I’ve never seen Dahlin play but I’ve heard of him, and the fact a Swedish kid is ever heard of in Canada when he’s but 17 years old tells you something. It is obviously hard to not compare him to Erik Karlsson, him being a Swedish two-way guy known for speed who basically wrecked the junior leagues.
Dahlin is very thin for a defenceman - taller than Erik Karlsson but at least 20 pounds lighter. You don’t have to be big to be an NHL blueliner but 170 pounds is probably below the threshold I’d be super comfortable with. Again, though, he’s only 17 so he can full out his frame.
Here’s Dahlin scoring a ludicrous goal.
With his lanky frame and dodging, he looks more like Gretzky than Karlsson, really.
HUGE win for the Preds! Beat the Ducks on the road to take the home ice advantage. I just happen to be in Nashville tonight. All TV’s were glued to the Preds and at the place I was in, when the winner was scored the place went absolutely nuts as if we were all in the arena. Nashville, or Smashville, has really bought into this team big time.
I’m glad to hear Nashville is appreciating the Predators.
Count me in as one of many, many Canadians who said “Nashville? NASHVILLE?” when they were awarded a team.
It seemed like a ludicrous location for a hockey team.
So, the Eastern Conference Finals begin in a few minutes, and I have no idea what to expect. Ottawa has had dizzying highs and terrible lows throughout these playoffs, and I don’t know what we’ll see of them in this series. The series, in my opinion, will hinge on both teams’ ability to move the puck of their own zone cleanly. Ottawa’s defence is predicated on bringing a defenceman down the boards to forecheck hard if the puck carrier is vulnerable, but backing off and going into the 1-3-1 trap otherwise. If Pittsburgh is able to move the puck effectively against the 1-3-1 – or worse, draw in the Ottawa defencemen and spring odd-man rushes behind them – then Pittsburgh will have a lot of success in the series.
On the flip side, one of Ottawa’s primary weaknesses is that they frequently fail to break out effectively against a hard forecheck. It’s a combination of making poor decisions and passing into traffic and poor execution on passes, often identifying the open man but missing him badly. Ottawa has been dominated over the course of several periods in these playoffs, and this has always been at the root of it. When Ottawa can’t execute on their zone exits, they get stuck defending against wave after wave of attacks and any promising breakouts have to be dumped into the opposition zone to get a line change, completely neutering the offense.
I think that whichever team ends up getting the most successful breakouts will find themselves in control of play, and will take the series in the end.
It did seem like a ludicrous location for a hockey team. I think that the owners saw that it was a growing city and there were a lot of people from the north that were relocating there. Yet, it’s a dynamic city that is gaining more and more permanent residents and visitors. Yes, when you go to a game there will be a fair number of shirts from the opposing team. The franchise had gone through a lot of growing pains. The NHL is terrible at vetting future owners. Now the franchise has stabilized, is making money, and they are investing in youth hockey. New ice pads are being built and they are hosting a lot of youth tournaments. (Mom and Dad that don’t know diddly about hockey are happy to take their kid to Nashville.)
Las Vegas is a calculated risk. The problem they are up against is that those criminal billionaires from Oakland are all set to fleece the city with the help of the politicians. So, we’ll see.
When you’re talking money Vegas seems like a no-brainer, but my concern would be… who will go to the games?
Vegas 40 millions visitors a year. How can the NHL compete with the other entertainment on the strip? Even with ~600K permanent residents or even ~2 million in the region, where do the majority of them work? And what hours do they work at?
I’d expect low paid attendance as a significant amount of tickets will probably be comped out by the team to draw people in. The other venues are not going to give them out.
I think the Vegas team will be a big draw to tourists. 2 dozen “performing arts” shows vs. 1 professional sport venue. I think it will be a big draw as the alternative “show” to the cirque and singer stuff. Especially with the male crowd.
And every visiting team will surely have some of their fans there as tourists. If you’re a Blackhawks/Pens/Kings/whatever fan and you happen to be in Vegas and your team is playing there, you know you’re going to the game. Especially if you can’t score tickets back home.
I’d bet the nearby casinos buy up a bunch of season tickets also to use as comps/perks for guests. Or to sell as packages ahead of time. “Fly in from Detroit, stay 3 days 3 nights at New York New York and we’ll throw in Knights/Wings tickets all for X$”
I’m hoping you are correct… but resorts/casinos promoting or comping tickets to a professional sports team would be against their philosophy of keeping patrons at their own venue.
Let’s not forget the dismal failures of the CFL Posse, or the XFL Outlaws, or the UFL Locomotives and the AFL’s Sting, Gladiators, and Outlaws again.
If you can’t sell football tickets in America, how will hockey fare.
To address the last point first, I just don’t think that’s going to be a significant enough source of fans. You can’t have THAT many people in from a given city on a given night who specifically want to see a hockey game. I don’t think the math works at all.
As to the first, boy, I doubt it.
The idea that tourists will support a team just isn’t at all supported by the available evidence. I cannot think of an example of this dream ever working out. Professional sports teams are kept alive by predictable streams of revenue; season ticket holders, corporate sponsors, and TV revenue. Tourism is a miniscule part of it; it it akin to trying to keep a car dealership afloat by selling a lot of floor mats and accessories but being a little short in how many actual cars you sell.
The long term health of the Golden Knights will be largely determined by how many season ticket holders they retain. They have deposits on 16,000 season tickets so the initial drive is promising, but we’ll see how it holds up.
Ugh. This is a perfect summary of how Game 2 went. Ottawa is going to have to do a much better job against Pittsburgh’s forecheck if they’re to have further success in this series.
Yeah, even the fans in Dallas thought “Nashville, Really?” when we heard they were getting a team. Glad to know that it’s working out much better than it did in Georgia. In fact, since they downed The Blues, the other team I was actually rooting for, that’s who I’m rooting for now. They deserved to win tonight, smothering the Ducks in their own end for half the game.
Also glad to hear the P.K. Subban support in this thread. He was my favorite Canadien, until they traded him. Go Preds!
Phil Kessel has always reminded me of the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because his name invites the whistling sibilants of the beaver from Lady and the Tramp [YouTube video] or the gopher from Winnie the Pooh. Plus, the fur on his face gives him a vague resemblance to both of them.
Anyway, amazing game for the Sens. 5-0 at the end of the 2nd.
