File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
Can our league come play with you guys too?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Come on guys, you're making Ryan Smyth cry.
>> Anonymous
>>37469

Hey, it's a regional thing. Hockey ain't big in the south...NASCAR ain't big in the north.
>> Anonymous
>>37503
They actually HAVE hockey teams in the south though. Granted the reason WHY there are hockey teams in the south boggles my mind, but...
>> Anonymous
>>37504

I'll give you a hint: Gary bettmen maybe got 1 too many pucks to the head in his days.

I mean, kudos to those who do support their local team, southern fans always seem really intense...but there's just so damn few of them.
>> Anonymous
>>37506
Oh, I never said that having teams down there is a GOOD thing, I'm just saying that NASCAR is completely nonexistant in bagged-milk land, yet hockey does for some reason have a presence down South.

Although what's even worse is that Bettman has been contemplating expansion to freaking Europe instead of, you know, areas where people actually ENJOY hockey and have been ignored/abandoned by the NHL. Even those two games at the start of the season in London were said to be crippling for both teams involved for weeks later on account of jet lag, the thought of Atlantic travel on a season-long basis would be insane.
>> Anonymous
>>37506

Bettman has always been an idiot since he took over in 92. Two lockouts, shitty teams making the playoffs when they shouldn't. They need to go back to 2 divisions instead of three. A team with a better record SHOULD NEVER have a lower seeding than someone who finishes with a worse record.
>> Anonymous
>>37515
I browsed the team standings earlier and realized that if division leaders didn't automatically get a top-three conference finish, the only SE team in the standings would be an eighth-place Hurricanes. They need to fucking dismantle the entire division (except maybe Washington, which would be integrated into the Atlantic division or something) and either reduce the number of teams in the league or move the franchises to places where people actually care about hockey. Which'll never happen of course. Bettman seems hellbent on his piss-money-down-a-black-hole policy towards running the league.
>> Anonymous
>>37521reduce the number of teams in the league
Goodbye:
Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Atlanta
Los Angeles, Phoenix, St Louis, Columbus
>> Anonymous
>>37525
This would be ideal, with maybe two or three franchises migrating to Canada/northern states. Divisions/Conferences would of course need to be reorganized to keep everything balanced out (return of the Campbell/PoW conferences plox)

Speaking of which, they're talking about Whiteouts during the intermission of the Canucks-Coyotes game.
>> Anonymous
>>37534they're talking about Whiteouts
???
>> Anonymous
>>37525My only alteration would be to swap St. Louis with Nashville, otherwise those omissions sound about right. Moving one franchise in each conference instead of erasing it completely would mean each conference would have 12 teams for a nice round number of 24 teams total. Condensing division breakups to two divisions each could leave a team matchup resembling something like:

PACIFIC:
VANCOUVER
SAN JOSE
ANAHEIM
COLORADO
CALGARY
EDMONTON

CENTRAL:
DETROIT
CHICAGO
DALLAS
MINNESOTA
ST. LOUIS
(WINNIPEG?)

NORTHEAST:
TORONTO
MONTREAL
OTTAWA
BUFFALO
BOSTON
(QUEBEC?/HARTFORD?)

ATLANTIC:
NY RANGERS
NY ISLANDERS
NEW JERSEY
PITTSBURGH
PHILADELPHIA
WASHINGTON
>> Anonymous
>>37541
You know how Calgary has the Sea/C of Red where everyone attending the game is wearing red? The Winnipeg Jets had a similar thing except they called it the Whiteout (obviously everyone wearing white).
>> Anonymous
>>37549
Ahh yeah. You're right about that. I completely forgot about Nashville.
>> Anonymous
Hello /sp/! I'm Gary Bettman. I heard you were talking about the Southeast Division of my league. Since you mentioned Washington, I'll leave it out. It's because THERE are no markets that want hockey besides the Southeast lollollolol!!111!1ONE! So, I decided to ignore all of these non-existant hockey markets.

Seattle, Washington.
Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Portland, Oregon.
(?) Wisconsin, Southern Ontario, Quebec.
>> Red Machine D !h1LZxECEVA
>>37549

*Nuke San Jose, Anaheim, Dallas, and Washington
*Restore the Minnesota team to the Northstars
*Realign divisions as such:

ADAMS: Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Buffalo, Quebec
NORRIS: Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis, Philadelphia
PATRICK: Rangers, Isles, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Hartford
SMYTHE: Vancouver, Colorado, Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton

*Two new conferences: LaFleur Conference and Howe Conference
*Rescind all Bettmanesque post-lockout rule changes
*FIRE BETTMAN
>> Anonymous
>>37592
The main problem cited by most critics is that those places don't have the facilities necessary for NHL levels in terms of attendance. Winnipeg, for example, is often called inadequate for an NHL return because the MTS Center has a capacity of about 15000 (most NHL arenas have capacities of 18000-22000). Of course, the *theoretical* attendance numbers ultimately mean jack if your *actual* attendance ceilings are somewhere in the range of 10000, as is the case in most SE teams. Even those numbers are usually inflated with the number of free tickets they give away in an attempt to boost numbers. Personally I'd much rather have an arena that is under the NHL's recommended capacity in a market that guarantees sellouts instead of having a massive arena that struggles to achieve half-full attendance. If anything it probably hurts the league far more than to go with smaller-sized arenas - although admittedly these facilities are often shared with basketball franchises hence warranting the larger size.
>> Anonymous
what happened to the talk of moving the Predators to Portland, Oregon or Kansas City?
>> Anonymous
>>37609
i work for anaheim ducks and i can tell you that the past 60+ "sellout games" have been, well, not sold out. many games are fucking empty by hockey standards.
>> Anonymous
>>37612
They were going to Canada, not Portland or Kansas City.
>> Anonymous
>>37612
Fell through. That Jim Basille guy royally fucked up with his stunt to promote a franchise move to Hamilton, which prompted the original Preds owner to back away from selling it to him. It eventually got picked up by a Nashville-based group, meaning that the team, which has been pissing money down the drain for a decade straight, is staying in a market that clearly isn't interested in hockey. THANKS GUYS, WE DIDN'T WANT THE NHL TO DO WELL ANYWAY!
>> Anonymous
>>37615
Wasn't the news of your Stanley Cup win pretty much pushed off the front pages in preference for that Paris Hilton bullshit?

WHY DOES THIS LEAGUE INSIST ON TEAMS IN SHITTY MARKETS?! THEY DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT THIS SPORT DOWN THERE! GUH!
>> Anonymous
ah, well it might not have been because of the Preds, but i had heard interest in Kansas City since their new arena was built.

Regardless, doesn't seem like a hockey hotbed.
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
>>37603

>*Rescind all Bettmanesque post-lockout rule changes

The two-line pass was a fucking stupid rule. It needed to be removed.

Hook and Hold hockey sucked dick.

That said, bring back ties, get rid of the shootout, the no-play zone and southern hockey.
>> Anonymous
>>37620
yeah pretty much. but at least anaheim winning the first california stanley cup beat out any la dodgers sports moment (thx fsn fan poll?).
>> Anonymous
>>37623
Apparently KC didn't work out since the Preds didn't move and they're expressing more interest in a basketball franchise.

Biggest problem for Canadian cities getting franchises right now is cost. Teams have recently had ridiculously inflated buying costs (Balislle was offering something like 200 million for the Preds, which given their nonexistant profits over the last decade is ridiculous) which makes it difficult to commit financially. Ultimately, if Jerry Bruckheimer decides he wants a franchise in fucking Las Vegas (I wish I was kidding about this), cost probably won't deter him in the same way some unknown CEO in Winnipeg might. Ultimately the NHL has some odd approaches towards long- and short-term profits - they've pushed for these deep-south teams with the intent of long-term success (which isn't happening despite two recent SC wins; people just don't care about hockey there), yet appear to be more willing to approve larger up-front payments for franchises located in areas that for years and years now have proven to be unviable markets for the game.
>> Anonymous
>>37629
I know virtually nothing about what's going on with other sports. I do know that their SC win couldn't even garner enough collective interest in the region to host a freaking victory parade, though. I mean, what the shit?
>> Anonymous
>>37628
What the hell is the point of the goalie no-play zone anyway? I've been trying to conceive of a reason why they arbitrarily stuck a trapezoid shape behind the net and I still can't figure it out.
>> Anonymous
>>37644
fag that works for the ducks here.

their victory celebration had something like 10,000 people. all of which don't know shit about hockey and were just bandwagoning, hence how the company sold 15,000 season seats for this season and rarely have a fully sold out game.
>> Red Machine D !h1LZxECEVA
>>37641

If it isn't at least 50% alcohol or go in an anticlockwise circle, Southerners aren't interested.
>> Anonymous
>>37650
Yeah, I heard they had some kind of "Hey look Anaheim, we have a hockey team!" thing in the friggin' parking lot of the Honda Center or something, but nothing in the vein of a traditional victory parade or anything like that. Fuck, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa went fucking bananas in their respective playoff runs and none of them even had to WIN the thing.
>> Anonymous
>>37655
the following happened after the anaheim/vancouver game across the street as i was leaving:

vancouver fan: GO CANUCKS GO! SEE YOU IN THE FINALS!
anaheim fan: bring it!!!
vancouver fan: ...ok
>> Anonymous
>>37650
what sort of work is it you do, exactly? I'd fucking love to work for a hockey team, even if it was one of the deep-south bottom feeders in the standings.
>> Anonymous
>>37659
lol,>>37655>>37641>>37618guy here

As a Wings-fan Vancouverfag I can practically smell the fear of Canucks fans. Deep within all of them is the sickening realization that the crippingly nonexistant offense that booted them from the playoffs last year is even worse this season.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Tie Domi frowns upon the South-friendly NHL.
>> Anonymous
>>37662
official name is usher, but i get paid to just stand there and watch every home game and every shitty concert.

>>37665
yeah. i'm a wings fan too. when i grew up as a kid the closest team was detroit (i don't count the north stars since they moved).
>> Anonymous
>>37669
Ah that's cool. Here at GM Place (Vancouver) I think they have a thing where if you volunteer to usher or sell 50-50 tickets you get to watch the last half of the game for free
>> Anonymous
>>37675
since i work on the "exclusive" club level i only get to see about half of the games, so we're kind of in the same boat (if you ever did/do that up at gm place).

also i see scratched players from both teams all the time. pronger is a total fag who can't dress himself, but his wife has a great body. so does giguere's wife.
>> Anonymous
>>37682
>pronger is a total fag

STOP THE PRESSES
>> Anonymous
>>37683
he wears suits with the lumberjack pattern.

come on.
>> Anonymous
>>37603*Nuke San Jose, Anaheim, Dallas, and Washington

The Sharks, Ducks, and Stars are by far the best teams in "non-traditional hockey markets" on the ice and in terms of profit. There's no way they're moving anywhere.

The Kings, Coyotes, Panthers, and Thrashers need to go. Winnipeg, Hartford, Milwaukee, and Québec, maybe?
>> Anonymous
I like how all your fucking genius solutions are to bring hockey back to cities where they already got fucking canned from. Winnipeg? Hartford? Come the fuck on. I'm from CT, no one gave a fucking fat one about the Whalers. The team is much better off in Carolina. Seattle? I guess, MAYBE, but like, Vancouver is a hop/skip/jump away. Move the North Stars back to Minny? What the fuck are you even talking about? So you're going to just... get rid of an existing team that just formed(the Wild), then move the Stars from Dallas back to Minnesota, for no fucking reason. I like how you think it's even Bettman's call about which teams go where.

Remove all post-lockout rules? CapitalistBastard is right on here... it's ab-fucking-surd. I dislike "points for losing" as much as anyone, but aside from that and the rules that went along with it, all the new rules have vastly improved the game. The icing rule is especially awesome. 2-line pass was bullshit, and yeah, hook-and-hold was boring and just rewards guys with big reach.

Honestly, aside from the lamey shootouts and no ties stuff, I think the league's been in the best shape it's been for a while. Yeah, there are a lot of teams, but who fucking cares? Do you personally have an investment in the Atlanta Thrashers and if they do well or poorly? If they do poorly then they move or fold. So what? Take the Caps for example. They've put in a centerpiece with Ovechkin and have him secured for many years. With some deadline trades this year, they've brought in Fedorov, who can only compliment Ovechkin and help him learn and improve, and a top-tier goalie in Huet to take over for the aging Ollie. In another season they can have a serious 6-8 seed contender, or maybe they can even take the Southeast. Bring the Stars back to Minny? Jesus. Do you people even fucking watch hockey?
>> Anonymous
>>37686
Wow, and here I was just using his hair and unashamed on-ice goonery as evidence.

>>37689
Mostly agreed with everything you said. SOME southern hockey markets have been viable, but the vast majority haven't. Unfortunately there are big issues about having franchises elsewhere, namely due to arena facilities/size and geographical location. It's unlikely that Hartford will return since there are what, three-four teams in the immediate area already. Not only would there be difficulty in splitting up fanbases even further, a franchise there would have to pay every other team in the immediate area to compensate for potential damages to their already-existing markets. It's a big reason why that push for a team in Hamilton during the PRedators sale drama didn't work out - a team there would have to spend even more money beyond the inflated price of a franchise to compensate both Buffalo and Toronto. I agree that the NHL needs to move to new markets, it just needs to be in the right places. Milwaukee would work in a geographical sense, as would Winnipeg or Quebec. Even Seattle or Oregon might possibly work, there isn't as much fanbase encroachment offered up by Vancouver there as there would be in the Niagara or NY/New England area, plus it'd serve as a nice linkup of coast teams between San Jose to Van.
>> Anonymous
>>37702
yeah. his wife isn't all that much better in the fashion department, but at least neither she nor her kids wear crocs.
>> Anonymous
>Do you personally have an investment in the Atlanta Thrashers and if they do well or poorly?

Ultimately the entire league suffers if money is being flushed down the toilet to the degree these deep-south franchises are doing. It's leading to talk of things like putting advertisements on jerseys and beyond to try and offset lost revenue. I'd prefer not to have my Wings officially become known as Nokia's Detroit Red Wings just so that the NHL can continue to force hockey onto a market that clearly isn't interested.
>> Anonymous
>>37689
The Sharks and Ducks are popular because there's nothing else to compete with them in the winter. If the Clips move to Anaheim or the Niners move to Santa Clara, I guarantee that both will draw lots of people away from hockey.

But between them, San Jose is a far better hockey town. Walking around downtown on a game night you'll see teal all around, and in Anaheim there's not a sweater in sight.
>> Anonymous
>Move the North Stars back to Minny?

Uh, where the hell was this said?
>> Anonymous
>>37686
Chris Pronger is Don Cherry 2.0?
>> Anonymous
>>37723

Please don't compare the two. Don Cherry does tacky with style!
>> Anonymous
>>37726
Mentally the two are a toss-up, though. Though in Pronger's favour he dosen't eat up half of his airtime talking about how awesome war is.
>> Anonymous
>>37715
Ducks, yes. Sharks, no. We Sharks fans are a faithful breed.
>> Anonymous
>>37732

True. But in terms of "I'm going to explode your eyes with my clothes" I'd rather be the victim of Cherry than Pronger.
>> Anonymous
>>37732
Don Cherry thinks Pronger is God on ice, though.

PRONGER ON HOLMSTROM = HOLMSTROM SKATED HIMSELF INTO THE GLASS, HIS FAULT
PRONGER ON MACAMMOND = MACAMMOND SKATED HIMSELF INTO PRONGER'S ELBOW, HIS FAULT
PRONGER ON KESLER = KESLER SWUNG HIS LEG UP INTO PRONGER'S SKATE, HIS FAULT

ALSO CHRIS SIMON IS INNOCENT BECAUSE HE'S CANADIAN.
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
>>37702
>>37691

I'm opposed to any league contraction.

That said, we are stuck with a very difficult situation.

Honestly....

I think that the NHL should consider adding European teams. Of all the major sports, the NHL would benefit the most from European exposure.

The logistics would suck but I feel that with creative scheduling it could be overcome.
>> Anonymous
not a sport
>> Anonymous
>>37763
Disregard that, I watch NASCAR and WWE.
>> Anonymous
>>37761
Are you kidding? Both the Kings and the Ducks played like shit after the London stint, and that was only two games. Having league-wide season-long play on both sides of the Atlantic would be a logistical nightmare and reduce playing ability to something little better than an enlarged AHL. The Eastern Conference already bitches enough about traveling to play Western Conference teams, trying to convince them to travel to EUROPE for games on a regular basis would be laughable.
>> Anonymous
>>37691
>I like how all your fucking genius solutions are to bring hockey back to cities where they already got fucking canned from.

You mean like exactly what happened with Minnesota, the Bay Area, and Atlanta? Bitch please.
>> Anonymous
>>37768

I lol'd at Eastern Conference teams bitching about travel.
>> Anonymous
>>37772Minnesota, the Bay Area, and Atlanta

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong....
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
>>37768

Once again, creative scheduling.

For example, scheduling in which the teams play their European trip all at once and when they return enjoy a 3 or 4 day rest. A flight to London from NY is not that much farther than a flight to LA. (It's like an hour longer)

I'd rather see a robust European franchise than this dying sickly southern trash that we have now.
>> Anonymous
>>37779
Unless you're going to schedule two-week breaks before and after every cross-atlantic road trip to allow players to properly recuperate, no scheduling is going to be feasible to counter reduced playing ability. The distance of travel is far too great even for eastern teams, let alone for ones on the PAcific coast.

>>37774
I know, I know, I know, point is that saying 'it's not happening because teams have had franchises there in the past that have failed' is a bullshit argument to make.

>>37773
bitching about travel to play against Western conference teams. Teams in the West are used to it, their conference is stretched over four time zones. Most Eastern teams can take bus rides to play one another.
>> Anonymous
Both the Ducks and Kings played like shit for longer periods than just 3 or 4 days. Granted it likely isn't exclusively because of jet lag but I'd say more time would be needed in order to properly recuperate. That combined with the inclusion of even MORE teams into the league means either virtually no inter-division play or a much longer season, neither of which are particularly beneficial for players or fans.
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
>>37793

>Unless you're going to schedule two-week breaks before and after every cross-atlantic road trip to allow players to properly recuperate

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Kill yourself.

>The distance of travel is far too great even for eastern teams

Can you read?
>> Anonymous
>>37798
Yeah, and travel issues have been a steady source of bitching from most Eastern teams. I'm sure they'll absolutely love the prospect of having to do it twice as often. Let alone telling Vancouver they'll have to travel twice as far on regular intervals.
>> Anonymous
>>37793

(Re: your response to>>37773)

Regardless, I think it's laughable that Eastern Conference teams can complain about the rare trip out West to play hockey when our teams regularly have to travel long distances to play teams of their own division.

Being from the West, I'm obviously biased towards my own teams, so I ask you this (assuming you follow Eastern teams and are biased towards them): What is the Eastern Conference's response to our complaints that you don't have to travel very far compared to us? I don't mean the official responses... I want to know what the average hockey fan thinks of it.
>> Anonymous
>>37793
Because the Ducks and Kings had absolutely stellar starts to their seasons after that trip.
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
>>37801

We don't give a shit.

Every major sport travels all over North America.

Man the fuck up.
>> Anonymous
>>37803
North America.
North America.
North America.
North America.
North America.
North America.
North America.
North America.

Key geographical reference there.
>> Anonymous
>>37803

Hm. That's a bit of a shitty attitude, but I guess it makes sense for you guys to think like that.

Still, I don't agree with you. Let's make Eastern teams have a minimum travelling time between each game? Then we'll see how well your 'superstars' perform.
>> Red Machine D !h1LZxECEVA
>>37761

Then enjoy the continuance of throwing millions of dollars at a dozen markets that could give a fuck less about hockey.
>> Anonymous
>>37803

>>Every major sport travels all over North America.

But Eastern teams AREN'T travelling all over NA. They're travelling between 2 states and a provice or some shit like that.
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
>>37812

>They're travelling between 2 states and a provice or some shit like that.

http://www.sportmapworld.com/map/ice-hockey/north-america/nhl/

DERP DERP DERP
>> Anonymous
>>37812
Someone needs to look at a fucking map one of these days. Teams in the Eastern Conference barely travel at all compared to the West. You're arguing against the fact that a road trip from San Jose to Dallas is considerably larger than a road trip from NYC to New Jersey. You're combating raw math here.
>> Anonymous
>>37815
Yes, Eastern Conference teams are condensed within a much smaller area than the Western Conference. How does that prove any point you're attempting to make. Ten games out of an 80-plus game season dosen't amount to much cross-continental travel for the East.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
In other news, Don Cherry is wearing an ugly suit.

Also, Heaven and Hell: Cherry vs. Madden. WHO WINS?!
>> Anonymous
>>37821

What about a North/South conference divide? It'ed even the travel time out. Granted, that doesn't solve the problem of "get rid of southern teams."
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
>>37883

Worrying about travel time is for faggots trying to make excuses for why their team sucks dick.

I'd rather have European teams over another failed Canadian franchise.
>> Anonymous
>>37715If the Clips move to Anaheim
You realize that if the Clippers moved to Anaheim, they'd share the same building as the Ducks.. right?
>> Anonymous
>>37936
Still, people there would rather spend money on basketball than hockey.
>> Anonymous
>>37951
when lakers play there for preseason it's not even sold out.
>> Anonymous
>>37954
When the Ducks play in the regular season it's not sold out.
>> Anonymous
>>37958
i know. i'm>>37615
>> Anonymous
>>37893
>failed Canadian franchise.

Because Minnesota and the Bay Area's (fuck, even Ottawa's) failed franchises totally had no chance whatsoever at a successful return to NHL hockey, right?

GB2/killingtheNHL/, Bettman.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>37893
If worrying about travel time is such an issue, why do you contemplate giving players a 3-4 day rest between trans-Atlantic road trips. Hell, make them play alternating home-European away games night after night, after all travel issues are for pussies right? It's not like San Jose to Berlin is really, really fucking far or anything like that

While we're at it, why not integrate ourselves into the euro leagues? It'll totally be awesome when our players go out on the ice looking like this, and we can give our teams edgy new names like BCHydro's Vancouver Canucks or the Ebay.com London Pissynannies.
>> Anonymous
>>37893
I think European teams would be cool in an ideal world, but dude, they can barely schedule teams correctly as it is. Unless that schedule jimmying like 6 months addressed this, I'm pretty sure that there are teams that don't meet all season, which is inexcusable. Even if they do, certain teams have played like, once. Like, how often do Calgary and Boston play each other? Yeah. And now you want to throw in the Roman Centurions too? Dude, you're just being unrealistic.

I'm kind of curious about all this "southern trash" everyone is talking about. Carolina won the year before last. Tampa Bay won the season before (pre-lockout). Nashville is second behind Detroit in their division. Like, what the fuck are you basing all this nonsense on? Atlanta, TB, Florida having bad seasons? Give me a fucking break. When was the last time "established" teams in "hockey towns" made it to the Stanley Cups Finals? Let's take a look, shall we? Boston, 1990. Vancouver, 1994. Montreal, 1993. Toronto, 19-FUCKING-67. But I guess because they're "real teams in hockey towns", they're more valuable, right? This bitching is so fucking pointless. People are never happy.
>> Anonymous
>>38183
>I'm pretty sure that there are teams that don't meet all season, which is inexcusable. Even if they do, certain teams have played like, once. Like, how often do Calgary and Boston play each other?

Bettman and the other head honchos of the NHL are finally remedying this, actually. They're cutting out two games each team plays against a division rival (ie, Vancouver will play Calgary Minnesota Edmonton and Colorado six times each a season instead of eight) and using the extra games for cross-conference play (so now a Western Conference team will play every Eastern team at least once a season and will play three Eastern teams twice to keep the season at 82 games)

>I'm kind of curious about all this "southern trash" everyone is talking about. Carolina won the year before last. Tampa Bay won the season before (pre-lockout).

Yet despite these SC wins in recent years, it isn't resulting in increased turnout for these franchises. Most of them are still giving away anything they possibly can to draw people in and it simply isn't working. It's not a great sign when your arena is half-empty and out of the people who ARE there, probably 1/3 of them only attended because they won a pair of tickets somewhere. There was a bit of a rush in Tampa Bay when they won the thing but it's long died down now - probably dosen't help that they're dead last in the East. Same thing for the Ducks as can be backed up by our Anaheim porter's testimony. You need only to glance at a game being hosted in one of these cities and see the large fields of empty seats to see that these aren't viable hockey markets. Minnesota and Vancouver by contrast have sellout streaks lasting years.
>> Anonymous
>>38189
>Nashville is second behind Detroit in their division.

Do you know how big that gap is? It's kind of a moot point anyway, last season Nashville was for most of the season on top of Detroit, yet the original owner of the franchise jumped ship because the team has never stopped losing money since it entered the league.

>Like, what the fuck are you basing all this nonsense on? Atlanta, TB, Florida having bad seasons? Give me a fucking break.

Uh, have you looked at the standings lately? If divisional leaders weren't automatically given a top-three spot the only team in the SE division that would be in the playoffs is Carolina, and they'd only scrape into an 8th-spot seed. The entire division sucks donkey dick.

>When was the last time "established" teams in "hockey towns" made it to the Stanley Cups Finals?

Calgary in 2004? Edmonton in 2006? Ottawa in 2007? Cities there went fucking batshit insane during their runs to the finals and they didn't even have to win the damned thing. If anything the last few years have only proven that getting your team's name engraved on the Cup dosen't automatically buy you a large, loyal fanbase.
>> Anonymous
>>37883
>Granted, that doesn't solve the problem of "get rid of southern teams."
Bingo.