NHL Thread: It's December Now.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Martin Havlat comes back on Sunday from his ankle injury.

 

Manny Legace is gone at least a week for the Blues. Someone fired a shot at his head in practice and knocked him out. He had to go to the hospital.

 

And Sanford's out too...(insert knuckle sammich joke here) Even though pretty well all of us were wrong re: our Columbus pre-season picks, here's the best chance theyhave all year to climb from last.

[CanadianChris 0]

Who picked Columbus to do anything? They have no defence and no goaltending.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

It's easy to say this now that they're shit, but they certainly put all their eggs in one basket with Leclaire.

 

That said, one all-star calibre defenceman adds credibility, and having Fedorov, Nash, Carter, Modin and Zherdev is plenty potent. I can't be the only one who thought that would be enough to make a run. I was certainly wrong, however.

[Red Baron 0]

I'm really wondering what is going on inside Guy's head. Putting Marc Streit as a forward, yet having Niinamma playing defence, or even playing at all.

 

I was hoping he had a broken orbital bone or something, so he could be gone for a month (and forever)

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Vancouver finally wins a game! And nets a few while doing it!

[Red Baron 0]

And they also scored on the powerplay too!

[Lightning Flik 0]

Smyth, Hemsky, and Moreau all out and yet my Oilers are starting to play like they don't (but oh, do they ever) need them. Kinda funny how that's working out. Hopefully we'll keep it rolling, especially after the 2-0 win against Dallas.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Screw yer Oilers. Hawks are on a three-game skid of overtime losses, which are at least worth something, but it's just indicative of a lot of close calls and bad breaks. Questionable spin-o-rama goal gives the Wild a win, shootout loss to the Coyotes, and another overtime loss to Minnesota after coming back from two goals down in under eight minutes to tie it up. Hawks need to start racking up points two at a time if they're going to sneak into that #8 spot.

[Guest Princess Leena]

The Hawks have no regulation losses since Savard was hired. Champions.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Hockey Bay, USA is so much better than Hockeytown.

[RepoMan 0]

I cringed when I saw the Hockey Bay logo. It's a blatant rip off and it sounds stupid.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I cringed when I saw the Hockey Bay logo. It's a blatant rip off and it sounds stupid.

 

Huh? Explain....I think. What's this logo? New Tampa marketing ploy?

[CanadianChris 0]

NOW what the fuck is going on with Ottawa? They're down 4-0 to the BLUE JACKETS. Gerber was horrible, and got rightly pulled after the fourth goal. The problem is that it looks like Emery may still be hurt.

 

EDIT: FIVE-zip. Jeezus.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I cringed when I saw the Hockey Bay logo. It's a blatant rip off and it sounds stupid.

 

Huh? Explain....I think. What's this logo? New Tampa marketing ploy?

 

After the lockout, the Lightning put on their center ice, Hockey Bay.

Yep, after that one Stanley Cup victory, we can compare them to the Red Wings.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Or the City of Champions, Edmonton (who I'll say are the loyalist fans out there); or the true Hockey Town of NHL: Montreal Canadiens (24 Stanley Cups, if we're gonna play it by Championships).

 

Its just a name. Sure it makes me just shake my head at the stupidity, but hey, let them think what they want. After all, weren't they the same team that couldn't put buts in the seats any better than Pheonix, till that run?

[nl5xsk1 0]

Boston calls itself "the Hub of Hockey" as part of it's new marketing blitz, but that's largely tongue-in-cheek, I think. A local writer came up with it a few years ago as part of his columns in the Globe, but this season the team officially adopted it as part of it's marketing spin.

 

And I went to the Caps/Sens game when I was down in DC on Wednesday ... man, I've never seen a game with so few people in attendance. There couldn't have been more than 3,000-4,000 people there. I've never even seen a minor league game with such a piss-poor turnout. In the first time I've seen either play live, Ovechkin picked up 3 helpers, and Semin impressed the hell out of me.

[CanadianChris 0]

It's so funny that everyone in the West is fighting to get Ovechkin and Crosby on the schedule when their own home fans seem to barely acknowledge their existance.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Pens are probably drawing better than the Caps, though. They have to be. 4000? Oof. Washington isn't really a sports town.

[CanadianChris 0]

Yeah, Pittsburgh is actually not drawing too badly for the size of their arena, now that I've checked. Washington is in the bottom 5 in the league for both overall attendance and percentage of capacity. Next time contraction is brought up, they should be near the top of the list.

[Guest]

The Caps were so shitty the past few years, so I have a hard time blaming the fans. How about blaming the ownership that only spends to the cap floor?

 

And I'd move the Panthers before anyone else, followed by the Ducks.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

followed by the Ducks.

 

You awful man, you.

[Guest]

They don't draw. That's the only reason, because I like having them in the area. More games for me to get to go to and watch on TV.

[nl5xsk1 0]

The thing with the Caps is that their attendance was - according the papers the next day - 15,000 ... so they're probably selling the tickets, it's just that no one is using them.

 

The Caps were so shitty the past few years, so I have a hard time blaming the fans. How about blaming the ownership that only spends to the cap floor?

If I had the chance to see Ovechkin & Semin 41 games a year, I'd go to games. Season tickets in the area that I was sitting in went for about $500.00 a year.

 

And the three teams that I think of when it comes to contraction are Phoenix, Florida and Atlanta, but Bettman would never admit that those were mistakes. Pittsburgh would be added to that list, just for their arena issues, and Anaheim would be if it wasn't for the success that adding Pronger & Niedermeyer will give you.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Never mind what a dumb idea the "Mighty Ducks" name was, how did "we need a hockey team in the LA suburbs" get any reaction other than "haha, are you high?"

[Guest]

If I had the chance to see Ovechkin & Semin 41 games a year, I'd go to games. Season tickets in the area that I was sitting in went for about $500.00 a year.

Me too, but at the same time, the lack of spending must have really turned off the fans. Now that the Caps are doing well in the standings, I expect fans to start heading back. If they don't, then it's time to think about making a move. The Caps are probably making money though, so I doubt they'll be going anywhere.

 

I'd add Phoenix to my move list, but their arena is great. Too bad the seats are never full. I wouldn't add Atlanta because it seems like the area has warmed up to the sport. Nashville is another story.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

I'm not certain that the Caps were EVER a big draw. Nobody came out to the shitty Capital Center, and they've been an average team for years. It's ridiculous that metro Phoenix has a hockey-exclusive arena, though.

[CanadianChris 0]

Interesting page: http://www.hockeyresearch.com/mfoster/business/nhl_attn.html

 

The only year the Caps were ever a really decent draw in the last 15 years was 1998-99, the year after they went to the Cup finals.

[KGB 0]

It's funny to think the Blackhawks were drawing 20 000+ a game just 10 years ago.

 

Is it just me or are both the Islanders/Devils worthless franchises? The Devils have trouble drawing fans even after they win Cups, and the Islanders don't seem to have much of a fanbase either.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Three teams are too many for Greater New York, and the teams in question don't help. The Isles haven't been relevant in years, their front office has been a clusterfuck, and the Nassau Coliseum cannot be up to snuff if it's been around since 1972 or whenever Long Island joined the league. The Devils play in a suburban hellhole that nobody wants to drive to, and even though they've won Cups, they've done so in the most boring way possible. Furthermore, they're a relative newcomer to the NY sports scene, coming in from Denver back in '82 as what Wayne Gretzky called "a real Mickey Mouse organization," which just happened to be right in the midst of Al Arbour's Islander dynasty, so it took a long time for them to really make any mark. I wish we could be rid of the criminally bland Devils, but they're getting a new arena in either Newark or Jersey City, so maybe getting out of the Meadowlands will help them. Meanwhile, the Islanders don't really seem to have any plans that I know of, and there's not really too much real estate on Long Island, is there?

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Anaheim's not a LA suburb, Mighty Ducks was the greatest logo ever, and their attendance appears to be higher now than before the lockout.

 

But some team should go to Portland.