2009-10 NHL Thread

[Palin]

It's not surprising that winning and having superstars gets you fans. Look at Pitts and Washington pre-2004. Winning is the best recipe for success.

[Callisto]

Totally off topic but Callisto, I saw a toon on Unicorn just now with your name as an elvaan monk. Is that you on a server change? I sent them a tell but they replied with translator saying they don't speak english lol.

No, and holy shit @ them still playing lol. I'm actually 'Callysto' now, I had to give up the i when I moved to Caitsith, but that JP was the first time I ever saw another Callisto on another server on some random JP site, and they were oddly enough the exact same model and also a RDM.

[Abraxas]

Someone's never been to Long Island, and since we have no old Mike Bossy homers in this thread, I'll take up the charge. This is a franchise with a proud history and a good fan base, last season their attendance percentages were right around other teams that struggled despite loyal fans (Colorado, St. Louis) and while their figures have dropped so far this year, so have the whole league's. Still, the only teams below the 75% threshold are Atlanta and Phoenix. As the ghosts of Milbury are slowly being exercised, I'm guessing the Islanders will return to perennial respectability.

If I were Bettman for a day, I'd axe Atlanta, Nashville, Florida and Columbus. Tampa could still survive I think. But I really don't have a problem with there being 30 teams rather than 24 or 26, it's just where they're located. Moving out of Hartford, Winnipeg, Quebec and the Twin Cities was retarded, and only one has been lucky enough to get a team back. Meanwhile, would anyone in San Jose care about the Sharks if they had 50 points right now instead of 80? And I'm not gonna lie, Washington has had that problem in the past. Pre-Boudreau we were terrible, no one was showing up, and the franchise was losing money hand over fist.

Long story short, I think everyone can agree the league needs to contract and/or migrate north.

i want to 2nd this. to take away the islanders is a really dumb thing to say. have you never heard of Bossy, Trottier, LaFontaine, etc. i mean, they won 4 straight cups.

yeah, go ahead and kick them out of the league

[Sepukku]

I still say Seattle/Washington (the state) needs a team. Move Florida's franchise to Seattle, move a Pacific or Northwest team (I'm thinking Minnesota) to the Central, move Detroit to the Eastern Conference. Potentially move the Thrashers or another failing Southeast team out West and have Chicago move East too.

The problem is with the West though, and I don't remember where I heard this, but I heard it recently - maybe it was from one of you guys, IDK, I barely skim what you guys write cause you're all fucking idiots anyways - but over half the US population lays in the Eastern Time Zone, like 160 million people in the Eastern Time Zone and the other 150-160 million in the central, mountain, and pacific time zones combined.

[Callisto]

I don't think it'd really be a good idea to move Detroit/Chicago to the East(well, geographically I do but that's besides the point). Hockey already gets massively more East-coast bias than other sports in terms of coverage, that'd just make it worse for the West, which is already the superior conference right now but gets dicked on the coverage share.

[Sepukku]

Well if you remove Detroit and Chicago and take them East, the East becomes the undisputed powerhouse and the coverage reflects the quality.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Northeast Division becomes the Classic Division:
--Montreal
--Toronto
--Boston
--New York Rangers
--Detroit
--Chicago

Atlantic
--Columbus
--Ottawa Senators
--Pittsburgh Penguins
--Philadelphia
--Buffalo Sabres

Coastal Division:
--New York Islanders
--Washington
--New Jersey Devils
--Tampa Bay
--Carolina

WESTERN CONFERENCE:
Central Division:
--Minnesota
--Dallas
--Nashville
--St. Louis
--(Give Central Canada some former Eastern Conference franchise to shut you retards up)

Northwest:
--Vancouver
--Seattle
--Calgary
--Edmonton
--Colorado

Pacific:
--San Jose
--Los Angeles
--Phoenix
--Anaheim

I realize there are 6-5-5 (16) vs. 5-5-4 (14) disparities between the Conferences/Divisions, but I think that this arrangement would promote better rivalries, traveling logistics, attendance, and profitability for the NHL.

If Phoenix needs moved, send them to the Northwest and make Seattle in the Pacific, or send them to a team that can be in the Central Division, move Minnesota back to the Northwest, and then Seattle down to the Pacific.

[NynJa]

My choices were taken from forbes, which is a pretty reputable site when it comes to this?

Sharks? They average a sellout, have higher attendance and are a better team than the other two California teams.

2001 numbers:
Team @ Value / Revenue / Operating Income
LA @ 189 / 73 / 3.4
Anaheim @ 118 / 49 / -5.5
San Jose @ 148 / 63 / 4

2006:
LA @ 205 82 7.1
Anaheim @ 157 75 -0.2
San Jose @ 145 69 1.8

2009:
LA @ 208 92 10.6
Anaheim @ 206 94 4.8
San Jose @ 184 84 -5.0

I'm pretty sure for the past 5 years, San Jose, over the course of a season, has been the strongest team of the 3? Though they may stink it up in the playoffs lol.

Someone's never been to Long Island, and since we have no old Mike Bossy homers in this thread, I'll take up the charge.

Is that why the Islanders are stinking it up when it comes to money?

Lets compare ticket prices, shall we?
For 120 USD you can get behind the team bench?

New York Islanders vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, NY
Sat, Feb 6, 2010 07:00 PM
Section 116
Row G
Seats 5
Description Price Level 4 Loge Level Seating
Type
Full Price Ticket
Ticket Price
US $120.00 x 1
Price Details
Facility Charge
US $2.00 x 1
Convenience Charge
US $6.50 x 1

In retrospect, a similiar ticket in toronto costs 200$ Canadian (and the currencies are practically at par now).

http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/inde...90/118-2008-09

So...if the Islanders have a loyal fan base, how come their average attendance worked as follows:
2006-07 - 3rd to last
2007-08 - last
2008-09 - last

Key to note though that Chicago in 06/07 was second to last, jumped to 19th the next year, and was #1 last year.

By your logic we should get rid of the Edmonton Oilers too, unless you're just eliminating teams you don't like.

Despite being such a shitty team, the Oilers are still making money. Attendance list shows, no matter how good or bad they are, people are still buying tickets to support their team. Forbes list shows, no matter how bad they were, they're still making money:
Edmonton Oilers 166 -5 60 83 9.4(Operating Income)

NynJa is just a racist little French fuck. Hes trying desperately to hold on to the one truly good thing Canada has ever done. Winnipeg? Are you for real? Where the fuck even is Winnipeg? I'm guessing Manitoba and the Arctic Shelf deserve teams too?

You clueless fuck, I told you to kill yourself a long as fuck time ago. You dont know a god damn thing about hockey, stay the fuck away from this thread.

i want to 2nd this. to take away the islanders is a really dumb thing to say. have you never heard of Bossy, Trottier, LaFontaine, etc. i mean, they won 4 straight cups.

yeah, go ahead and kick them out of the league

The Canes and Bolts won cups too...and look at them now.

1905-06 - Ottawa Senators
1904-05 - Ottawa Senators
1903-04 - Ottawa Senators
1902-03 - Ottawa Senators
Didnt stop them from getting kicked out for a good 80 years? I'll admit thats a reach, but still.

[Callisto]

Key to note though that Chicago in 06/07 was second to last, jumped to 19th the next year, and was #1 last year.

You should note that a lot more changed in Chicago than just the record, there were massive, sweeping organizational changes in how the team and arena were run and how hospitable they were to fans.

Old Man Wirtz had the team completely locked out of TV contracts because he didn't want to give away the ability to see the games for free, they had fired the beloved radio commentator, and happened to suck ass on the ice on top of it.

I can't think of any team who actually did more to discourage attendance over the earlier parts of the last decade.

[Sepukku]

You clueless fuck, I told you to kill yourself a long as fuck time ago. You dont know a god damn thing about hockey, stay the fuck away from this thread.

Why? Cause I'm American? Cause I can't speak French? Fucking terrorist, get on the ball. America is the best place on Earth. You foriegners laugh at our obesity (which is overstated, from whats been discussed here, Abraxas is the only fat American here), but we indulge ourselves because we can. We're wealthy enough to stuff our faces. Beats scraping for nuts and fruit in Africa.

The hockey intelligence heirarchy goes:
Sidney Crosby
Me
Mario Lemieux
Dan Bylsma
Albert Einstein
Ivaden/BrillCS
Thoronos/Callisto
Ratapata
That goat from The Men Who Stare at Goats
Bunch of fucking Caps fans
Patrick Star from Spongebob
Tracy Morgan
You
Abraxas

[Callisto]

Dan Bylsma is like 24 and balding, I will not accept him being ahead of me there.

[Selamis]

Tracy Morgan is outraged that he isn't higher on this list!

[Callisto]

[Abraxas]

somewhere on that list Kimmo Timonen is higher than Eaton

just sayin'

[Brill Weave]

I love how Abraxas is always last in Sep's lists.

[Abraxas]

even someone he is currently arguing with.

at least his ignorance is consistent

[Bregor]

Re: Islanders, Nassau is the smallest arena currently with an NHL team, it only seats a little over 16,000. By contrast, Bell Centre in Montreal seats over 21,000, and the Joe seats over 20,000. So yes, their overall draw and income figures are low. I'm guessing individual ticket prices have stayed low due to the economic situation on Long Island, although I have no real evidence to back that up. Regardless, the percentage of capacity they reach on average is a little more respectable. Also, the team has been terribly mismanaged, with only one trip to the playoffs since the lockout. Hopefully, either a new arena or substantial renovations will still happen.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5906RR20091002

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_Project

Also, Nynja, if you're going to be trolling this thread hardcore, you need your Cartman "respect my authoritah" avatar back. Takes me back to the days of Lance, Judah and epic advanced threads.

PS - Sep, you don't mention me by name in your list. I'm almost hurt.

[Selamis]

How the hell does Joe Louis hold 20,000? Not trolling at all, just seems a bit high...I went there last year for a Hawks playoff game and it was about the size of the building where the Chicago Wolves play at for the AHL. It seemed a lot smaller than the United Center and I think the UC holds 20,000-21,000. Coulda just been perception since there's only two levels at the Joe....where as the UC has three.

[Sepukku]

Plans are underway to expand the list. Begger or w/e Im sorry I didn't mention you, but I don't remember faggle Caps' fan names. Not worth my massive, but still finite brain space.

Also, if Nynja or any other Canadian wishes death upon an American again in this thread, I'm reporting them to the CIA. Im not a terrorist watchdog, I'm just a loyal American trying to protect our noble, exceptional bloodline.

[NynJa]

"EXCUSE ME MR CIA, A CANADIAN THREATENED TO KILL ME, HE SAID I SUCK SIDNEY CROZBYS COCK ALL DAY LONG, HALP ME PLZ", mmhmmmm.
And I never threatened to kill you, I told you to kill yourself, do society a favor brah.

Recession has hit both America and Canada, cant use that as an excuse.

[Ishido]

How the hell does Joe Louis hold 20,000? Not trolling at all, just seems a bit high...I went there last year for a Hawks playoff game and it was about the size of the building where the Chicago Wolves play at for the AHL. It seemed a lot smaller than the United Center and I think the UC holds 20,000-21,000. Coulda just been perception since there's only two levels at the Joe....where as the UC has three.

The Joe does feel a lot smaller than the UC, but the Joe's seats are also smaller and there are no boxes except up top. It is in desperate need of renovation though, rumor has it there will only be 1 or 2 more season played there before the Illitches build a new arena for the Wings.

Also apparently Kovalchuk does not want to stay in Atlanta at all, refusing both a 7 year $70 million contract and a 12 year $101 million contract.