My prediction for the Minnesota Wild:
23-48-11
No-name team, but GEEZUZ what a coach!
Discuss.
My prediction for the expansion teams:
Wild 20-55-10-5
Blue Jackets 37-39-6-14
(Tugnut will steal a good amount of games)
I predict that both will finish around the 20-25 win mark.
Slightly off topic: both have terrible horrible no-good very bad team names. Horrible. Sound like WNBA team names. Especially the Wild. One should not use an adjective as their team name. Almost as bad as Avalance.
Bah. I refuse to acknowledge that those teams are part of the NHL. Same with the alleged team in Anaheim. Crappy names and cartoon logos suck. I can’t figure out why the NHL put a new franchise in the same place an established one couldn’t survive (Minnesota).
I don’t want to get off on a rant here … I used to love watching the NHL no matter who was playing, but now I find I just can’t get excited about that thrilling Carolina-Nashville Tuesday night matchup. Not even the fans in those towns (are there any in Carolina?) care about a game like that.
My proposals to improve the NHL:
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Begin folding teams. Pretend the last round of expansion didn’t happen and fold those teams. No one cares about the California teams, so they can go. Carolina can go (I doubt anyone would notice if they did). This would reduce the diluted player pool and improve the game. Probably never happen.
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Move to an Olympic size ice surface. Players are bigger, stronger, and faster than they were in the past. The current ice surface is too small. Players can’t get open ice to skate (which is OK because the diluted talent pool has severely reduced the number of players who can skate). Probably won’t happen.
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Remove the instigator rule. A poor player won’t clutch and grab you if he knows he’s going to get a fist in the nose. Probably won’t happen.
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Start making the obstruction, interference and holding calls. Too many poor players rely on those techniques to stop opponents. Probably won’t happen.
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Remove the 2-line offside call. It can open up the ice surface and let players get room to skate. Probably won’t happen.
What do you think?
LD, I think I totally agree with you. I have minimal intrest in a game that I watched faithfully for over 25 years-Too many teams, way watered down talent.
I also agree that it’ll probably never happen.
Got any suggestions for alternative sports? I kinda like rugby but that doesn’t get too much airplay.
I have a hard time dealing with a franchise in Minnesota that isn’t called the North Stars.
But I do have to admit their logo is cool as hell. It’s some kind of outdoor, wilderness scene that, when looked at from another perspective, is some kind of wild beast’s head (a bear’s head, maybe?).
As I’m sure Lord Derfel is aware, none of his recommendations will be taking place any time soon. The reason? $$$$$
Larger ice surfaces mean remodeling stadiums, which costs big bucks. Or it means removing ice-level seats, which are big revenue-generators.
And the NHL obviously won’t be cutting franchises any time soon. Here’s hoping that, at least, they won’t be adding any more.
I do agree with you on the 2-line pass. Simply eliminate the red (center) line, and Poof! It’s done.
I don’t know about alternative sports. I love sports in general, but hockey is the best sport around, in my mind. I come from a long line of hockey fans. I think my dad almost cried when the Leafs traded Russ Courtnall for John Kordic (he’s still pissed off about it). However, today’s NHL is not the way hockey should be played.
The highlight of my year is the World Junior Championships. The best young players in the world playing their hearts out for national pride is some of the best hockey you will ever see. In fact, junior hockey in general is more exciting than an NHL game. These kids are playing for the love of the game (they don’t get paid much!) and to make it to the big leagues. Every game is exciting, and the players play hard every night.
I thought of a few more ways to improve the NHL:
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Reduce the length of the regular season. It’s waaaay too long. The strike shortened season of 94(?) was great because every game made a difference. This will never happen.
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Reduce the number of teams that make the playoffs. Make it like baseball where only the top 4 teams in each league make it. Right now you have to be really bad to not make the playoffs, rather than really good to make it. The end result is the bottom teams are fodder for the top teams in the first couple of rounds and the playoffs run into the summer. This will also never happen.
Any more ideas?
Milo, I agree money is the reason nothing I suggest will happen. But it sure would be nice, wouldn’t it?
What a bunch of @#$%^*(#. Norm Green did to the North Stars the same thing that whoever did to the old Baltimore Colts - stole them. That jerk raised ticket prices, put half the home games on pay-per-view (in a largely rural state), watched attendance fall, then took his toys and went home.
@#&^*& Norm Green. @#^^ (&^&^& !@#$%^&()!!!
For quite a while now, hubby & I have enjoyed so-called “minor league” hockey more then the NHL. Love to see Juniors too, but can’t get it on tv- should I get a satellite?
I live in CA, and I will be the first to admit that we have no hockey tradition in Anaheim, and only a slightly better one in LA. The LA hockey I watched had players like Dave Taylor, Pat Conacher- maybe the skills had diminished (in the case of Taylor, considerably) but the heart had not. Now, I don’t recognize hardly anybody. But I still love the game- maybe just not the “current” game.
When the Cup finals were on, I realized I hadn’t seen a single complete game all season. Very sad. Granted, with an infant, I don’t get to many games.
Rugby & Aussie rules footbal are an ok substitute, but air times can be odd- very late or very early.
Hey I grew up watching the North Stars, they moved to Dallas while I was in grad school and I gave up on them. Followed the Sabres while I was in Western New York and now follow the Kings in Los Angeles.
LA is not a hockey town, I will not argue that, but there are plenty of knowledgeable hockey fans here. I think the difference is in the ‘casual’ fan. I.e. in LA they don’t really exist.
Marcel Dionne was one of the all-time greats. He tends to get forgotten about. LA has had some good teams in the past and decent fan support. I’ll forgive those hideous purple and gold uniforms. I stand by my position that those other two California teams should be nuked immediately, however.
EJsGirl, the closest junior (CHL) team to California is the Portland WinterHawks. I don’t know if satellite will help you though. The only TV coverage I’ve seen is CTVSN in Canada. They have a CHL game of the week every Monday (I think). But with 53 teams in the league, the chances of seeing your favourite are pretty low. TSN (again, in Canada) shows every Canadian game of the World Junior Championships (and a few games that don’t involve Canada). They also show the Memorial Cup (CHL championships). I don’t know if those channels are available via satellite. You’ve always got US college hockey, which I hear is getting pretty good.
IMO, nothing beats seeing a game in person. At any level, hockey is the most exciting, fast-paced game there is.
I just had to reply to something that mentioned my boys! (Even though we sucked ass last year). At least we won the Memorial Cup a few years ago… (causing me to break my finger, btw. (its a long story))
I really don’t have anything to say though, except I love hockey… it rules all things, to those that claim to hate it, but then go watch basketball, or soccer, or football. DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, ITS PRACTICALLY ALL THOSE SPORTS COMBINED.
Screeme
Well, I have to say this:
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You can’t reduce the length of the regular season, what it all comes down too is money, teams would be losing more money each year than they are now.
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Same thing, money. You know teams make about a million each home playoff game. Most teams are already losing money, reducing the playoffs would kill hockey.
Pat Conacher?? Kudos to you, you’re clearly a very knowledgeable Kings fan!
I pretty much agree with this. There are some very knowledgeable hockey fans in LA, but they’re few and far between.
And while you’re all at it, send the stolen teams back to Canada! I mean, I never gave too much thought to the Winnipeg Jets while they were still there, but I felt really sad for Manitobans when their team was sent to Phoenix of all places! And poor Quebec. Lost their team only to have them win somewhere else. Never mind Hartford though, send the Hurricanes or whatever they’re called to Saskatoon.
I’d suggest we do a fantasy league, but keeee-rist, they are a lot of work! Not like the NASCAR one I did with some other grad students, where we’d just pick our guys and sit back and enjoy.
The hockey one I did required tons of planning, figuring, compromising—> ACTUAL THOUGHT was involved.
And my team suuuuuuuuucked.
Okay, first of all, the thing that is killing hockey (and every other professional sport) isn’t necessarily expansion, but SALARIES. When I first got into the game (L.A. Kings fan, pre-Gretzky, pre-Dionne, when Rogie, Butch, Don Kozak and Danny Maloney, et al. played the Forum), you could develop a sense of loyalty because the players stayed with the same teams forever. Now, it’s a total crapshoot who’s going to be with your team…you can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Also, you could drive to the arena the night of the game, flash a school ID at the box office and get a seat for five bucks…THOSE days are gone forever.
Besides the fact that Southern California ice generally sux, to those individuals knocking the Ducks: Yeah, YOU’D hate it if Selanne and Kariya played for YOUR team.
As for the Minnesota Wild: More power to them (at least their logo isn’t an embarassment like Columbus, although nobody anywhere has a more pathetic logo than Tampa Bay…yuck.)
As much as they suck, if it weren’t for the Predators and the 'Canes, I would never get to see a live NHL hockey game. So, even a sucky game is better than none.
Lord Derfel said:
Let’s see…this past playoffs we had two major upsets in the first round–the #8 Sharks (one of those California teams you don’t think should exist) knocked off the #1 Blues, and the #7 Penguins took out the #2 Capitals. In 1999 the #8 Pens eliminated the #1 Devils in the first round, and the #7 Sabres ended up as Eastern Conference Champions. Fodder?
TheThill said:
Hope you’re not from Calgary–in that case, the Flames have to go back to Atlanta. (Where, if nothing else, they’ll be better than the Thrashers.)