Arena Well, I'd Rather Be Dead in Arizona Than Alive in Utah (NHL Discussion, Playoffs and Relocation)

Working on two fantasy teams (one in a roto league, one head to head) which should keep me occupied instead of watching the Flyers do horribly this season.

Glad to have hockey back, but...ugh. Last night's surrender was embarrassing.

 

The Pens just own the Rangers right now, just like King Heinrich owned the Pens for a stretch.

Strange officiating. I think the Pens probably got away with a hook or two. Glad that they played better than they did against the Islanders, though.

 

I've come to the conclusion that the Penguins do indeed suck in the neutral zone but the Rangers are even worse so it looks like the Pens own them in the face.

 

What's this crazy was about wanting to expand with another two teams? Pure craziness. Not to mention the talk of a second Toronto team has been brought up again. LOL

 

A second Toronto team would be a given in my opinion. Then does the NHL go back to Quebec or another Canadian city? Besides maybe Salt Lake City or Kansas City where do we fit another team here in the US?

 

Seattle would be nice. But not sure it would work.

 

Well the Phoenix move might be inevitable as the deal they had in place to sell the team fell apart a couple days ago. Right now they could only go to cities where an NHL-sized arena is ready. As far as I know that list would include the aforementioned Seattle, Quebec City, and Kansas City.

Lately in the news here there have been talks about Markham (a city next to Toronto but considered as part of the Greater Toronto Area) trying to get an arena approved but I'm not sure where that's heading.

 

There's a lot to consider when talking expansion. Someone needs to take Winnipeg's place in the East first off. Detroit and Columbus both have expressed interest but Nashville seems to make the most sense geographically. Phoenix's fate is as undecided as ever and if they move they will either need to stay in the West or another east coast team will need to come West and that's just crazy. Then there is the proposed 4-Conference system which would man the two new teams would have to be in the East to even out the conference sizes.

 

I really am not crazy about that 4-conference system. I guess old-time hockey fans might like it, but it doesn't do anything for me.

 

I'm fairly indifferent to the 4-conferences themselves, it was the playoff proposal that I hated. I didn't like competing with only 7 other teams for four playoff spots. It seemed like it divided and compartmentalized the NHL into 4 individual leagues with some minor inter-league play during the regular season.

 

Yes, that was definitely one of the most terrible aspects of the proposal.

 

Anyone watching the Pen vs Caps game on NBC right now? Was there any kind of pregame show? It was weird there was some religious crap on tv here and then it went directly into the game.

 

Ouch.

 

Haha!

 

And by his own team mate. I know how that feels. Of all the broken bones and torn ligament and my chronic separated shoulder, getting hit there with a puck turned out to be the painful and debilitating.

 

Well that's one way to block the puck.

 

Just a salary cap move. He's still sitting out the season.

 

Online editorial on NHL's concussion problem.

 

First Nabokov and now Thomas. It takes the Islanders time to convince the goalies they've signed to actually play.

 

Boston's going to have a ton of cap space.



It's the Islanders...let them figure that out in a few years.