NHL Season 08-09

[Ratatapa]

Found this on a blog, it has some sense but once again it is fan based, not officially NHL number i guess

10) Buffalo Sabres

9) Edmonton Oilers

8 ) Pittsburgh Penguins

7) Toronto Maple Leafs

6) Nashville Predators

5) Montreal Canadiens

4) Carolina Hurricanes

3) Philadelphia Flyers

2) New York Rangers

1) Detroit Red Wings


Edit there's 1 team that in my opnion doesnt have a spot in that list and it's the preds lol

[Izzy]

Do you mean biggest as in terms of city population or team support?

As lame as it sounds I'd throw Buffalo in the mix. They have one of the largest television watching populations (probably 2nd to detroit) in terms of NHL viewership, even for games in which the Sabres are not playing.

When the Sabres were in the playoffs 2 springs ago, during one of the home playoff games 10,000 fans had gathered outside of the stadium to watch (the game when Drury scored with 7 seconds left to tie against the Rangers and force it into OT). That's in addition to the already sold out 18,690 seat HSBC arena. 10,000 fans...right outside the stadium partying. It was amazing to see on TV. You can find a clip of it on youtube (Drury goal + mass crowd of people jumping/hugging/screaming). It brings a tear to my eye...because then management let Drury walk away.

YouTube - Buffalo Sabres Chris Drury Goal 5-4-07 vs. New York Rangers

What a fucking glorious day.

[Izzy]

YouTube - Sabres tieing and winning goals vs. Rangers Game 5

That one includes the game winner in overtime as well.

Rick Jeanneret is on my list of all time best play by play announcers for any sport.

[Ratatapa]

2 nice ovation video

YouTube - Crowd Bell Centre playoff, Standing Ovation

YouTube - & this is why I love the Bell Center


and just to tease a bit YO rangers fan remember this?!!


YouTube - Rangers Lose 6-5

was awsome hehe

[Viq]

ESPN.com has pretty good looking attendance charts. Numbers after each city is the average home game attendance for the season.

2007-2008:
1.Montreal - 21,273
2.Buffalo - 19,950
3.Ottawa - 19,821
4.Philadelphia - 19,556
5.Toronto - 19,434
6.Calgary - 19,289
7.Detroit - 18,870
8.Tampa Bay - 18,692
9.Vancouver - 18,630
10.Minnesota - 18,568

2008-2009:
1.Chicago - 22,380
2.Montreal - 21,273
3.Detroit - 19,827
4.Philadelphia - 19,521
5.Toronto - 19,295
6.Calgary - 19,289
7.Ottawa - 18,796
8.Vancouver - 18,630
9.Minnesota - 18,568
10.Buffalo - 18,506

Source: NHL Attendance Leaders - National Hockey League - ESPN

EDIT: I should point out for people too lazy to click the source link, the ESPN charts do keep track of Avg. % of Capacity. There are some teams (Edmonton, Pittsburgh, etc.) that average sell out or better (SRO tickets often don't count as normal crowd capacity), but don't make the lists due to smaller venues.

[Ratatapa]

Well yeah i forgot about chicago especially with their nice season this year.

Ottawa took a dip down like i expected with their bad seasons.

I am sad to see boston is not there.


As for habs like i said tickets are kinda sold till 2012 (not kidding) even if schedule not out lol

[Viq]

Boston's attendance is great right now. They've sold out for about a month or so straight. Their numbers are low for a number of reasons. First, coming into this season they were a distant fourth as far as Boston sports franchises go. After all, they are the only major team in the city that hasn't won at least one championship this decade... or last decade... or the decade before that... you get the picture. When four teams compete for the same dollars, casual fans will spend their money on the Pats and Celtics earlier in the season.

Second, the most recent memory for fans coming into this season was losing another series to the Habs. While Montreal was clearly the better team, and won deservedly, fans in Boston have become tired of the script (mediocre regular season, first round loss to Montreal). Most of the off season for Bruin fans was spent questioning whether Jeremy Jacobs was willing to spend enough to win (clearly flawed, as the Bruins are seldom below the cap), questioning whether Chiarelli was heading in the right direction, and wondering if Bergeron would be able to make a healthy return. This all made for even greater skepticism at the start of the season on the part of the Bruins fans.

tl;dr Boston's attendance is fine now, but was below average for the first bit of the season.

[Thoronas]

2007-2008:
1.Montreal - 21,273
2.Buffalo - 19,950
3.Ottawa - 19,821
4.Philadelphia - 19,556
5.Toronto - 19,434
6.Calgary - 19,289
7.Detroit - 18,870
8.Tampa Bay - 18,692
9.Vancouver - 18,630
10.Minnesota - 18,568

2008-2009:
1.Chicago - 22,380
2.Montreal - 21,273
3.Detroit - 19,827
4.Philadelphia - 19,521
5.Toronto - 19,295
6.Calgary - 19,289
7.Ottawa - 18,796
8.Vancouver - 18,630
9.Minnesota - 18,568
10.Buffalo - 18,506

Source: NHL Attendance Leaders - National Hockey League - ESPN

True hockey markets. The only teams to have their attendance stay the same (or in phillies case barely change).

[Brill Weave]

Yeah, sadly until the Penguins get their new arena the attendance will always be lower. I think our maximum capacity including standing room only is like 17,500. I will miss Mellon Arena, there were truely no bad seats in the entire joint except the obstructed viewing seats.

[Norelco]

YouTube - Buffalo Sabres Chris Drury Goal 5-4-07 vs. New York Rangers

What a fucking glorious day.

I still fucking tear up at that.

[Arnwulf]

This thread has turned lame....back to the SEASON discussion.

I think this is the year the Sharks actually make it to the Stanley Cup finals, they just seem like a different team this year. But I'm hoping that my Bluejackets win in the first round, with Calgary tanking lately, that chance is looking better and better.

[Ratatapa]

Ok Rangers Vs habs tonight !!!!!

Habs better wake themself up or we will loose 6 place

[Norelco]

This thread has turned lame....back to the SEASON discussion.

I think this is the year the Sharks actually make it to the Stanley Cup finals, they just seem like a different team this year. But I'm hoping that my Bluejackets win in the first round, with Calgary tanking lately, that chance is looking better and better.

No one cares about the West. Go away.


j/k

[Brill Weave]

You mean there's other teams in the West besides Detroit?

[Oxyminus]

Ok Rangers Vs habs tonight !!!!!

Habs better wake themself up or we will loose 6 place

Oh it's on!!!!

Rangers are due to win a game IN MTL!

LETS GO RANGERS!!!

[Arnwulf]

So Oxy, who do you think the priorities are on who the Rangers should keep in the offseason? Supposedly they're going to have to get rid of several of their high dollar contracts in order to re-sign some people and such. I can definitely seem them offloading Drury and Gomez.

[Brill Weave]

They'll keep Drury. Gomez I wouldn't be shocked to see leave.

[Arnwulf]

To be honest, looking at NHLnumbers.com and seeing the UFA's that they have...they're going to have to make a major overhaul in the offseason. Zherdev is going to cost them a lot next year as well, I think he's due for almost 5mil.

[Oxyminus]

Our upcoming RFAs are Zherdev, Dubinsky, Korpokoski, Sjostrom, Callahan, Betts (UFA), Mara (UFA), Valliquete (UFA), Antropov (UFA), Morris (UFA)

They need to keep Dubinsky and Zherdev, long haul those are two of their most important pieces up front. Dubi is having sophmore slump issues but they're not gonna give up on him. Zherdev is sometimes erratic, but he's without question the most talented offensive player we have, can't let him go. Korpedo and Callahan will be easy to retain, won't demand too much money. Great energy/depth guys who are still progressing. Mara I'd love to see stay, not sure if he'll take a home discount again (have walked away from like a 2.5m raise to resign with NYR this past summer) to stay here.

Betts has been a great guy ever since he joined the rangers, such an underrated SOLID 4th liner. If he can stay for cheap, I'd always want him around. Same goes for Sjostrum, his speed is great on the PK, and has looked good on the 3rd line chances he's been getting late (goal in nashville, goal sunday vs philly).

Antropov has been a beast since the trade (3g, 2a in 6 games). I'd like to retain him, he gives us another weapon on a team that while their style is now more suited for goal scoring, still lack top-tier goal scoring talent. Antropov gives us another solid scorer, he could be a solid 70-80pt guy here I think.

But the big question is contracts to move. Being Gomez (7.5m), Drury (7m), Redden (6.5M), and Roszival (5m). Rosy is the most likely to be moved because he has no clauses, and is the most sensible contract. I'd LOVE to see Reddens contract gone. He's been better (slightly) lately, but not nearly enough to justify what he makes...and for 5 MORE YEARS!?!? Gomez as well has been playing better, and i cant blame him for signing that contract, but he's just not a 7.5m guy. I think moving him will depend on if the brass thinks Anisimov is ready to go (yey depth at center!) if he is, Gomez might be as good as gone. And there was a rumor they were shopping him earlier in the season. Drury won't be going anywhere, overpaid, but love the man.

I'd also be okay with trading Naslund. He's been good for us, but if I had to pick b/w Naslund for 1 more season, or clearing out cap space to resign someone (say Antropov) I'd move him. 1 year left at 4m, not a bad contract, someone will take it.

[Arnwulf]

I could honestly see the Bluejackets as takers for Gomez's contract, we'll have the cap space AND I can't imagine a scenario where we'd re-sign Christian Backman. We've made no secret that we need a good Center and there were rumblings around the trade deadline of us trying to see what the price for him would be.

I think Howson decided to wait until the draft to make any big moves seeing as how teams such as the Rangers will be much more desparate to move payroll then.