Is there a team so hated by its own league

[nl5xsk1]

In my eyes, LA or NY would be the WORST places for Crosby to have gone ... if he went to the Rangers, he'd have had to share the sporting spotlight with the Yankees stars (especially people like ARod, Jeter, Sheff, Rivera), the Jets & Giants stars (Pennington, Eli Manning, Shockey) and any potential stars the Knicks might get at some point. And LA's proven to not give a shit about hockey players, what with all the Hollywood stars that they have out there.

 

As much as I dislike the Penguins, Pittsburgh's a pretty good place for him to have ended up. Once Lemieux hangs up the skats, he'll really only have Big Ben to share the sporting spotlight with.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

There's probably nothing wrong with cities like Colombus, Nashville, Phoenix, etc. having NHL teams. Their attendance numbers have been acceptable, they are not that small of cities, and with the exception of basketball, there is not much competition for the sporting dollar. I think the problem is with the sheer number of franchise moves. What hurts is not the location, but the history. Part of selling a matchup is the history of each team. When each franchise moves and changes its name, it essentially starts over. Without any kind of perspective, the NHL becomes a game between two unfamiliar teams with seemingly random players assigned. The hockey between Nashville and Phoenix might be as good as any other in the game, but how can a person become excited to watch it?

[Fartsauce]

Crosby going to Pittsburgh pretty much ruined any chance Winnipeg had getting the Penguins franchise. Oh well, I don't hate the Pens so i'm not insulted by Crosby going there.

[nl5xsk1]

There's probably nothing wrong with cities like Colombus, Nashville, Phoenix, etc. having NHL teams.  Their attendance numbers have been acceptable, they are not that small of cities, and with the exception of basketball, there is not much competition for the sporting dollar.  I think the problem is with the sheer number of franchise moves.  What hurts is not the location, but the history.  Part of selling a matchup is the history of each team.  When each franchise moves and changes its name, it essentially starts over.  Without any kind of perspective, the NHL becomes a game between two unfamiliar teams with seemingly random players assigned.  The hockey between Nashville and Phoenix might be as good as any other in the game, but how can a person become excited to watch it?

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Al, they have good paid attendance, but it always looks like a lot of people came dressed as empty seats. Having people/companies owning season tickets (and not always using them) helps stack the attendance numbers. The Bruins were guilty of that for years, they'd have 90+% capacity announced, but the building would be closer to half-full (or as the pessimist would say, half-empty)

[The Czech Republic]

The hockey between Nashville and Phoenix might be as good as any other in the game, but how can a person become excited to watch it?

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We've had this discussion before, where there are no rivalries like there used to be, because of relocation and realignment. It especially did a number on the midwestern region (Norris) teams, moving the Maple Leafs away from their rivals, erasing the North Stars rivalries, not to mention the Blackhawks getting so awful that there was no rivalry left with the Red Wings any longer. Yeah, I went over all this stuff before. Then MrRant tried to come up with new rivalries like Atlanta-Calgary, then I suggested that Dany Heatley had a rivalry with pavement, then CanadianGuitarist went all Jim Ross "DAMN YOU TO HELL I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU" on me.

[Red Baron]

While moving Toronto to the Eastern Conference ruined rivalerys with Detroit, Minnesota, St. Louis, Chicago it changed by playing Buffalo, Boston, New Jersey, Montreal and Phili.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski]

While moving Toronto to the Eastern Conference ruined rivalerys with Detroit, Minnesota, St. Louis, Chicago it changed by playing Buffalo, Boston, New Jersey, Montreal and Phili.

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What about Toronto-Ottawa?

 

Let's see...NHL rivals.

 

Ducks - Kings

Red Wings - Avs

Rangers - Islanders

Vancouver - Calgary

Devils - Flyers

 

Some new ones to try:

 

Stars - Wild

Lightning - Panthers

[nl5xsk1]

I think the Wings-Avs has been replaced by the Canucks-Avs ... there just isn't the same hatred between Detroit & Colorado anymore.

 

And I still think Montreal-Boston is a rivalry worth noting.

[LaParkaMarka]

More rivals:

 

Vancouver-Colorado

Vancouver-Minnesota (both teams fanbases basically despise the other)

Calgary-Edmonton

Edmonton-Dallas

[Red Baron]

While Montreal/Toronto rivalry is of nostalgic value, there isn't as much hatred as against Boston and to the lesser extent Buffalo.

[nl5xsk1]

The rivalry between the Leafs & Habs was really hurt by Toronto's time in the Western conference. Boston pretty much replaced the Leafs as Montreal's biggest and most hated rival. Playing every season in the playoffs for 25-30 years straight'll do that.

 

The B's had a good little rivalry going with Washington for a while, it seemed that most of their games had a few fights for a few seasons there ... and then it just dried up.

 

Boston-Philly always tends to be a physcial, scrappy affair, too. Plus there's fights in the stands each time those teams play ... so it's a fun rivalry for the fans as well.

[Red Baron]

I would say Montreals best rival was the Nordiques. It wasn't so much on the ice (Montreal whipped them pretty good in the playoffs and sometimes lucky) but the fans hated each other. I mean fights in crowds or on the streets because Habs and Nords fans did not like each other. I can't think of any other rivarly in NA that was that intense.

[nl5xsk1]

I definitely agree that the provincial battle of Quebec was a blood-feud ... just another reason to hate Bettman.

[The Czech Republic]

Denver would've gotten an expansion team anyway.

[nl5xsk1]

Of the cities that got relocated teams, Denver was the only one that made sense to me, with Dallas a distant second.

 

Charlotte & Phoenix have done nothing for me to think that they deserved a team, and I really wonder how Dallas will support the Stars if they fall on hard times, especially if the Cowboys return to glory.

[the max]

Additionally, as much as I enjoy having two hockey teams to get a chance to watch, there's only a need for one team down here. Since the Lightning have been successful, people will occasionally talk about them on sports talk radio, but the Panthers are widely ignored, even on Sunshine State Sportscenter Updates on each hour. It's almost like nobody cares, although they haven't really been given a reason to in almost 10 years.

 

They could contract the Panthers and I doubt anyone would even care. The only reason for watching them is for Roberto Luongo and imagining just how good he's going to end up being with a good defense in front of him.

[LaParkaMarka]

Now that's a team that could be moved to Winnipeg, the Panthers. It really seems like Florida is oversaturated with sports teams as it is.

[Gert T]

I just think Columbus will be a successful hockey city. True they do not have history, but it is Columbus' only major four sports franchise. I think as passionate of a college football town Columbus is, they will embrace the Blue Jackets since they start when OSU football is winding down.

 

Now management also needs to make better decisions, because let's be honest, winning will definetely improve attendance.

[The Czech Republic]

Of the cities that got relocated teams, Denver was the only one that made sense to me, with Dallas a distant second.

 

Charlotte & Phoenix have done nothing for me to think that they deserved a team, and I really wonder how Dallas will support the Stars if they fall on hard times, especially if the Cowboys return to glory.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dallas is large enough that it can care for more than the Cowboys, I feel.

 

And it's not even Charlotte that has the Hurricanes, it's freakin' Raleigh-Durham, the nucleus of college basketball, and for their first two years, Greensboro. They're only in town so that NC State could justify moving into the RBC Center.

[{''({o..o})''}]

It's really odd that there isn't a rivalry between the Stars and the Wild. I think in many ways it's still too sad for us to hate the Stars.

[the max]

It's funny that I think of the Wild as more of a respectable franchise than the Stars, even though the Stars won a Cup.

[LaParkaMarka]

How did Minnesota end up with such a terrible name and such hideous jerseys. I can see that garbage happening to a team like Atlanta, but I thought Minnesota fans would balk at a name as lame as Wild.

[the max]

I like the Minnesota scheme...

[The Czech Republic]

It's fair. And I was so excited when I realized that was really a wolf, or bear!

[Vern Gagne]

I'd love to see either a couple teams contracted, or moved so the Wild can be in the same division has Chicago, St.Louis, and Detroit. There's just too much geographical distance between the Wild and the rest of the Northwest Division.

 

As for Columbus. It's the biggest city (14th overall) in the countries 7th most populated state. It's new too having a pro franchise, but it shouldn't be contracted.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

My biggest problem with the NHL is that there are way too many teams. I used to be able name every player every player on every team. I can't now.

 

Also, there aren't enough REAL blood feuds between the players. Aside from Colorado and Detroit from the Claude Lemieux days, have there been any great blood feuds since? And I don't mean Battle of Alberta style fan driven feuds, I mean real "I'm going to kill the other team" feuds." The Sharks and Stars had one for a while and that made games at the Tank really fun.

 

In this book I read called the "Death of Hockey", the writers suggest doing a National Leauge/American league style scheduling system. Where the NHL would be split in two and the old teams with history would have a league and the newer teams would have a league. It went something like this:

 

Wales:

Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, Chiacgo, NY Rangers, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Vancouver, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Ottawa, Washington

 

Campbell:

Los Angeles, Edmonton, Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Florida, Colorado, Phoenix, Carolina, Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, Minnesota

 

Notice how the geography still matches up. Fans in the old cities don't want to see the Panthers or the Coyotes. Fans in the newer cities probably won't mind seeing only the Sharks and Lightning anyway. Conferences play themselves exclusively with maybe a week of interleauge play just to mix things up. Finalists of each play for Cup. More games against similiar foes = more feuds, more meaningful games and more excitement for the fans.

[ZGangsta]

Also, there aren't enough REAL blood feuds between the players. Aside from Colorado and Detroit from the Claude Lemieux days, have there been any great blood feuds since? And I don't mean Battle of Alberta style fan driven feuds, I mean real "I'm going to kill the other team" feuds." The Sharks and Stars had one for a while and that made games at the Tank really fun.

How about Vancouver/Colorado? That has been heating up pretty nicely over the past couple seasons. And it just completely exploded in that game where the Avs were destroying the Canucks and all the fights broke out at the end culminating with Bertuzzi killing Steve Moore. People in Van HATE the Avalanche.