Why can't these areshole work this out while the the season still continue? Talking about totally unprofessionalism. Freaking greedy people. In the winter seasons there's nothing good on except for NBA and NHL and losing NHL would be a great lost.
so am i correct in assuming (since i don't follow hockey or give a crap about it i'll have to go on the 30 seconds they talked about it on espnews) that the players have been bending the owners over a chair when it comes to who is getting most of the revenue lately? they said the union's proposal included reducing salaries by 5%. i figure if a union is actually willing to give up 5% of it's guaranteed money, then it must have it real good right now. oh, and HOCKEY SUX. don't let the door hit ya on the way out of my sportscenter highlights.
Great now they can talk about standardizing the goalies equipment to make sure no wild ducks goalie can cheat.
i really enjoy hockey. the owners will dig their heels in. the financial condition of the league will improve, big time. and someone will move a team to Houston. this is the beginning of good news for me! see how it all evens out for me? I'm Even Steven.
Problem is the owners are stupid and need protected from themselves. They pay outragegous salaries and then lose money and blame the players for not agreeing to a salary cap (note the NHL has no salary cap so some teams have $80M payrolls like Detroit and others are around $20M like pittsburgh). Also rookie contracts are fixed/slotted but the current CBA allows for bonuses. So someone like Rick Nash (2nd year in league, plays for CBJ and tied for the league lead in goals last years) earned $1M in salary but $5M in bonuses. As you can guess teh owners want a salary cap of around $35M and the players won't accept it. But let me tell you now how the thing will be resolved next year: -There will be a soft cap for a couple years (to allow the Detroits of teh world to get in compliance) and a final cap number of $40-45M. Owners will also do away with most bonuses in rookie deals. The players will get unrestricted free agency before their 31st birthday, will get each team to have a salary floor of $25M, and wil get a larger share of playoff revenue.
Contraction. I mean, there are only like six teams that even need to be in this league. None of the other towns are hockey towns. The league seems like a joke.
Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Colorado, Minnesota, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, Dallas, NY (1 team), Philly, San Jose, Tampa Bay, St. Louis -- those, IMO, are teams that could easily keep their NHL teams, and i'm sure there are at least 5 more that would be fine.
EDIT: Crap, just saw you have Colorado. Missed them originally. BTW, I never will understand why all the hockey haters have to rip on it at every opportunity. No one cares that you don't like it. Baseball sucks, so you don't see me going into baseball threads do you?
[FattyFatBastard response] But on the flip side, it is getting to the point that no one cares about the NHL in the US. Hockey is clearly the #4 sport in this country and has no hope of ever getting out of that spot. To quote the immortal Bruce Hornsby, that is just the way it is.[/FattyFatBastard response]
Oh, I also forgot to mention that NHL overtime should be switched to the classic IHL format -- SHOOTOUT! But that's only for regular season games; it would avoid a lot of boring and unsatisfying ties and speed up the game while retaining a lot of interest. Playoff hockey should still have sudden death however.
Exactly please read the bold part of my post above. Evidently several people in the thread haven't (Manny ) Looking at attendance figures for 03-04 5 teams drew less than 14k/game, including Pittsburgh, the Islanders and the Blackhawks. The Chicago AHL (AAA) team drew 8,000/gm. Usual powerhouse New Jersey drew less than 15k/gm. Sad to see the lowest NHL franchise drawing only 2k /gm more than the highest AHL franchise. The ECHL (AA) attendance leader averaged 6214. I think doing away with a couple of teams isn't such a bad thing. If the lockout lasts as long as expected their will be some teams that could fold on their own.
[Fatty FatBastard Response]Ice Soccer will never make it. Maybe if they dressed them up in Disney Caricatures, it would be different.[/Fatty FatBastard Response]
Oh, I agree... and instead of overtime in basketball they should play a game of H-O-R-S-E... and instead of extra innings in baseball, they should have a home run derby... and instead of overtime in football they should have the quarterback throw the ball through a tire... and cricket matches should be decided by a duel to the death... (only one of those suggestions was serious ).
Low scoring hockey games are much better than a low scoring basketball game. With basketball all you need to do is watch the last two minutes of the game anyway.
man, 4 on 4 overtime during the season is some of the best hockey to watch, it's so wide open and there are so many chances. shootouts are pretty tense as seen in the 1996 (i might be wrong) sweden vs canada world junior championships...but they simply do not prove the better team. shootouts if anything, should be a last resort, after the overtime in hockey - if you're really against ties.
You know, I watched a little NHL hockey on television during the Stars' Stanley Cup run a few years back, and I thought it was okay. But last season, I had my first opportunity to see a game in person, and it was so much better. Television doesn't do the sport the proper justice.
Not to be a hater, but I think this is a great idea. Hockey should only be played in cold states. If there's no ice where you live, there shouldn't be ice hockey where you live.
