I don't like the "new" NHL

AcidQueen · Post by **AcidQueen** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:47 pm

Otis wrote: 12K on a weekday night for Ottawa is pretty damn good for us--not great, but still pretty damn good considering in years past that would have drawn maybe 8K. It's progress.

For a league that is gate driven, unfortunately, "pretty damn good" doesn't exactly inspire confidence that it's ever going to get better.[/quote]

I note that you conveniently ignore my comment that 12K up from 8K is progress.

The difference is that there weren't 30 teams back then playing in a watered down environment.

No, there were just 12 teams back then playing in what was considered a "watered down" environment.

The talent pool will deepen again. It happened when MLB expanded, it happened when the NBA expanded, it's happening with the NFL and it's also happening with the NHL. Open your eyes and remove your contraction-colored glasses, and you might actually see this.

St. Louis could once again be a profitable franchise if it had stable ownership and the same deals that other teams in that market get from the state and local government.

And when they first came into the League, people right and left were questioning the wisdom of a team in Missouri. The place is not exactly a hockey hotbed, last time I checked. So why do they get a free pass? Why were they afforded the luxury of time to build their fanbase, when teams like Carolina are not?

I call double-standard, and nothing that you or anyone else can say will budge me from that.

AcidQueen wrote:
December's not looking to be much better either considering that your home dates include Chicago, Columbus, Devils, Tampa (they might sell out), Florida, Philly and Montreal.
Why don't we burn that bridge as we cross it, Nostradamus.

Sure thing but don't say I didn't tell you so when those numbers mirror the attendance records you've had so far this season.

We'll see.

What's wrong with there being a fight or three at every other game?

The same thing that's wrong with there being a wreck or three at every other Neckcar race. It gets old and plays to the lowest common denominator--to me "hockey" fans that get pissed off when there isn't a fight every game are like Neckcar fans that get pissed off when there isn't a wreck. They're watching the wrong damn sport.

It's an important aspect of the game and the physicality involved with playing the game is an instrumental part of hockey.

You can have physicality without a fight every five minutes. I mean, I like a good scrap--but come the fuck on, dude. If I wanted to see nothing but fighting, I'd watch UFC.

Do I want to see lots of hitting? WELL OF COURSE I DO. I also don't want to see three guys hanging off of Eric Staal as he's hauling ass down the ice. Give it time, chief--the hitting will return once the players figure out that they can be physical without the clutching and grabbing and all that garbage.

But hey, what do I know, I'm apparently just an ign'ant redneck who doesn't know shit about hockey.

al? · Post by **al?** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:24 am

AcidQueen wrote:
12K on a weekday night for Ottawa is pretty damn good for us

Which is exactly why that franchise should be moved as far away as possible from you slack jawed yokels.

Do you even hear yourself sometimes?!?!?!?

AcidQueen · Post by **AcidQueen** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:54 pm

Excuse me, bandwagoner? Otis and I were trying to have an intelligent discussion here.

Otis, I'm waiting.

al? · Post by **al?** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 3:59 am

Keep tryin'.

Allow me to pick up where Otis left off, and second the nomination to fold all franchises mentioned, (except Dallas, which has a strong fan base and is a class organization, even if their only championship has an asterisk beside it)

Saying an organization is doing better because they are up to 12000 fans from 8000 fans is like saying a solid log is better than diahrreah.....they're both shit.

AcidQueen · Post by **AcidQueen** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:18 am

fix · Post by **fix** » Sat May 26, 2007 9:58 pm

JD wrote:
Otis wrote:the league will continue to flounder
Link?

Sure,

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=208743&hubname=nhl

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CP-AP) - The years of mounting losses and indifference from the local corporate community convinced owner Craig Leipold that he could never make his Predators profitable in Nashville.

Maybe Canadian entrepreneur Jim Balsillie - who has entered into a letter of agreement to buy the NHL team for US$220 million, Leipold confirmed Thursday - will have better luck. Or maybe it's the first step in the team's departure from the Music City.

Either way, Leipold is done after losing of $70 million during the team's nine seasons. He made the deal with Balsillie, who outbid the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is seeking a team for Kansas City.

''I have come to the conclusion that I cannot make it work here,'' said Leipold, who became emotional and had to pause at one point. ''We are one of the elite teams in this league and we are by far the lowest revenue team in the league.''

But but but.. Bettman's plan to expand into hockey markets where nobody gives a shit about it and ensure it would succeed with a salary cap was supposed to make every team profitable...

:lol:

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Wed May 30, 2007 3:57 pm

From one our local writers:

NHL Deserves To Skate On Thin Ice

Wisconsin State Journal

Sunday, May 27, 2007
Andy Baggot

The most uncomfortable feeling in sports right now?

Unless you're Michael Vick at the Westminster Dog Show, Barry Bonds under oath or Floyd Landis at a LeMond family reunion, that distinction belongs to those who call themselves NHL fans.

These are fork-on-a-chalkboard times for the highest level of hockey, which is about to stage its signature event: The Stanley Cup finals, which begin Monday night when Ottawa hosts Anaheim in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.
Don't believe me? Let's review some of the NHL headlines of the past couple of weeks

* NBC, the network that's supposed to give the league its greatest exposure, intentionally blows off overtime of the deciding game between Ottawa and Buffalo for pre-race coverage of the Preakness. The outcry barely registers on the U.S. sports scene.

* "Hockeytown USA" - aka Detroit - fails repeatedly to sell out Joe Louis Arena for its Red Wings en route to their ouster in the Western Conference finals.

* A decade after bankrolling an NHL expansion team in Nashville, Tenn., Racine resident Craig Leipold says he's sick of losing money - the Predators lost $60 million over the past five years - and that he intends to sell the club to Jim Balsillie, a Canadian businessman.

* Some of the most prominent newspapers in U.S. NHL markets - Washington Post, New York Post, Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - decline to send reporters to cover the final leg of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The reason? Lack of reader interest and/or resources.

* The most high-profile moment for the NHL comes well outside its jurisdiction. The fabled Stanley Cup is featured on the ABC series "Boston Legal." The storyline is more entertaining than any between-periods discussion involving Bill Clement: Borderline nutso lawyer Denny Crane, played by William Shatner, wants his name engraved on the Cup because he says he loaned his lucky jock to Bruins legend Bobby Orr before the Hall of Fame defenseman scored the Cup-clinching goal in 1970.

At least NHL fans around here have a couple of reasons to watch the Cup finals.

Anaheim is a force because former University of Wisconsin goaltender Dave McNab is an astute judge of talent. As assistant general manager for the Ducks, he's the main reason former undrafted college talents such as Chris Kunitz (Western Michigan), Andy McDonald (Colgate), Dustin Penner (Maine) and Ryan Shannon (Boston College) have been in position to help.

Ottawa, meanwhile, features former UW standout Dany Heatley and Patrick Eaves, the son of UW men's hockey coach Mike Eaves. Heatley, one of the top scorers in the NHL playoffs, is looking to become the 11th former Badgers player to skate for a Cup winner.

It's no great secret why the NHL has seemingly been overtaken by everything but spelling bees and eating contests in the TV ratings.

That idiotic labor dispute, which resulted in the unprecedented cancellation of the 2004-05 season, is having exactly the effect that many feared.

In exchange for a salary cap, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman lost a large chunk of a loyal ticket-buying audience. He also made a colossal mistake by failing to keep his league's TV wagon hitched to the star of ESPN. Not only did the network actually care about hockey, its promotional resources are greater than ever.

But Bettman wanted more money, so he traded cash for obscurity and ridicule. The folly of that decision was driven home when NBC cut away from a dramatic playoff moment for a horse race. It will continue when Versus - good luck finding that network on your cable lineup - kicks off Stanley Cup coverage Monday night.

Loyal followers of the NHL deserve better.

But the post-lockout league is getting exactly what it deserves.

al? · Post by **al?** » Thu May 31, 2007 12:26 am

Spot on.

Bettman should be presenting his last Stanley Cup in a week......for the NBC disaster alone. The NHL will be around forever, just not in the U.S.A.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Thu May 31, 2007 12:47 am

For one thing, Chris Kunitz played for Ferris State...dude needs to check his resources.

Second, I think the favorite past time of hockey fans today is to complain about the game rather than just sit back and enjoy what you have. The game hit a plateau in 1994 but has limped along after a lockout that shortened the 1995 season and the lengthy strike we had a couple years ago. There really isn't much that can be done to make this a powerhouse league.

al? · Post by **al?** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:41 am

Shoalzie wrote: There really isn't much that can be done to make this a powerhouse league.

[rhetorical question]What is a powerhouse league?[/rhetorical question]

Hockey is a cold, hard, crisp game. Those that understand it, know it's one of the best sports in the world.

We have a few new people at my work.....lets call them Romanians. Anyways, some of the Romanians cannot grasp the concept of a legal fight during the course of a game. It's like hip-hop, it's like Johnny Cash........it's like Jim Rome. You either get it or you don't.

In 3-5 years, when the league has shrunk back to 20-24 teams and these ridiculous penalties are gone and we're seeing the best hockey ever (Crosby, Ovechkin, Spezza, Phaneuf, Getzlaf, Malkin, any Staal, Kronwall, the list goes on....) hockey will experience a revival. Hopefully the commish at that time realizes the folly of trying to play ice hockey in June.

SunCoastSooner · Post by **SunCoastSooner** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:19 pm

Hockey has become utterly unwatchable for the casual fan. I'll check the box score for the Penns but since I can't even watch them and what little hockey I do get to see is more boring than watching women's soccer I just don't bother.

Hockey is good for about 3 minutes of my time on ESPN.com anymore.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:08 pm

Shoalzie wrote:For one thing, Chris Kunitz played for Ferris State...dude needs to check his resources.

Second, I think the favorite past time of hockey fans today is to complain about the game rather than just sit back and enjoy what you have. The game hit a plateau in 1994 but has limped along after a lockout that shortened the 1995 season and the lengthy strike we had a couple years ago. There really isn't much that can be done to make this a powerhouse league.

They would still be much farther ahead if they were on ESPN.

SoCalTrjn · Post by **SoCalTrjn** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:36 pm

The league hit its plateau in about 1991, not 95. When it expanded from 21 teams it started going down hill, it just took a while for the expansion fees to wear off and for people to notice

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:23 pm

Goober McTuber wrote:
Shoalzie wrote:For one thing, Chris Kunitz played for Ferris State...dude needs to check his resources.

Second, I think the favorite past time of hockey fans today is to complain about the game rather than just sit back and enjoy what you have. The game hit a plateau in 1994 but has limped along after a lockout that shortened the 1995 season and the lengthy strike we had a couple years ago. There really isn't much that can be done to make this a powerhouse league.
They would still be much farther ahead if they were on ESPN.

i'll agree with goobs. i don't care how good the presentation on vs is, if the market is 1/3 of what hte league could get on the WWL, it's a failure.

Chris Kunitz (Western Michigan)

i fucking wish. and how fucking hard is it to find out where someone played college hockey? jesus christ. just type "chris kunitz" in google and there's your fucking answer.

and I'M the one working for peanuts.

bwhahaha, bettman was quoted in the chicago tribune thursday saying that the blackhawks are due for a turnaround and still one of the league's proudest franchises. talk about a nail in the fucking coffin. i'd rather have a fucking loser like bettman say the hawks are ruined and will never recover. would make me feel a lot better.

See You Next Wednesday · Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:01 pm

It's fun to reminisce.

viewtopic.php?t=7923&highlight=

See You Next Wednesday · Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:25 pm

And so it goes...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2 ... id=2894490

NEW YORK -- The Stanley Cup finals have brought record low ratings to NBC for a prime-time program, sports or otherwise.

Ottawa's 5-3 victory over Anaheim in Game 3 Saturday night received a 1.1 national rating and a 2 share, the network said Tuesday. That matched a rerun of "The West Wing" on July 23, 2005, which also drew a 1.1 rating.

Saturday's rating was down 31 percent from last year's Game 3 between Edmonton and Carolina, which had a 1.6/3.

The national ratings for Monday night's Game 4 declined less sharply from last year. The Ducks' 3-2 victory received a 1.9/3, down 5 percent from the 2.0/3 for Game 4 in 2006.

The rating is the percentage watching a telecast among all homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned in to a broadcast among those households with televisions on at the time. A ratings point represents 1,114,000 households.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:20 pm

Do they even advertise it? I don't watch NBC much...do they even show ads for the games on times other than when the game is actually on? No one will watch when they don't know when these games are on. The NHL needs a complete retooling of its marketing and promotions department if they want to expand beyond the core fan.