The WHA will only get on the ice at all if there is a crippling work stoppage in the NHL. In any event, a major restructuring and retrenchment is on its way for hockey. We may see a lot smaller NHL in the near future.

I usually don't post in the pro forum, and you all know me well enough to know that I avoid "homer" posts for "my teams"...

But it sure felt good watching the RedWings opener with LA last night. What a great classic hockey game it was. Even though timing was off by both teams in the passing department, it was a classic defensive struggle between two great goaltenders, Cechmanek and Hasek. Score was 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, and 2-2 going into the final five minutes. Both Detroit goals were basically by two defensemen, Fischer and Lidstrom (credited as a Datsyuk deflection)--defense is where Detroit spent a lot of money during the off season, and the defensive roster reads like a who's who of the league... Offense, aside from regulars and Hull, will be by newbies from the last several years, great passers all but who have yet to develop a killer instinct for the net.

Like always Lewis was playing the world's biggest Tinkerbell with the lines--the Detroit philosophy seems to always be "keep them guessing", in the early season, and Lewis experiments way too much. In the final two minutes though, Whitney was paired with Yzerman.

You remember Yzerman, the most respected captain in the league, played in the Olympics with huge knee injury and credited by most to be the Canadians gold medal leader, the prime motivator for the Wings last ten years, the reason the other vets all get along, played in only ten or so games last year due to knee surgery the previous year, more fans wear number 19 in the stands than any other number, already as legendary as Howe...

Ten seconds left, Whitney gathers up the puck and proceeds to the nuetral zone, threads a pass through two other players at the blue line to Yzerman, who shoots with two seconds left and SCORES!!!!!!

You should have seen the Joe erupt with joy, nostalgia, admiration, adoration, and celebration. It was the most classic of openers, one of those great sport moments one always treasures, and adds to the store of great Hockeytown and Yzerman memories.

Pop another Molson, wow...can't wait for the Avs, Stars, and Blues (and oh yeah, those da*n Ducks and that strange bunch of nobodies from Minnesota!). What a year this promises to be...

:D

Nice entry in this forum, javaman. Come in, speak with class, then step back out again. Nice.

Things are understandably more somber for Thrasher fans, as if building a young franchise isn't dounting enough, the Snyder/Heatly tragedy has been very sobering. Pleased to see the boys not only win but play with heart and poise last night. And while we hate to reduce the scope of events to mere rallying cries or excuses, how nice would it be for the team to have a decent season in light of recent events? How fitting a tribute to gutsy Dan Snyder? Coach Hartley, best of luck to you this year.

(BTW, is Atlanta jinxed or what? The Falcons, who've NEVER had back-to-back winning seasons, have returned from their past two post-season appearances and promptly lost their best player to injury and any momentum that might've bucked the trend on winning seasons. Now the Thrashers finally compile a solid roster, great coach, direction... it's so d@#$ fleeting.)

Stars looked good on opening night. Did I say good? I meant to say "machine-like in their perfection!" Just when you thought the Western Conference couldn't get any tougher...

The Sabres franchise is secure and they are staying in Buffalo. The Ottawa Senators got bought out by a very wealthy Canadian who prefers to spend more time in the Bahamas than Canada, but oh well. ;D


Don't really know where the NHL stands on tv funding, but it doesn't look good with an upcoming strike looming. :( Edmonton is doing ok financially, Vancouver's never been better, and Calgary got a new owner just like Buffalo and Ottawa. ;D


Well, if I were king, I would probably force the Florida Panthers to move to Winnipeg, especially now that they finally have a new arena, the True North Centre. Phoenix has got to prove to me that they are worthy of having an NHL team. The new arena does help in that regard. :) I'm surprised you're not in favor of restoring the old Hartford Whalers, considering they are an American NHL team that moved away. :'( Quebec's kinda small for pro sports, IMO, and they haven't built a new arena yet, like Winnipeg. But then again, neither has Hartford. :( Nashville's doing a very good job of promoting hockey in Tennessee. Atlanta does concern me, but I gave the GM of the Thrashers an idea about improving attendance so maybe he will listen to me. ;)

The Carolina Huirricanes, formerly the Hartford Whalers, came from the WHA. ditto on the Colorado Avalanche, formerly the Quebec Nordiques and the Phoenix Coyotes, formerly the Winnipeg Jets.

Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton
Nashville
Florida
TB
Atlanta
San Jose
Anaheim

Add Calgary, Washington and Carolina. Then you have a 3-division, 18 team NHL which people might actually want to watch.

Add Calgary, Washington and Carolina. Then you have a 3-division, 18 team NHL which people might actually want to watch.

Pretty sure that the last time there was an 18-team NHL that no one watched and that one of these teams (Cleveland Barons) was contracted.

Uh, yeah, and tv's didn't exist back then either. ::) ::)

Question, fellas, regarding these franchise locations/contractions; It is my contention that the NHL's heyday came in the late 80's as largely a product of ESPN and local programming, (More Canadian teams, fewer teams overall) and that this prosperity was built on packaging the product for true hockey fans. Sport for sports sake, not sport just for entertainment. Expansion and the push for national TV exposure forced hockey to make business decisions made on more general market info (Total pop vs. actual hockey fans) and began to greatly inflate the costs of the game thanks to the influx of speculative cash. (I promise the ideas seemed simpler and more breif in my head!)

So, perhaps I'm back to my original post, here. Wouldn't hockey be better off with more teams in Canada and other northern cities, as opposed to filling the largest markets? erictelevision, do you really want to contract the Edmonton Oilers, the team synonomous with Wayne Gretsky? Nay, I say. There should be at least 8-10 Canadian teams.

As with anything, moderation is key. Anything overdone will wind up a flop. Hockey does need national tv, but for now, it's going to admit it plays second fiddle to the NFL, the NBA, and even NASCAR. :-/ I wouldn't start contracting frachises yet, but I wouldn't expand anymore either. I think over time, the NHL will be more popular than NASCAR, but it's going to take time for that to happen. Street hockey is a budding sport in the south, and I wouldn't turn my back on it just yet.
[/quote]
So, perhaps I'm back to my original post, here. Wouldn't hockey be better off with more teams in Canada and other northern cities, as opposed to filling the largest markets? erictelevision, do you really want to contract the Edmonton Oilers, the team synonomous with Wayne Gretsky? Nay, I say. There should be at least 8-10 Canadian teams. [/quote]
I disagree with the number of Canadian teams you propose. Seven would be the minimum number I could live with. The NHL needs to return to Winnipeg big time!! However, I have my doubts about places like Saskatoon, Regina, or Quebec City. They're too small and are more minor league markets than major league markets. And Winnipeg would be the only Canadian NHL "Green Bay" I would have.
Here's some markets that really do need teams, IMO, and should get them over time:
1. Winnipeg-the Jets return
2. Cleveland- Ohio can live with two hockey teams.
3. Milwaukee- If they build an NHL rink, I don't have any problems with this one.
4. Hartford- If they build a NEW NHL arena, I wouldn't mind a return of the Whalers to the NHL.

Right now, Sunbelt hockey is flourishing. See Dallas, Carolina, Los Angeles, San Jose, and even Tampa Bay!!
I'd say that hockey has been a success in Nashville and it's only a matter of time before the Thrashers finally turn things around both on the ice and at the gate, IMO.
The only floundering market to me right now is Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Move the Florida Panthers to Winnipeg or Cleveland, and watch the NHL improve in attendance. Do you know how long the Lightning have been in Tampa Bay, Gunnerfan?? At least 10 years. And the Lightning finally have a solid fanbase to show for their efforts. Dallas and Carolina had an easier time building up their fanbases because they didn't get expansion teams like Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Nashville, and Ft. Lauderdale did. And it's tough building an fan base for an expansion team down in the south, in any sport!!
Around 2008, we should see what were the true successes and flops of NHL expansion in the sunbelt.

A franchise in Milwaukee would impede on Chicago's territorial rights. As for Cleveland, Hartford, Winnipeg: been there done that. But then again, that never stopped them before...sometimes with success (Colorado) and other times not (Atlanta)

For some reason, this didn't get posted before, so I'll post it again:

Why did the Rangers & Islanders allow the Devils to move to the suburbs of NYC, when it's pretty clear both teams have/had territorial rights on the city?? How did Chicago pick up territorial rights for Milwaukee? ???

The continuous ownership of the Blackhawks by the Wirtz family has pretty much killed any chances of Milwaukee getting an NHL team. Previous owners, of the NBA Bulls, the Wirtzes opposed the inclusion of the ABA's Kentucky Colonels (one of the more succesful franchises) on grounds that they held the NBA rights to the Colonels' Artis Gilmore.

Not sure about your question on the Devils other than to say the Rangers/Islanders were not as concerned about their respective fan bases (mind you the Devils move occurred amidst the Islander dynasty) and no one saw the Devils as much of a threat, and both were valid points until about the mid-1990s. Face it, the Devils made the playoffs once in their history prior to 1988, and even so, were on the verge of moving to Nashville during the 1995 Stanley Cup run.

As for the Islanders, the NHL "rushed" expansion in 1972 to preempt a WHA presence on Long Island. Don't worry Major League Baseball, there is a professional league that has managed its operations worse than you have and will continue to do so for the forseeable future, and that league is the NHL...how else to explain increasing the size of the league almost 50% over a nine-year span (1991-2000) despite ownership troubles and an obvious need for new markets to supplant pre-existing ones...

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