in 2009 by Mathew Wuest, a Canadian sports reporter and internet entrepreneur. Wuest worked for Metro Halifax, covering a range of sports for their paper and website, but specialized in ice hockey. On the side, Wuest ran a site that updated the progress of Detroit Red Wings prospects, which was called RedWingsCentral.com.[5][6] Originally called SalaryCapCalculator.com, Wuest was persuaded by his wife to change the name to CapGeek, as it was more marketable.[7] Wuest slowly built his site until it suddenly "exploded" in popularity, to the point that NHL teams themselves were using it as a reliable source.[7] The site ran until January, 2015, when Wuest shocked the hockey community in closing the site. Upon entering the website, a statement was displayed, which included "This sudden decision is made with a heavy heart and is due to the personal health of CapGeek.com founder and director Matthew Wuest".[8] By its closure, CapGeek had become so well known within the hockey world that the NHL itself reported the closure of the site with a featured article on their main webpage. Despite Wuest stating that he had no intentions of selling, offers were made, as high as "six figures" in some cases. Wuest declined all purchase inquires.[3][8] Wuest died in the early hours of March 19, 2015, at the age of 35, due to colon cancer.[9] Many websites and reporters paid their respects, with TSN, The Hockey News, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The National Post, Sportsnet and Wuest's former employers Metro International being the notable publications. These authors and more wrote articles covering the life and career of Wuest, with some offering homepage coverage. On May 15, 2015, the Red Wings organization announced that they would be renaming the championship trophy of their NHL prospect tournament to the Matthew Wuest Memorial Cup.[10]

Similar sites

Many ice hockey sites have since emerged with the intention of imitating CapGeek's business approach to the NHL. Examples include CapFriendly, HockeysCap.com, PuckPedia, NHLnumbers.com, GeneralFanager.com, and HockeyBuzz.com.

On May 13, 2015, HockeysCap.com was launched by Jamie, Ryan, and Chris Davis, as a tool for fans to view salary cap compliance information. The site was launched with a tool called "Armchair-GM" which allows fans to create custom rosters by trading, signing, and creating players, to determine the salary cap compliance of such team. The Davis brothers state they have the utmost respect for late CapGeek found Matthew Wuest, and that the HockeysCap.com was inspired by CapGeek.[11]

On February 3, 2016, it was announced that CapFriendly.com and HockeysCap.com would be merged into a single website.[12] The merged site incorporated aspects of both websites, including the "Armchair-GM" tool. The new site has retained the CapFriendly name and URL.

In early May, 2015, GeneralFanager.com was launched by Toronto Maple Leafs' fan Tom Poraszka, as a tool for fans to view salary and draft information. Poraszka was inspired by CapGeek and states that he "has a lot of respect for [Wuest]". Most of GeneralFanager's statistics were initially taken from CapGeek's archive;[13] Poraszka has since developed insider connections to maintain up-to-date details for the latest contracts.[14] On October 17, 2016, General Fanager was closed, as the founder, Tom Poraszka, was hired by the Vegas Golden Knights.

In June 2018, PuckPedia.com launched, as the Ultimate Source for Hockey Fans & Professionals. It has Team Salary Cap info, Player Contracts, Basic & Advanced Stats, injury news, transaction & draft history, news feeds, and more.  In addition, PuckPedia has the following exclusive features: Agent Leader-Board and Agent Pages showing contracts by Agent, Player Dashboard showing player lists filtered and sorted based on various criteria including free agent lists and scoring leaders, and myPuckPedia GM Mode, giving users their own personal Salary Cap Site; a sandbox environment to make transactions & trades, and see how they impact any or all NHL teams. In May 2019, NHLNumbers.com, one of the first salary cap sites, was permanently redirected to PuckPedia.[15]

References
  1. "CapGeek founder Matthew Wuest made unforgettable impact on hockey". The Globe and Mail. March 20, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  2. "One-on-One With CapGeek.com Founder Matthew Wuest". The Hockey Writers. March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  3. "CapGeek.com ceases operations due to owner's health crisis". Yahoo Sports. January 3, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  4. "CapGeek.com Website and Traffic Information". Traffic Estimate. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  5. "Remembering Matthew Wuest: humble and passionate". The Hockey News. March 20, 2015. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  6. "Matthew Wuest: The man behind CapGeek.com". HockeyJournal.com. December 26, 2010. Archived from the original on May 28, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  7. "Matthew Wuest remembered as a hockey pioneer". Sportsnet. March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  8. "CapGeek.com ceases operations due to founder's health". The Sports Network. January 3, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  9. "Matthew Wuest, Cap Geek founder, dies of cancer". CBC Sports. March 20, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  10. "Red Wings pay tribute to late CapGeek founder with prospect tournament trophy name". The Hockey News. May 15, 2015. Archived from the original on May 17, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  11. "Hockey's Band of Brothers: Tracking the NHL, one salary at a time". Ottawa Citizen. June 23, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  12. "CapFriendly Twitter.com post". February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  13. "Q&A with new NHL salary site General Fanager". Sportsnet. May 27, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  14. "Meet Tom Poraszka, founder of General Fanager and hockey's unanticipated insider". Toronto Sun. Sun Media. February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  15. HQ, Nation World (May 24, 2019). "The Nation Network partners with PuckPedia.com". OILERSNATION. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
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