NHL awards/draft/off-season/training camp/preseason running thread

beefncheddar · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Gomez's second-highest NHL points total is 70. If he was being held back by the Devils' style, it's a servicable signing. If he's really a 75-point guy, congratulations on that seven-year deal.

Shanahan's points the last four years: 68-53-81-62. Straka you can't really count because he's missed so much time. If those two stay healthy, they'll be dangerous. If time starts to catch up on them, though, better have reinforcements handy.

If everything works perfectly, they could win the East. That might be an awful lot to ask, though.

JC · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Please your going to spout shit like this. I would love to know your hockey background show me examples of Canadian Junior hockey ruining the game. if your talking about the trap you'd know that is a European influence on the game, it was perfected by the swedes. Have you ever watched international hockey when it doesn't involve each country's best? It's terrible. I'm looking forward to your respnose with your vast background in the game. One more thing who gives a Fuck if Americans don't like the game. It's a niche sport and there is nothing wrong with that. Actually I shouldn'tgeneralize like that there are plenty of Americans that like the game. What I should say is that we should take care of the existing fan and stop trying to felate the fan who will never likethe game regardless what is done.

spinning27 said:

Kritter47 said:

Mirtle's blog shows a complete lack of understand of why Nashville has struggled attendance wise. It has nothing to do with hockey being "beloved" or not. It has everything to do with Leipold and his front office ticking off Gaylord and other corporations in Nashville enough that they no longer purchase the expensive season tickets in the lower bowl.

I hate columns like that. "It's not that we don't want hockey there, it's that it obviously doesn't work" when that's not the case.

Several of the now thriving markets - San Jose and Tampa to name two - struggled early with growing the sport, even as much as 8-10 years into the franchise in the case of the Sharks. Nashville's struggles, especially since they stem from a personal dispute in the corporate world, may be more of the same.

I think a team in Hamilton is the last thing the league needs, quite frankly, especially with an owner like Balsillie who has a clear disregard for how to handle things in the business world.

Finally, how is Bettman treating this like an afterthought? The way the scenario plays out is this - Balsille and Leipold come to a handshake agreement for $238 million. The franchise cannot be moved yet and may not be moveable in the next few years (the 14,000 attendance out clause has not been triggered, the city of Nashville can prevent that clause from being triggered by purchasing the extra tickets, and season ticket sales in Nashville have jumped significantly, especially among the corporate world, since he announcement). And even if they could be moved, the teams in Buffalo and Toronto could block a move to Hamilton, so that city may not even be in the mix.

Instead of waiting for the sale to be finalized on paper, before he gets approved by the BOG, before he finds out if the Preds even can move, Balsillie goes out and makes an ass of himself by all his K-W/Hamilton area campaigning. While he's doing this, he refuses to enter into a binding agreement with Leipold. Leipold understandably gets peeved and says "screw you" to Balsille.

I see nothing that Bettman or the Preds did wrong to deprive the poor Hamilton natives of their hockey team. I see a Canadian businessman who did everything wrong and screwed up any chance of him purchasing a team while putting a big dent in his shot at being granted an expansion franchise.

I would like to see a breakdown of revenue and exactly how much of that comes from a.) the Habs and Leafs and b.) the Canadian television deals. Plus, I've heard both "one-third revenues" and "one third non-gate" revenues - which is it?
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I think people like Mirtle -- and frankly, most Canadians -- don't understand that their culture is the reason the sport has struggled in the U.S.

In the early to mid 1990s, as hockey was growing in popularity in the U.S., the Canadian hockey culture basically made the sport unwatchable. It wasn't the European style that slowed the game to a crawl. It wasn't the kids from the American college system. It was the Canadian junior system that failed miserably in teaching skill development and NHL coaches who saw that the only way to win with unskilled players was to clutch and grab and trap.

But instead of introspection and change, all you get from the Canadians is how great the game is and they seemingly could care less whether America is turned on by it. They'd rather maintain the status quo than explore the potential for growth. The game is certainly better since the lockout, but it has a long way to go. But I don't remember hearing a lot of Canadians criticizing it even before the lockout.
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RedCanuck · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

The "neutral zone trap" is nothing new in hockey. It has been around for decades. The left-wing lock, which Detroit and some other teams have employed lately does come out of Scandinavia. Also, JC is on the money. Clutching and grabbing is much more apparent in the European game than it is in the traditional North American game. The difference is that over there, they have bigger ice, so it doesn't tie things up nearly as much as it does here where you don't have the extra 15 feet of width.

Another thing that hurt hockey over the last decade was Bettman thinking he knew what would make it better. His moving the nets out to allow more room behind the net, a la Europe, was one of the biggest detriments to scoring. Instead of forcing shots on net, you can now tie it up behind the net for a fortnight. Even though they moved a bit to correct that, more could be done. And goalie pads are still too big.

Also on that note, removing the red line will make for more boring hockey and that we have seen in Canadian junior. If you thought the trap was bad before, now it's worse because the checkers can back up even further in the neutral zone. The red line forced quick short passes.

The game was good. I get to more than 100 junior games a year and actually, the hockey - not the skill level - but the flow of the game has been better than that NHL slop. To make the game good again, we should be going backward to take out the international flavour and Bettman's "innovations."

ondeadline · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Don't you know that ESPN would be going crazy if the NFL ever had a day of activity like this?

Boy, you know Sabres fans are pissed off. Many thought that last season was their year and they come up short. Then they lose Briere and Drury to free agency? Now Lindy Ruff will likely pass on his annual smile.

hockeybeat · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

ondeadline said:

Don't you know that ESPN would be going crazy if the NFL ever had a day of activity like this?

Boy, you know Sabres fans are pissed off. Many thought that last season was their year and they come up short. Then they lose Briere and Drury to free agency? Now Lindy Ruff will likely pass on his annual smile.
Click to expand...

This is why the league needs to work out some sort of TV deal with ESPN. There was so much activity yesterday and the league needed a cable broadcast parter to discuss the ramifications of the moves.

ondeadline · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

It is times like this that I wish we could get TSN in the states. I only get glimpses of it during intermissions of games I watch on Center Ice.

hockeybeat · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

TSN really needs to open its webcasts to those of us who don't live in Canada.

Just4Fun · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

I agree with people on this thread that the NHL free agency deserved attention. When Paul Kariya goes to the St. Louis Blues, the Rangers are trying to buy a Cup and the Flyers just committed themselves to the same hell as the New York Islanders for giving a guy WAY too long of a contract for too much money and you've got to cover this league like it's a trainwreck!

hockeybeat · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Bates Battaglia signed a two-year deal with the Leafs for $650K per.

Pittsburgh signed Petr Sykora to a two-year contract.

Nashville signed Jed Ortmeyer to a two year deal worth $1.5 million.

hockeybeat · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

TSN reports Michael Nylander signed with Edmonton.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=212502&hubname=nhl

Cansportschick · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Bring the Cup to Colorado....I am calling it now.
With the acquisitions of Smyth and Hannan, the AVS are poised to do damage in the Western Conference and league this season.
Can you imagine a top line of Sakic centring Smyth and Hedjuk? WOW!!!
I was worried a little about their D, but getting Hannan was a wise move.
Theodore does concern me a bit...and that grandspanking contract, ouch!
Budaj is solid in goal for the AVS and last year's rookie standout, Stastny is strong too.

So much for my wished of a Leafs/AVS Stanley Cup final....the Leafs have done nothing to assure me that they are a better team and Ferguson will be out by November, guaranteed.

hockeybeat · Jul 2, 2007

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Cansportschick said:

Bring the Cup to Colorado....I am calling it now.
With the acquisitions of Smyth and Hannan, the AVS are poised to do damage in the Western Conference and league this season.
Can you imagine a top line of Sakic centring Smyth and Hedjuk? WOW!!!
I was worried a little about their D, but getting Hannan was a wise move.
Theodore does concern me a bit...and that grandspanking contract, ouch!
Budaj is solid in goal for the AVS and last year's rookie standout, Stastny is strong too.

So much for my wished of a Leafs/AVS Stanley Cup final....the Leafs have done nothing to assure me that they are a better team and Ferguson will be out by November, guaranteed.
Click to expand...

Getting a 40-goal scorer in Blake doesn't make the Leafs better?

And The Cup ain't going to Denver. It's headed to Broadway. I can't wait until the dweeby dwarf squeaks, "Captain Jaromir Jagr, come get The Cup!"

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