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

LOL @ Rangers losing 7-4 to Islanders

I was worried last night with the Devils and Flyers. It was a good game all around, and the Flyers scored almost ending the game in the 3rd till the Devils were on the powerplay and Lukowich scored and pushed it into overtime and eventually a shootout. The final was 4-3 in a shootout as I mentioned. We get a break till tuesday and play Buffalo at home again.

 

FIRST PLACE ISLANDERS!!

If you would have told me this 2 months ago, I'd have shot you.

For now, I'll nominate Ted Nolan for sainthood.

 

I second that LOL.

I was out with friends, watching that game and Detroit/San Jose on separate TVs. It was funny how the scores were mirroring each other for most of the respective games. Until we tied it up, of course and forced OT.

 

I usually LOL at the anonymity of the Devils in general. Talk about an uncharismatic team: they're right up there with the NBA's Spurs as most boring team.

 

I don't think Devils fans could care less; winning is after all more important than the way you play, most of the time.

 

I don't happen to think they're boring. To me, great defense and spectacular goaltending is just as entertaining as a scoring bonanza.

Which might explain why I seem to be in the minority in that I'm not entirely thrilled about the "new NHL" and most of its new rules.

 

I don't see why you shouldn't enjoy the newer nhl version since the devils at least were able to adapt well into it and as a result their brand of hockey is more offense-oriented than before. Look at my team Calgary; they didn't adjust their game into a more offensively oriented one and they struggled to score in the playoffs big time. Because they played the old nhl hockey of trap and defense first with quick counter attacks plus a heavy reliance on goaltending. Not much has changed; the Flames still rely on Kipper perhaps more than any other team does on its goaltender but they have started to find some offense as evidenced by their 5-2 whooping of Colorado in their last game.

I tend to love tight low-scoring games AS LONG AS there are as many scoring opportunities as there are in a high-scoring one. A bunch of scuffling with only "dirty" or lucky (random defelctions) goals once or twice a game is what made the NHL fall well behind the NBA, NFL and MLB.

 

****ing Leafs....

 

I don't find the Devils boring, which is why I've been a fan for a few years now. I don't see the problem with the style of hockey they use. If it works for them, I don't see a reason for them to change.

 

Oh yeah, my Flames owned the defending champs 3-0! Kipper gets only his 4th shutout of the season.

And as far as the Devils are concerned, you play to win, not to entertain. If a team wins in boring fashion, you think that's gonna make them change their style? But the new rules, I feel, have somewhat helped in this situation. Teams who used to play with the boring trap-and-defense-first philosophy (Minnesota, NJ, Calgary) play more exciting hockey nowadays imo. I think the notion that New Jersey plays boring hockey is often a result of old prejudices towards their old style of play.

 

But the Devils and Flyers were some of teams that helped bring about the rule changes: their constant grabbing and trapping slowed the game down considerably. While New Jersey adapted somewhat (good thing they have Brodeur between the pipes), Philadelphia failed to do so. That said, they are still not an entertaining team, as they routinely score two goals or fewer a game, and it is hurting them (look at their mediocre record).

 

I completely agree with you there.

A good example of a rule change I don't like is disallowing the goalie from playing the puck in the corner. It just seems like it's one of those arbitrary changes, unless there's a good explaination that I might've missed.

The thing that irks me the most though is the new schedule. Partially because I will only be able to see the Devils once every three years. But I also think the reasoning that it will create new rivalries is flawed and seeing the same conference match-ups, several more times a year, is already getting a little stale.

 

Oilers and Hurricanes play tonight. Should be good.

 

I haven't read the explanation for it but I do know that there does exist a reason for it. I think the real reason it irks you is that Brodeur, who was very proficient at playing the puck behind the net, can't do that anymore. I can understand the frustration of Brodeur since he practiced quite hard to become a master in stickhandling pucks in the corner.

But like I said, the Devils didn't suffer too much from the rule changes. They adjusted quite well. I'd say the Devils suffered a lot more from losing Stevens and Niedermyer. I don't know if they've still managed to recover from that. I'll hold any statements on that account until I see how good a leader Elias is come playoff time.

 

Oh, I won't lie, that's definitely a big part of it. But, in general, I always liked seeing goalies play the puck and, in some cases, pay for it.

Can't argue there.

Basically my problem is that I tend to be a traditionalist, and an admittedly stubborn one at that. I still get irritated at the renaming of the conferences/divisions to the current, bland, geographical ones.

 

Well Baron the Isles have the early lead on us. You worried? I'm not.




~Liar, lawyer, Mirror for ya, What's the difference? Kangaroo be stoned, He's guilty as the government~

 

[image=http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/6689/bqhenrik1vw7.jpg]

I'm not worried, either.

 

No need to worry, the Rangers have already leapfrogged the Isles. Shanahan is a godsend.

 

Ugh.

I was watching the St. Louis/Detroit game last night and couldn't believe some of the calls/non-calls. The Blues got away with several major infractions (hits from behind, late hits, player leaving his feet, etc), while every tiny little hook was called if a player so muched as breathed on another in their own zone. All the commentators could say at several points during the game was, "wow".

There needs to be some middle ground here. Open up the game, yes... but let's have a little common sense when calling some of these weenie penalties. If it doesn't directly affect the play, let it go.

You know something's wrong when Henrik Zetterberg leads Red Wings in penalty minutes.

 

Flames beat Canucks 5-3! We're slowly inching closer to the Northwest division lead.

Lol@Avs for losing to the Kings! Who would've thought that they'd be at the bottom of this division?

 

Anyone see that fluke shot that Jere Lehtinen shot against Phoenix, in OT, last night?

 

I read about it. He admitted himself that they were pretty lucky.

 

Well, I wouldn't call the Devils playing boring hockey lately. Last night they beat Boston 5-1 and almost everyone contributed in some way whether it was an assist or a goal. They're on a winning streak so far, 5 game win-streak. I've also noticed that they playing ten-times better hockey then they did over the road-trip since their first game back home. Devils are no two points ahead of the Rangers for the division and still hold 3rd place in the standings. They play Buffalo on tuesday.

 

Considering their fall from their normally lofty heights last year, you could say the restructuring of the league has had a pretty big effect on them.

And yes, DarkPrince, the Devils finally waited to play a terrible Bruins team to explode. Bravo.

Another indictment of Bettman and NHL leadership in general:


December 10, 2006 -- OTTAWA - And so, somehow, despite the in creasing number of empty seats in arenas across the continent in the second season of the post-cancellation era, and the alarming number of empty seats in the lower tiers of at least one third of the buildings across the league, NHL revenues are increasing. Somehow, the salary cap will increase next year.

Revenues are projected to increase approximately four-to-five percent over the $2.178B number on which the $44M cap was set for this season. This means the 2007-08 cap will be based on approximately $2.265B, with the players' collective cut increasing to 55 percent of the gross at $2.2B. This means the cap will be somewhere between $46.5M and $47.5M.

And if the revenues are truly increasing - there will be no, uh, independent audit of the figures by an interested third party given the number of confidentiality agreements between the NHL and NHLPA regarding revenue calculations and stipulations - it's because fans across the continent are paying higher ticket prices than they were not only last year, but in 2003-04, the season before the lockout.

How much higher? The NHL won't say, but one official privy to the financial reports told Slap Shots this week following the Board of Governors meetings, "Yes, they've increased a lot [compared to the year before the lockout.]"

So much for Gary Bettman's campaign pledge that the lockout and cancelled season would make the game more affordable for the fans. So much for the commissioner's declaration the league couldn't even consider a $44M hard cap in order to avoid canceling 2004-05 when the players were prepared to swallow that number. So much for the laughable and contemptible coverage of the lockout issues by the media.

Bettman went on the stump to talk about linkage day after day, week after week, month after month, during the lockout. He was talking about linkage between revenues and payrolls and he was just as surely talking about linkage between a hard cap and lower ticket prices. That was the hook he used to drum up popular support.

Two years later, it's as big a joke as it was then. Ticket prices never were and never will be linked to payrolls or contracts. Ticket prices are determined by supply and demand. Always have been, always will be. Bettman and his allies - including once independent thinkers in the press who have shamefully rolled over for the home team, national product here in Canada - just move on. They like to pretend he didn't really mean what he said. Like when on Feb. 16, 2005 he said the league couldn't even ask the Board of Governors to consider a cap as high as $44M.

The lockout and cancellation were imposed for two reasons, and neither had anything to do with keeping the game more affordable for the fans. The lockout and ultimate achievement of the hard cap increased franchise values. The lockout, cancelled season and ultimate achievement of the hard cap cost Bob Goodenow his job as head of the Players' Association. The removal of Goodenow from power was always a primary objective of the Board and of Bettman.

Others grope for answers to explain the empty seats and declining television ratings, even - according to early calculations this year - across Canada. But the answer is clear, even if the true believers cannot allow themselves to admit it. It was the cancelled season.

The cancelled season marginalized the NHL as a mainstream league in the Lower 48 to a degree that would have unimaginable five years ago. The season without hockey gave the media decision-makers the excuse they need

 

Very interesting, and probably pretty accurate. Of course, if the league contracts---which it should---Bettman is toast.