NHL 2013: Off-Season Running Thread

Liut · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Beef03 said:

Liut said:

Beef03 said:

Liut, unfortunately as far as the talk of WHA's expansion is concerned, themost that's mentioned is the threat of a rival league getting in on TV contract money. They also talk about the WHA's influence as to why they put a team on Long Island, Atlanta, KC and Washington. And then of course when they swallowed up the four teams from the WHA. What was interesting to me was how some of those original expansion teams came together on the fly, particularly Philadelphia, LA and Oakland. It is an NHL Network production so I'm not overly surprised they didn't dwell on the WHA too much.
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Sounds like a segment of "A Day That Changed the Game" that airs every once and a while on NHL Network.

Actually, I was referencing earlier the 1960s Western Hockey League, which ties in to your mention of Seattle and Portland. In "Net Worth," the authors claimed the WHL was eyeing places like Quebec City, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Baltimore to create a second major hockey league.
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That would be the segment. The rival league in the early 1960s they're referenceing could be the WHL, they just said a "rival league out west," I figured at the time it was the talk of the WHA because of the NHL sticking two teams in Califorina and the WHA's start up a few years later. They didn't talk about Seattle or Portland at all in the show. They did mention that the NHL was considering expanding to Baltimore originally.
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Baltimore's entry into the NHL was deep-sixed by Arthur Wirtz.

Wirtz's price for voting thumbs up for the six-team expansion was a franchise being granted to St. Louis so he could sell the rink there. St. Louis hadn't even submitted a bid at the get-go.

Ed Snider and his group got in because he felt the Philly market was a better one than Baltimore. No doubt, he was right. However, the decades-old influence of the Norris-Wirtz business clique swung St. Louis and, ultimately, the Soloman family in the league.

Sam Mills 51 · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Mark,

First off, stop while you're only this far behind.

Secondly, watching games in Winnipeg made it abundantly clear that True North buying the organization and moving it from Atlanta was an excellent move. Every game I saw broadcast from there showed an engaged fan base, a boisterous atmosphere and players who appreciated the difference. Games broadcast from Atlanta showed players going through the motions, a sparse crowd with too few people who really appeared to be glad to be there and an organization which botched just about everything it touched.

Sure, Atlanta is bigger. But, if the first season is any indication, there is clearly more than enough support for the Jets to make up for the smaller metropolitan population base. The organization has growth, optimism and a rabid fan base in Winnipeg. While it had some hardcore fans and people who cared about it in Atlanta, isn't it pretty obvious that Winnipeg - as a whole - cares much more about the organization than Atlanta did?

Mark, why is it that everyone else sees it and you don't? Are all of us that ignorant?

Mark2010 · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Fine. I have nothing against True North or Winnipeg. I wish them well.

Their success doesn't mean it's a model for the entire league to follow.

JC · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Of course, why would you want to follow something successfull.

Beef03 · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Mark2010 said:

Fine. I have nothing against True North or Winnipeg. I wish them well.

Their success doesn't mean it's a model for the entire league to follow.
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It has nothing to do with being a model for the rest of the league to follow. There are many different models in the league. It has everything to do with taking a franchise out of a dead market and putting it in a market that should succeed. Winnipeg was a market that did fail once before but that had little to do with the actual market but the ownership group that was in place at the time, coupled with a dollar the was trading at about 63 cents. Much has changed in that time.

JR · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Mark2010 said:

What I do know is that you can't have 1/3 or 1/2 your teams there and expect to maintain an interest in the U.S. I already hear from others too often the league is "foreign", whatever that's supposed to mean. Half my colleagues couldn't find Saskatoon -- or Edmonton, for that matter --- on a map. (funniest line ever: "The Thrashers are moving to Winnipeg? Is that in Alaska?")
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You work with some pretty fucking stupid people. I hope they're not journalists.

Armchair_QB · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

KHL hockey on ESPN2 right now.

Liut · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

JR said:

Mark2010 said:

What I do know is that you can't have 1/3 or 1/2 your teams there and expect to maintain an interest in the U.S. I already hear from others too often the league is "foreign", whatever that's supposed to mean. Half my colleagues couldn't find Saskatoon -- or Edmonton, for that matter --- on a map. (funniest line ever: "The Thrashers are moving to Winnipeg? Is that in Alaska?")
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You work with some pretty fucking stupid people. I hope they're not journalists.
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I can't really dispute this statement.

Liut · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Armchair_QB said:

KHL hockey on ESPN2 right now.
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Wow. Thanks. Goodbye 49ers-Giants.

JR · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Armchair_QB said:

KHL hockey on ESPN2 right now.
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Well, you're one up on us. No KHL up here so far.

Huggy · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Saw some of a game between Michigan State and Minnesota today.

Liut · Oct 14, 2012

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Huggy said:

Saw some of a game between Michigan State and Minnesota today.
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Minnesota was playing Saturday night on Fox Sports North but I went with Notre Dame and Nebraska-Omaha on NBC Whatchamacallit.

Should have remembered this but if you want to see a single bodycheck, take a pass on KHL.

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