2008/2009 Hockey Thread v2.0

[Guest Mr. Pumpkin Head]

Especially since Kitchener's been talking about building a new arena for the OHL team anyhow. Might as well make it NHL-ready.

[Plubby]

I think Kansas would be a better choice than any of the Canadian cities mentioned so far except a second Toronto team.

Edited October 24, 2008 by The High Britches Kid

[Guest Mr. Pumpkin Head]

And they could get 80s prog-pop band Toto to play at their opener!

Then they could declare bankruptcy before the puck drops and get moved to Winnipeg!

Then they'd say "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

[Clawson]

We tried Kansas, it failed.

Then again Colorado failed too but we're there now and it's successful. But still, we need 2 more Canadian teams especially ones with jerseys as sexy as the old Jets and Nordiques ones.

[NobBe Nobbs]

And they could get 80s prog-pop band Toto to play at their opener!

Then they could declare bankruptcy before the puck drops and get moved to Winnipeg!

Then they'd say "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Oh god.

That's just horrible.

Get out.

[Guest Grapehead]

There are plenty of markets that you couldn't judge fairly without testing them with a team in my opinion. Like has been mentioned though Winnipeg didn't fail for lack of fan support, things would work better for them now.

I pray Halifax gets a team eventually, I know I would buy season tickets and I live in Charlottetown, PE, a 4-5 hour drive.

[RoyWill Rumble]

The maritimes is a logistics nightmare, at least in my opinion because it's quite the trip even on a plane to Halifax. However, I will admit they'd probably have the best chances of getting an NHL team.

Kitchener? 450,000 is not going to sell it. If it was further away from Toronto, maybe. All those surrounding areas are close to Toronto too, so you've got a divide.

Honestly, I think if hockey's going to work in Canada it needs to be in a city that doesn't have any other teams in close proximity. Regina could work because of this, but I just do not think they'd be able to get solid attendance all the time. Winnipeg's already had its chance, along with Quebec City. Plus, people comissioning to 'BRING BACK THE JETS' has just got annoying. That's nothing to do with the argument, but holy fuck.

And like Be said, different sports teams in Toronto. I'm not sure of the Jays attendance now, but I'm sure it's fine. However, a few years ago you couldn't get people to go to games for two bucks. Torontonians will no doubt gravitate to new things, but if this new team doesn't win, people aren't going to care. And if a team has to be relegated to closing up shop and moving somewhere else, it was probably a sub-.500 team to begin with.

It's just not going to happen in my mind if a place can't provide the NHL with a guarantee that it will be able to bring in fans all the time, and barring Regina, possibly Halifax, or Winnipeg I don't think it's gonna happen in Canada. I can never see Winnipeg happening again, either.

And like I said, if the NHL is going to expand anywhere it's going to be Europe. Bettman's already shown a lot of interest there. Plus, they've already got arenas built like the O2 Center, etc.

[Guest Mr. Pumpkin Head]

The 450,000 in Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambrige etc. are not enough, no, but when you factor in the 450,000 in London who would be closer to this team than the Leafs, many of the 4 million in Toronto who would take the cheaper tickets, the million or so in Hamilton some of whom would make the drive...southern Ontario can easily handle a second team. It doesn't have to be in Kitchener, it was just my suggestion because it's out of the indemnification zones.

New York can support two teams in nearly every sport, Chicago has two baseball teams...I don't get why you think somebody won't go to a game of the new team because they happen to already be a Leafs fan.

If the NHL decided to say "screw politics, we're putting a team where it'll make us the most money", it would be in southern Ontario. Period. End of discussion.

And again, WINNIPEG AND QUEBEC DIDN'T FAIL BECAUSE OF LOW ATTENDANCE.

[Cactus Drags]

I hope to god Bettman doesn't get his way with international expansion. I don't know why, but I was opposed to the idea when top flight European football teams were considering a Superleague. And how are you going to combat stuff like jet-lag when teams are playing virtually every other night? Have an international cup a la the Champions League by all means, play the occasional game in foreign countries, that's not so bad, but an entire franchise existing outside of the continent? Ugh.

[Guest Mr. Pumpkin Head]

I think that the idea was for the European division to play mostly against itself, with one or two other divisions coming across each year and playing every team, and all the European teams to spend a month or so in North America. So that would temper things a little bit.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Not questioning the viability of a team in Quebec (no corporate sponsorship), but they did just build a massive sports complex which included if I'm not mistaken an 18,500 seat arena.

[The Sultan of Swank]

I'm somewhat surprised not to see 25 posts about Schenn fighting and the Leafs winning...

Montreal was bound to lose a game in regulation it's not like we were going to go 81-0-1 and it came on a night where it wasn't our team that played poorly, but Halak let in 4 goals on 12 shots, and at the other end, Giguere made 47 saves on 51 shots. Their goalie stood on his head and last night J.S. was waaaaay better than Halak, and played stronger than a flu stricken Price, c'est la vie. I thought the team still showed positive signs, lots of shots, holding their shots down and not showing ANY quit. It was a fun game to watch despite the loss...

Now if they lose again on Monday, Oh.... oh am I going to be angry.

[Gabriel]

I'm somewhat surprised not to see 25 posts about Schenn fighting and the Leafs winning...

Let's address this...

first, thumbs up to Luke Schenn, coming to the aid of a teammate and fighting a guy with a reputation for holding his own with fisticuffs. The fight set the pace of the game for the Leafs, who aside from a few short lapses, completely owned the game.

Thumbs down to Chris Neil, who did exactly what Don Cherry ragged on Sean Avery for during the first intermission. Neil fought the much smaller Schenn... but later in the game, after trying to run two players, he was challenged by Jamal Mayers (a guy who is the same size, if not slightly larger than Neil), and he wants absolutely nothing to do with it.

Ottawa is falling apart. It's not just in net, it's the whole team. Dumping Ray Emery was a good step forward, but it was only step one... they really need to figure out what it is exactly that's disrupting what should be a very competitive team, and address the issues. They need to do it now, while we're early enough into the season that if major changes need to be made, they can smooth out in the coming month or two before the playoff stretch and the Senators find themselves fighting for 8th in the East.

Also... Calgary... fuck yeah. I had faith we'd bounce back, and this is three wins in a row. Nothing overly elaborate, but three in a row is awesome after the start we had. Bertuzzi is one goal off of an 82-goal pace for the season, and Kipper looks more confident in net.

Where is Kyle Wellwood, and when was he replaced by this Pod Person? Jesus Christ, if he had that kind of heart in Toronto, he'd be playing on the top line for Ron Wilson this season, instead of bouncing around waivers. Between him and Jason Krog (who also had a tremendous game last night), it's going to be a tough decision for Vigneault and Gillis when it comes time to work the regulars back into the lineup and scratch/demote others.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Gabe, you do bring up a very good point about Neil. Also, just want to say that I don't actually mind the comments about schenn and the Leafs, it's just that there seems to be a surplus of people who like the Leafs so oftentimes such as when Schenn was drafted, you get the same comment, about 11 times.

But it's good to see that Ottawa is failing and that Toronto, who has zero expectations is doing what they always do when there's no pressure... play hockey.

[NobBe Nobbs]

I'm somewhat surprised not to see 25 posts about Schenn fighting and the Leafs winning...

That would be because the Toronto fans here are not pathetic homers like you are.

[Guest Mr. Pumpkin Head]

MPH writes about 2010 for his school paper:

Steve Yzerman was recently named Executive Director of Canada's hockey team for the 2010 Olympics, igniting other debates about Team Canada – who should be the coach? Who should be the starting goalie? Who else should make the team, and who shouldn't? Does anybody realize that after this NHL season ends, the Olympics will only be a few months away?

Along those lines, Yzerman has already made one very good decision – Canada's roster will be announced this summer, giving the team a chance to gel as a unit over a longer period of time than the 24 hours they've had other years (when the team was unveiled after the start of the NHL season). Additionally, announcing the team in the summer means that the committee is more likely to pick players who have consistently done very well, as opposed to players having a good season. Any player can score 40 goals one year and then be utterly hopeless in a different uniform (right, Jason Blake?).

Yzerman's next job is to find a coach – and really, there's only one man he should be considering. Mike Babcock has proven that he is capable of taking nearly any team to the Stanley Cup, able to manage egos of star players, and willing to deal with a hockey-crazy media following. Other names will pop up as possibilities – Lindy Ruff, Bruce Boudreau, Brent Sutter – and Babcock would be wise to hire some of them as assistants, but he is the right man for the top job.

As far as players go, there will be quite a few returnees from 2006 – Brodeur and Luongo in net, Bouwmeester and Pronger on defence, forwards such as Thornton, Lecavalier, Iginla and Heatley – but one might suspect the emergence of a new core of Canadian stars, including Mike Richards, Ryan Getzlaf, Dion Phaneuf, Brent Burns, and one or more of the Staal brothers, as the people who will carry the Hockey Canada banner through the next decade.

One thing is for sure, Canadians will be expecting a gold medal on home soil. This is going to cause every other country to take their own game to the next level, looking to spoil Canada's chances. Whoever Steve Yzerman names as coach, and whichever players end up on the team, they're going to have a lot of work ahead of them before they can claim that ultimate prize.

[RoyWill Rumble]

I'm done with it for now, but I never said that Winnipeg or Quebec failed because of low attendance. I just said they failed. O__o

I think that leaves a really bad taste in the mouths of the NHL, especially when Phoenix and Colorado are doing so well for themselves. That's why I don't think that teams can work again in Winnipeg.

[Guest Mr. Pumpkin Head]

If the NHL cared whether a team failed in the past, why did Colorado and Atlanta get second chances? The Jets and Nordiques failed, but the NHL's since corrected the reason why they failed so that it can't happen again (disparity).

[Gabriel]

I'm done with it for now, but I never said that Winnipeg or Quebec failed because of low attendance. I just said they failed. O__o

I think that leaves a really bad taste in the mouths of the NHL, especially when Phoenix and Colorado are doing so well for themselves. That's why I don't think that teams can work again in Winnipeg.

Wasn't Phoenix one of the 4-8 teams mentioned as being in trouble? Of course, I mean on the business end of things. On ice, they're heading towards some very good years in the future.

[The Sultan of Swank]

....I have to agree with what MPH brings up, places like Atlanta and Colorado both got second chances, so why should it be out of the question for Canadian cities, assuming they can correct what was wrong before.

EDIT: Whoops, meant MPH not Sousa.

Edited October 26, 2008 by The Sultan of Swank