The Official NHL Thread

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Canes/Pens tonight, first rematch of Cole/Orpik since Cole's injury...

Both teams are downplaying it...

Yeah, right...

By the way, if any of you bastards will be watching, Pojo, my son and I will be 5 rows from the ice, next to the Hurricanes' penalty box... My son will be wearing a black Crosby jersey...

[POJO_Risin]

And Va and I will be shirtless...

I'll have Pen and Va will have Guins...

although either way is fine with me...

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
Canes/Pens tonight, first rematch of Cole/Orpik since Cole's injury...

Both teams are downplaying it...

Yeah, right...

Ever since the Bertuzzi incident, you can bet that the league has told the teams that any incidents will be met with most harshly.

That hit wasn't bad at all. Ugly, but not intentional.

Apparently, Cole refuses to take any of Orpik's calls.

[POJO_Risin]

According to Recchi, Orpik asked him for the number after Recchi was traded. Recchi told him that Cole didn't want to talk (it was only a week or two after it happened), and Recchi told him not to call because it was to close to the injury...

[Romeo Delight]

I heard that Orpik has tried to call a few weeks ago and there was no response.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Well, for as little contact that they ended up having, turned out all that media hubbub was for nothing....

Road trip report is up on the blog, by the way.....

[Romeo Delight]

Just too funny watching the highlights of the Carolina and Buffalo game.

Without a doubt, the two worst logos in ALL of pro sports.

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by DavidFlamma
Just too funny watching the highlights of the Carolina and Buffalo game.

Without a doubt, the two worst logos in ALL of pro sports.

C'mon people!

Is anyone awake out there?

I'm trying to start some shit here...

One of the Canuck's logos is a hockey rink and a stick and puck:p

[Full Bug]

Man, sucks to be a Leaf fan these days, 7 loses in a row, I'm gonna start rooting for The Flames again...

[Romeo Delight]

Well welcome to Bettman's NHL.

I have to say, the league is doing what it can, but years of misguided leadership can't be undone by a debilitating cap.

I have so much to bitch about I don't know where to start.

First, Bettman's "plan" to become a major sport in the US was done exactly ass-backwards. Instead of making the good markets stronger and creating demand from the sport's strength, what does He do? Expand too fast into markets that have no business with franchises.

So many weak sisters are propped up by today's cap so even the most incompetent of GM's can't screw it up.

The problem with the league is that you have teams like Pittsburgh andAnaheim, with ownership problems that last for 5 years or so. Well, fast forward and these teams amass one after another top draft picks.

Now these teams' futures are obviously looking bright.

What about the teams that did everything right? Well in the new NHL, they are hooped. Because of the cap - to ensure that the most incompetent GMs can't screw their teams, and so non-hockey markets can compete because THEY AREN'T DRAWING ANY FANS- the successful teams have to let their players go.

What is the point of this? Fans support their team, the club manages it's business well, budgets wisely, and still can't have any success in this salary cap era. The only way is to suck for 3 or more years and draft at lest 6 young (read cheap) players to piece together a team.

This is no way to run a professional sports league. Basketball and baseball have it right (although baseball goes too far) with a luxury tax.

I would rather see 6 teams fold than continue to see such crappy hockey. The matchups just aren't compelling. The rules changes aren't all that bad. It's just it all seems so empty now, with the cap being King.

Playing to the league's weakest link is no way to be successful. We have to reward success and not punish it. As Coase said " Put the incentive where it does the most good"

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Yeah, you're absolutely right....

It was sheer bliss watching the Penguins finish last in the NHL four straight years....

The Pens getting rid of Lang, Kovalev, Straka and Jagr had nothing to do with ownership and more to do with the old CBA, where the rich teams just got richer (sounds a lot like baseball)....

And please, do me a favor and stop comparing the entire NHL to Canadian hockey fanaticism. Even a big hockey fan like me knows that the NHL is NOT nearly big enough to warrant regular sellout crowds in the U.S... But look at it this way, if it wasn't for the U.S., there would be no NHL, get used to it....

And yeah, Canadian hockey teams NEVER get in ownership trouble, give me a fucking break.... Disregard all of that Ottawa talk a few years back.... That's why Winnipeg and Quebec lost their teams, 'cause there's never any ownership problems in Canada....

Why should the NHL be any different from the NFL or NBA ?? Teams that finish the year with the worst records get the highest draft picks, I don't see you bitching about those leagues.

I'll grant you, the Crosby lottery was incredible luck, and with more nights like last night's 6 points, who knows how that's going to turn out. I don't even remember who Anaheim took 2nd to be honest.

I just love now that Pittsburgh is having a little bit of success that everyone's on their dicks...

[Romeo Delight]

Who is making this a US vs Canada thing?

My only point that the league would have been in an entirely different place now, if there wasn't a push into these insane markets just for the purpose of securing a national TV contract.

Americans, if anything, love a winner. The real way to secure that national contract is to build from strength and make the product better...not worse by watering it down and expanding into non-hockey markets.

I couldn't be happier for Pittsburgh, but it is kind of fucked that the formula in the new NHL is to suck for a time.

Seriously, how can you have success and resign your players?
Don't worry, You will see

Good luck fielding a team, even if you have 3 of the best five players in the league.

My point is that there should be a mechanism to resign YOUR OWN PLAYERS to help develop a community and thus encourage a committment from the fans.

You need to reward good management and success on the ice.

The current system punishes success. How insane is that??? Again...you will see.

I don't see the need to praise the US for success in hockey or lack thereof. i was only pointing out Bettman's mismanagement of the league.

Winnipeg and Quebec lost their teams because of the lack of will on the part of owners to keep their house in order. A 60 cent dollar didn't help much either.

You can't deny that Anaheim, for example had completely disinterested ownership in Disney in the end. Their current success is directly related to their draft position from sucking so bad for so many years.

THAT is what is NOT GOOD for the sport. Again, punishing success will doom the sport in both countries.

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan


Why should the NHL be any different from the NFL or NBA ?? Teams that finish the year with the worst records get the highest draft picks, I don't see you bitching about those leagues.

It is different. The NBA encourages fan loyalty by allowing the team who drafted you to offer the most money. Now basketball players are generally selfish SOB's, but the cash does keep them on one team for longer.

The cap in the NHL is based on it's weakest link...those markets that should never have hockey...or at least until they develop a good foundation. so the situation is as I said...we accomodate the weakest link and the game itself suffers, thus condemning it to mediocrity.

Here's to losing

[Va Beach VH Fan]

You have a point with reference to the NBA, but the NFL does the exact same thing, the winners draft last, the losers draft first....

I'm with ya on the expansion, they went overboard, but not too much to do about it now, no way they'll eliminate any franchises....

I'm not so sure the Pens won't be able to resign the youngin's. The salary cap will go up every year, they WILL get a new arena, and they've now got an owner with money to burn....

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan


I'm not so sure the Pens won't be able to resign the youngin's. The salary cap will go up every year, they WILL get a new arena, and they've now got an owner with money to burn....

Oh, they'll resign their stars, but who will play with them?

It is ugly. Wait and see.