The Official NHL Thread

[what waz zat]

All they have to do is ENFORCE the obstruction calls and the game will flow. Eliminating teh red line might help but then teams with no skaters will just set up a "trap" around their own blue line

[ALinChainz]

I'll be back.

I am a diehard Red Wing fan.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by guwapo_rocker
Thank You,

Guess that would be 2 years ago now though huh?

Sorry, I missed that (three hours sleep last night): Tom GOLISANO is the Rochester Billionaire and philanthropist owner of PAYCHEX. He bought the SABRES after the ADELPHIA debacle. The former owner, John REGAS, has just been sentenced to 15-years in prison for his defrauding of investors in the ADELPHIA Cable scandal.

http://www.puckupdate.com/archives/2003_09_21-2003_09_27.html

Sabres Feeling Better

Some nice news out of Buffalo. Tom Golisano, the new owner of the Sabres, is actually doing a pretty good job with the team so far.
According to the Buffalo News, suite and season ticket sales are both up from last season.
But Golisano isn't stopping there. He's also trying to expand the Sabres into a wider area. He's targetting Rochester, which neighbors Buffalo in upstate New York, and Southern Ontario.
Obviously, it's still early to tell, but Golisano seems to understand sports. He also seems to have a lot of common sense. Owners around the league could really learn a lot from Golisano. He's getting creative to keep a once-struggling team in a relatively small market, He's not complaining. He's not fielding an AHL-worthy team. He's just using his brain.
The whole thing is quite refreshing.
Posted by Steven Ovadia on Tuesday, September 23, 2003, 08:06 AM

[guwapo_rocker]

I'll have to get down to Buffalo for some games!!

It's impossible to get Leaf tickets here.

[Full Bug]

Originally posted by guwapo_rocker

It's impossible to get Leaf tickets here.

Not if you take out a loan from the bank or mortgage your house....

[Bob_R]

Hockey's back!

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by guwapo_rocker
I'll have to get down to Buffalo for some games!!

It's impossible to get Leaf tickets here.

The rumor here is that it might be difficult to get SABRES tickets this year. They're far more prepared than most teams for the season (the only team that had all of their players under contract during the lockout). They may even make a run.

[Nickdfresh]

Update:

A BRAND-NEW NHL

CBA may bring level playing field, big rules changes

By BUCKY GLEASON
News Sports Reporter
7/14/2005

Associated Press photo
NHL players have been inactive since Dave Andreychuk hoisted the Stanley Cup in June 2004.

No doubt, it was painful. The National Hockey League knew it would suffer irreparable damage long before declaring war with its players' association over a new collective bargaining agreement. The lockout definitely took its toll on the league, the players and frustrated fans caught in the middle.

Calculating the losses, if possible, could take years. Already, we can count a full season and more than $2 billion in potential revenue that vanished during the 2004-05 season. There's no telling how many people disappeared in the crossfire as billionaire owners and millionaire players bickered over the almighty dollar.

Losses, there were plenty, but think about what was gained.

For starters, hockey fans get their league back knowing that each team has a legitimate chance to win the Stanley Cup. It's a refreshing change from recent years in which the rich almost always outperformed the poor. Ultimately, the new CBA should create more balance, better games, more interest and long-term viability.

Commissioner Gary Bettman insisted there would be cost certainty once the smoke cleared, and he was right. The six-year agreement in principle reached Wednesday morning in New York will include the long-awaited and much-debated salary cap, plus a 24 percent rollback on existing salaries. Both should help bring the NHL back onto solid ground after many teams spent years on the brink of financial disaster.

Looking back, it's fitting that it took exactly 82 meetings for owners and players to get it right considering they had already wiped out 82 games for each team. Funny, too, how a lockout that lasted 301 days had the opposite result of the one 11 years ago that lasted 103 days. The difference this time was the owners won.

Perhaps things are back to being fair.

The salary cap was the biggest hurdle in this grand debate because for months owners and players were equally steadfast in their positions. Last season might have been saved had the players, battlers by nature, caved sooner and accepted the fact that a salary cap was unavoidable. Once last season was lost, so was their leverage.
Remember, the players' union dealt with virtually a different set of owners who had
purchased teams since 1994-95, the last time there was a lockout. The current owners had much more money and far more resolve to withstand a long work stoppage, which was why they received the deal they needed.

The players took a beating in negotiations, but many failed to realize certain concessions should eventually make them stronger as a whole. For example, a provision in the new deal prohibits one player from siphoning more than 20 percent of a team's payroll. It was designed to rid teams of payroll-swallowing, team-fracturing stars whose contracts threatened to drive the league out of business.

But there could be a positive side effect. With less money being spent on them, more should be available to other players. Basically, it should create more balanced payrolls across the league. General managers will think twice before spending $7 million on one player when paying two players $3.5 million each makes more sense. Certainly, players can feed their families on $3.5 million a year.

Are there loopholes? We'll see after owners, players and agents comb through the fine print in the 600-plus page document. Owners thought they had a solid deal after the last lockout, but the NHLPA quickly found ways to exploit its weaknesses. Average salaries soared from $572,000 in 1993-94 to $1.8 million in 2003-04, when player contracts and league revenue were mutually exclusive.

In the new and supposedly improved NHL, the two will be linked.

It should make should make for a healthier league, one that fosters stronger competition between markets large and small. The distance between New York and Long Island can be measured by miles and not by millions. The same goes for Buffalo and Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The top 10 revenue-producing teams are expected to share a percentage with the bottom 10. That alone is progress.

The salary cap is expected to be between $37 million and $39 million, but it will also include a salary floor of about $24 million. Teams previously drowning in red ink now know that 54 percent of league revenues will be tied to player costs. Players will get their money, but it will be a smaller, more reasonable amount given hockey's place among major professional sports. Conversely, teams will be forced to spend.

Fans should see improvement on the ice, too, and for that they praise the hockey gods. The league didn't spend 301 days solely on contract issues with the NHLPA. Instead, the season away from the rink allowed players and league officials to address a sport that had alienated the very people who paid their salaries. They will be back if the product is worth watching.

One way to make the game better is to change the rules, restoring speed and skill that had been harnessed by the neutral-zone trap. There's a chance the red line will be removed when the NHL returns, which would create more scoring chances. Goalie equipment is almost certain to be downsized, which would create more goals. Shootouts are a strong possibility, which should create more interest.

Officials can tinker with the rules all they want, but the best way to improve the game is by fixing the NHL. It's what the owners hoped to accomplish last September, when they closed the doors and engaged in the longest sports labor dispute in North American history.

No doubt, the lockout was excruciating. It was destructive. In the end, it was also necessary.

e-mail: bgleason@buffnews.com

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050714/1064579.asp

[guwapo_rocker]

I am going to try to get a Sabres five game club package, and maybe


more if I find others who are interested. All weekend games of course.

[Bill Lumbergh]

When it comes to my baseball, football, and basketball team, I'm a die hard......... win, lose or draw. When it comes to hockey? If the Sharks are good I'll watch.........if not, nope.

[Matt White]

I love the spin....

The Truth:

"The League over-expanded in the 1990's & over-paid it's athletes. Now, in an effort to stop the blood-loss, owners are finally addressing the 30+ year problem of the "Haves" and the "have nots".

Why did Wayne Gretzky get traded in 1988? Same problem addressed now: Small market clubs couldn't compete with the big market ones.
About time this gets put to bed.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by guwapo_rocker
I am going to try to get a Sabres five game club package, and maybe


more if I find others who are interested. All weekend games of course.

I sat near some CANDIAN fans in a SABRES game many years ago.

They have bus packages for SABRES games offerend by travel companies based in TORONTO. They feed you and provide much beer and alcohol, and you don't have to worry about border crossings or about driving. And from what I heard, the price was really reasonable. Maybe times have changed though, I dunno...

[guwapo_rocker]

I think they still do it. I noticed a section for Canadians on the Sabres

website, it's under construction right now, but it may offer packages

when it opens.

[Dave's PA Rental]

Re: Update:

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
A BRAND-NEW NHL

CBA may bring level playing field, big rules changes

By BUCKY GLEASON
News Sports Reporter
7/14/2005

They will be back if the product is worth watching.

One way to make the game better is to change the rules, restoring speed and skill that had been harnessed by the neutral-zone trap.

In my opinion, they didnt have to change the rules, THEY JUST HAD TO ENFORCE THEM!!!!

I dont really care if they get rid of the red line...just call the goddam clutching, holding, one-hand-off-the-stick-grabbing-the-jersey bullshit.

Keep both hands on the friggin stick (unless you are knocking the puck out of the air) and keep the sticks below the waist.

Oh yeah, no more Michellin-Man goalie pads...and shootouts are cool.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by Dave's PA Rental
In my opinion, they didnt have to change the rules, THEY JUST HAD TO ENFORCE THEM!!!!

The primary reason that Lemieux retired the first time, besides his back....