Running NHL 2023-24 regular season thread

Problems that doomed Winnipeg Jets in 1996 loom large again in 2024

Have seen a couple of stories this week in The Athletic about the trouble Winnipeg is facing again. Sounds like their current season-ticket/attendance trajectory, coupled with a weak Canadian dollar, are putting them on the brink of moving once again.

 

Thank you for sharing.
Have respected Eric Duhatschek's work for many years.

 

Tweet of the year right here:

 

I’m not a Bettman fan but he and Daly flew to Winnipeg and he stated that Winnipeg was a strong market for the league, a model franchise, and he was confident they would rebound attendance wise. Doesn’t sound like the NHL is going to put it on life support anytime soon. The city has been set back by the stupid fucking federal government chasing business out of Canada for reasons nobody knows. Lots of those companies who have left shipped through Winnipeg, had branches in Winnipeg and, don’t forget, most of the affordability issues in Canada are directly the result of the unbelievably mis managed Canadian economy, and thus our currency, and because we import so many things that were once made in this country. Canada should be one of the most prosperous countries in the world but instead we are the laughingstock. All my fellow Canucks on this site will agree.

 

No, we won’t. There is very few things accurate in this post.

 

I guess my relatives who live in Winnipeg don’t know what they are talking about, or the currency traders I know in Toronto who all know the reasons for our weak dollar. The Bettman quote is on the NHL website.
That’s 3 for 3.

 

The last sentence is a bit presumptuous I’d say.

 

You’re correct here, they don’t.

 

I don't pretend to know much about the Canadian economy (or much of anything!) but Gary Bettman is such a shitheel, even by commissioner standards, that absolutely no one should believe him when he says he doesn't want to relocate a Canadian team. He spent the first half of his potentially endless run as commissioner moving teams from Canada and northern hockey-happy cities so that he could fulfill his stupid fantasy of filling southern markets with hockey. The world has made it abundantly fucking clear that Arizona and Atlanta aren't hockey markets but by God he's just gonna keep shoving teams in there. Bettman is so bad that Kevin Spacey wishes he didn't look like him.

 

I've followed hockey for nearly 50 years and never seen an ending like last night Devils-Ducks game.

It's 4-3 Ducks. Devils have the goalie out and are pushing for the tying goal. Big pileup in front of the goal. Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal is in the middle of it. He gets knocked down, but bats the puck behind the net. His mask comes off. Looks like it came loose when he was bumped and he pushed it off himself. Meanwhile, Ducks winger Frank Vatrano pushes the net off the anchors. There are 2.1 seconds left. Vatrano's play is stupid because the puck was behind the net. The whistle should have been blown because Dostal's mask was off. Ref finally blows it dead and awards the Devils a penalty shot. Jack Hughes takes it. He gets too close to Dostal, who tries a poke check but misses. Hughes pulls the puck back to avoid the poke check and loses control.

 

Besides the crazy ending, Dostal had 52 saves in the game. Quite a night for the young goaltender!