I think that all the games in this series will go to OT.
I had wanted the Pens to go to the finals so Iggy could get a ring, but damn this is good to watch.
I long ago became convinced that the people who vote for NHL awards are drunk.
Forget the Hart; what about Subban for the Norris? Now, I do love PK Subban and I think he’s a great young talent, but who out there actually thinks Subban was** the best defenceman in the NHL** this year? I don’t know anyone who thinks that. I don’t know any HABS fans who think that.
To be fair to everybody, the Hart is essentially voted on by bloggers, which includes Yahoo Sports. The real question is why it carries any prestige at all - historical inertia, I guess. The Lindsay is seen as completely worthless, but is atleast voted on by the NHLPA, which gives it some (slight) more validation.
And the Norris has long been useless. Not only did Subban win, but Letang was a finalist as well. I guess they haven’t figured out how to award it since Lindstrom retired.
It was apparently decided at some point that they’d just hand the Norris to a defenceman with a lot of points - the three finalists were the 3 highest-scoring defencemen. Guys who are really effective** defencemen**, like Duncan Keith or Zdeno Chara, were ignored.
Time for a Bobby Orr award for the highest scoring defenceman.
My stars, this situation in PHX needs to be a reality show! The NHL wants out of Coyotes ownership/management so they found a buyer, RSE, who will also manage the brand new arena in Glendale, but not without anything less than a $15 million subsidy. Glendale voted for $6 million (on Friday) and they also found four other companies that can manage the arena, none of them with NHL experience and none of them that would require a subsidy. So, they effectively voted the NHL out of Glendale (since RSE needs $10 million more before they will buy the team) but they won’t finalize it until they finalize the arena deal June 24th.
Well, hours after the vote, Sherwood - one of the council members that was the most adamant about the Coyotes staying - said that he “found” other revenue streams that make up that missing $10 million and the Coyotes could stay. Oh, and a handshake deal was in place. But he won’t elaborate, specify, or even hint at where they found an extra $10 million, and most assume it’s voodoo math. And RSE do not have the funds to purchase the team (without heavy loans from NHL) let alone run the team let alone pay payroll, so if this “handshake deal” stands, and with the (estimated) $230 million in losses in 4 years, the Coyotes will have to move anyway. One assumes.
Meanwhile, the buzz was that the Nords were finally back, since they were the only possible city that could get together ticketing, uniforms, staff, etc and play in an NHL caliber arena in 4 months. The old Colisee updated to NHL-spec boards last year, and this summer they’ve been renovating the locker rooms to NHL standards. And they hired a management agency that does big sporting events. And they’ve kept their calendar clear. And they’ve broken ground on a brand new, state of the art hockey arena to be finished within a few years.
Obvious, no?
Except, the NHL kept leaking that they were going to Seattle. Most thought this was a joke - maybe to jack up the relocation fee to Quebec - but in the past few days, it’s pretty clear their serious. Bettman thinks they can sell Quebec an expansion team for $500 million (about 3 franchises - Toronto, Boston, and Montreal - are even close to that evaluation) rather than the (vast overpayment already) $220 million that the Coyotes will get.
But it’s leaking out that the NHL has introduced billionaire sports owners to the mayor of Seattle. And that council-members are starting to talk. And that there’s a tentative lease agreement in place for Key Arena, with the city offering it for free to the NHL.
This is key arena, BTW. It seats 11,000 and is so bad for hockey an amateur team had to move. It would be used for the at least 3 years it would take to build a new arena. In those 3 years, the losses on attendance alone are going to be north of $75 million.
Plus, there’s no team identity in place, no history. So are they moving as the Seattle Coyotes? Wouldn’t that be a marketing disaster?
It’s a non-traditional market. How are they going to market and sell a team in Seattle in 4 months? There’s already the Mariners and Seahawks, so even an expansion team would struggle. But a hastily moved one in 4 months?
Quebec is like Winnipeg - they can sell out years of 13,000 season tickets almost as soon as they mention the team is back. And Seattle is a great market for the NHL, but in 4 months? Seriously?
I guess the question is whether this will be the Seattle Pilots or Washington Nationals…
I assume the plan is to market it in Seattle as ‘basketball on ice’.
Hockey writers see a lot more game play than the players. Their focus is on their own situation. The writers have a better perspective for comparing players.
The best part about Ovie getting the Hart is reading the comments in opposition on TSN.
Grr, so I’ll miss tonight’s game since it is being televised on NBC Sports network, which I don’t get at work. The NHL really needs to arrange to have all the Stanley Cup Finals games on NBC.
I have NBCSN and I still have to agree.
Come on! It’s a championship series! You really want to lock current fans and potential new ones out of it?!
Whoa. Scotiabank Place in Ottawa to be renamed Canadian Tire Centre according to Hockey Night In Canada.
I am not affiliated with Canadian Tire in any way, but it is a really an iconic Canadian corporation.
I welcome our new Canadian Tire overlords.
As sad as it is to say, things like The Voice (which was what was on,) get better ratings than NHL games…even Championship NHL games. Hell, a re-run of The Voice would still probably have gotten better ratings.
I remember hearing a blurb about game 1 (which was on real NBC,) and that it was the most popular hockey game (in terms of ratings,) in like twenty years…and yet still didn’t crack the top 50 sporting events of 2012 (again, by ratings.)
Pointless bowl games no one cared about outside of a two-state-region got better ratings…and they weren’t even nationally televised! 
Granted, part of it is self-fulfilling. If you don’t air enough games, not enough people see them and get interested, so even the games that are available to more people aren’t watched as much.
At least the rest of the Cup games are on regular NBC.
Do you think they will let me help them by rounding up Canucks to toil in their underground rubber caves?
And the Grand Rapids Griffins Won the Calder cup. 'Grats to them, and not a bad sign for the rebuilding Wings 
Does anyone mind if I become the Coyotes Updater? I find the whole thing hilarious, but maybe it’s just me. I know this is the “playoffs” thread, but it’s served as a catch-all for everything NHL for a few months now…
Anyway…
Details have emerged about the revenue streams Sherwood, the Glendale council member, “found” that would bridge the gap between the proposed subsidy of $6 million and the needed $15 million. Essentially, RSE - the potential buyers - have grouped all the “potential” revenue that they have found too risky to count on, then passed it off to Glendale, who will return it as a guaranteed yearly amount. This includes something like…
$3 million for naming rights
$2.5 million for game-day parking
$2.5 million for non-game-day parking
$1.5 million for a ticket “surcharge”
For instance, Glendale will give RSE an extra $5 million a year, in the assumption that they will make that up through parking… in the desert. And they will get $1.5 million by raising ticket prices. So they’re taking a team that’s struggling with attendance and changing the parking from Free to $15 and jacking the ticket prices.
And they had a meeting today, that went on for hours - they might seriously be considering it.
Yea…
People seem to have their strange impression, admittedly pushed by the media, that Glendale is some distant bedroom community off in the desert, far removed from Phoenix.
In fact, Glendale pretty much is part of Phoenix. It’s smack dab in the middle of the city, bordered on the east, south AND north by Phoenix. Even in bad traffic the arena itself might be 20 minutes from the center of Phoenix.
Sounds like a fine plan. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Meanwhile, this OT has already gone on about 3 minutes longer than I would have ever thought possible given the rest of the action in this game. Watch them go 3 OT’s tonight…
freaking awesome game and a fantastic final goal from Seabrook!
Incredible game. Alas, the local affiliate in Austin blew it and managed to cut into the game with a news promo and a local ad right before the Hawks scored the winning goal. Looked like some automated thing that somebody forgot to override, and they figured it out and got the game feed back on as the Hawks were celebrating the win. Grrrr…
Man that was fun to watch.
This is a great series.