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Why does the NHL not make a serious effort to market anyone but Crosby and Ovechkin? This HBO thing is just more proof of that. I know they're the two best players in the league and are the only household names in hockey amongst the general public. However, in other sports, it's more than just 2 players who are household names, and it's because those leagues try to make a real effort towards marketing those players. The NHL refuses to do so and I don't understand why. Isn't it better for the league if more players are marketed to the general public, instead of just showing Crosby and Ovechkin commercials all the time? I remember last year after the Caps and Pens were eliminated, I heard many sportswriters complaining that they stopped caring about the playoffs because the two best players were gone, and I was infuriated by their stupidity and lack of knowledge about hockey. At the same time, I realized the league was responsible for this indifference, because it wasn't trying hard enough to market any other players. I'm not saying the league should lay off these two superstars, but they need to acknowledge that there's other great stars in the game. That's what all the other sports leagues are doing and I think it will be better for hockey in the long run.

What if you think hockey includes more than scoring?

He's really playing himself off the roster. In his defense in this case, though, that was a weak call.

Tremendous wheels from Flip. And he shot the puck! What a revelation.

I cannot believe I am reading people complaining about OZZY out of all people tonight.. If it wasn't for him we would be down 3 or 4 to zip... he was by far the best wings player on the ice. Sure his rebounds were not perfect but how about we give him a few games to get rebounds together, meanwhile he stood on his head period 1... Ericson is to blame on the goal, not ozzy

He hit Ozzy so hard I could have sworn for a second that Ozzy was a cab driver.

Ericsson doesn't deserve to play in the big club this season, give his spot to janik, there would be no need to panic if that was the case.

.. Thats not what Orpik said.

The NHL has a Marketing department? News to me.

O.K. I have to ask this. Are you Patrick Sharp by any chance?

Not sure why people are pissed at Ericsson for that phantom call... should be taking your anger out on the refs. Also, Ericsson is playing PK and up against Hossa and Toews 5-on-5. Give the guy some slack.

bull s*** call. preseason refs too?

Nice work from Tardif. Stepping into the big shoes of J-Will ain't easy.

Ozzie's playing like a backup from my view. (which is better than regular season Ozzie) and Ericsson was an idiot on the goal, already yelling at him before they even got out of the zone lol. But, 1-0 with the Griffin team we've put out there is not bad at all.

Oh, you guys... The rebound was ugly but the main problem for me happened 100 feet away. Does Ericsson really think he can get to that puck first? He must know that no one can cover for him at that moment if he misses. Needlessly exposing your goaltender to 2-on-1s isn't part of a winning formula.

is it me or does stan bowman look like detective scrotes

I think he is learning from Jimmy.

I'd say weak-ass refereeing.

Oops. Oh, well. Our boys have been looking very good for their comparative skill level tonight.

I kinda feel bad for Ozzie tonight....

The players should sell the game but the league handcuffs them and tapes there mouths shut!...NHL players are so god damn boring in interviews...it is unbelievable! Then a wild card like Avery starts calling his movie star ex-girlfriend a hoe...and the hockey media and league flip the f*** out! i call that ******* bulls*** ..they should have let him and phanuf take it to the ice, and made a big deal about it...pro wrestling style!...instead the league fines him and sends him to anger managment.... and also the NHL clothing sucks ass and look ugly 9 times out of 10...i could go on and on! They really should hire me as a marketing consultant, because the old ass dudes running the marketing department are waayyy out of touch with what is going on.

what they should be doing is running commercials tailored to each region highlighting that regions players. if their main goal is to get fans in the seats, then they should be advertising the players that play in consumers hometown 10 games a month, not the player who may only come once a year. any advertising buff should know that people in detroit puke a little in their mouth everytime they see crosby on TV and then are left with a bad taste in their mouth when the NHL shield comes up (pun intended). im sure other people in different areas have the same feelings about different players. every team has their superstar, why not support them?

The clutch and grab era was happening regardless of Bettman. Bettman legitimately fixed a widespread problem with the league that occurred, give him credit. Is 18 years absurdly long? Maybe he's doing absurdly well. And he has been responsible for widespread improvement across the league. Bettman is responsible for the two-referee system, which has resulted in a significant increase in quality of officiating due to a second pair of eyes on the ice from another angle on the opposite side of the play. Bettman is responsible for the league increasing revenues at a rate beyond what anyone even considered possible. Yes, a couple of teams were sold and had to move, but that was largely due to a triple combination of market size, fan support, and in two cases exchange rate. Bettman is responsible for this: the NHL used to pay 75% of revenue to players, now it's less than 55%. Yet there are more players than ever now, and a record average salary. As far as play quality? Bettman is responsible for killing clutch and grab. Bettman's rule changes have resulted in teams using more roster spots on skilled players, rather than unskilled goons. Self-serving? How? Explain that one to me.

The only only thing worse than the rabid Bettman haters is someone who goes out of their way to praise him. I'll stick with the former, thank you. Here's some reasons I hate him and blame him for since 75% of you are sucking his balls right now. -A labor strike that reduced the season to 48 games, and the other a lockout that lost an entire season. -I'm a hockey fan and I can't watch many games without shelling out money for those channels. -$600 million with ESPN in 1998 to $72.5 with Versus in 2008 -Bulls*** scheduling in the 2009 playoffs. -Terrible, terrible reffing every year. Hey! remember the 2008, 2009, 2010 playoffs?!? -Putting teams in cities where I don't believe hockey will ever be successful(well, maybe because of teams like the Red Wings and revenue sharing) -The dilution of talent because of over expansion. -Hockey isn't yet popular in the U.S. so lets start playing in Europe! -Handling of the Phoenix situation. -Did I mention terrible AND s***ty reffing? -Say what you want about his wonderful economic growth that you make it out to be but the NFL, MLB, NBA and even NASCAR spank the NHL every year. -And the most recent for me wasthe NHL's reaction to this fiasco. A prime example of, "Shut the hell up, we're in charge." Are all of these his fault? Probably not.Let me hold onto those delusions. BUT there is a reason he get's booed so many places he goes. He gets booed at the NHL DRAFT for christ sake. You talk about him eliminating the clutch and grab play like it was such a genius move too, no just a goddamn OBVIOUS one. /end of rant

Do you even need to ask? There's only one element of the Pens that I don't hate and that's Dan Byslma. He seems like a stand-up guy and tells it like it is, unlike his predecessor. Everything else about that team - even Mario "I'm-Taking-My-Puck-And-Going-Home" Lemieux - just infuriates me.