deker

Well, my personal take: 1) Yes, it is a curse. 2) If the team captains won't touch the Campbell/Wales trophies, I won't touch the merchandise. 3) If you lose in the Cup Finals, who really cares that you won the Conference? The shirt just becomes a reminder of what could have/should have been. 4) If you win the Cup, spend the money on Cup merchandise! So...yeah...not my bag, baby!

I found 1 at $190, but the guys I would be going with would have kicked my ass hard. It was gone right after I let it go. Well, on the bright side, none of the media can rail on us for not selling out games. Also on the bright side, those of us that didn't get them get to keep room on the credit card!

Oh don't worry...I'm in the same boat. But, there's just no way they'd be that accommodating after having a presale last weekend. We're just going to have to jockey for virtual position like everyone else since we weren't able to take advantage last week. Such is TicketBastard...

Um...yeah...where were you last week?

It seemed like Hull really let himself go fast! I remember seeing his retirement speech in Phoenix because the Wings played there that night. It wasn't very long after that when they retired his number in St. Louis, and my jaw literally dropped to see how much bigger he had gotten.

I'm not a big fan of Conference independant re-seeding myself, but just to play devil's advocate, what if this resulted in two East Coast teams playing for the Cup? Or two Canadian teams?

By that reasoning, Marty LaPointe once also kept Ed Belfour's stick from moving...

The paranoid in me thinks that this opens the door for officials to call more interference penalties on legitimate goalie screening situations. Someone tell me otherwise, quick!

I think you could argue that any increase in travel expenses within this context goes to providing a better environment in which fans get to see teams they want to see, resulting in higher gate revenues. It's certainly a better business decision than choosing to show games on a cable channel that has very little distribution. Besides, given that each Conference still has geographically located divisions, you really could come up with something to address travel. I mean, I can't come up with something in the time it takes me to create a message board post, but if I were to commission a study, I'm sure it could be thought out fairly reasonably.

Wings_Dynasty, I have to say that is the same idea that I use in discussions with my friends as well! I personally like it for the reason that it levels the playing field in terms of travel, and for the return of the traditional names. I think it's a good and very simple and understandable idea that deserves further study. When I look at how much the Western teams, especially us, have to travel compared to the Eastern teams, it's plain that something has to be done. If the league is making as much money as it claims to be (as witnessed by the constant salary cap increases), then travel expenses shouldn't be an issue (he said slightly sarcastically). Besides, for every Atlantic Division team whose travel expenses go up, there would be a Central team whose expenses go down! I think that the last thing this league needs is more expansion, and expansion in order to facilitate a new scheduling and divisional alignment seems to be a bit of overkill. Edited for clarification

Are you serious??!?! That's robbery! Damn Ticketbastard! I have to admit that I have held off buying any if necessary games for the refund reason, and knowing that they'll still keep some of it has strengthened that resolve.

During one of the intermissions of the WCF games, the TSN analysts were attempting to compare Staal's play with that of Bob Gainey. While I (and most of the analysts) found that a bit of a reach (let's wait a number of years before you can even think about comparisons to Gainey), just the fact that they brought that up speaks volumes about Staal's shutdown ability. I think both teams are oversimplified as being "skill teams" by analysts everywhere. Neither would be where they are now if they were so "one-dimensional." Faceoffs definitely are a strength of ours, especially with guys like Draper. He's at 63%, Datsyuk 58%, Zetterberg 54%, Filppulla 53% and even the Mule's at 50%. Somebody actually said Gonchar wouldn't crack our top 4??!?! I'd take him any day! Ummm....do not mistake the empty seats as a means for Penguin fans to obtain tickets. The games are soldout, but sadly, the lower bowl expensive seats are owned by companies that for some reason aren't using them actively. I do suspect, though, that they will be used because sales people sure love to impress their clients with a championship sporting events. What you don't see on TV much is that the upper bowl "cheaper" seats are filled. I would also say the same thing for Biron. The guy that stoned Montreal is nowhere to be found in this round, nor is the Flyer team that was so damn opportunistic against the Habs. The Penguins certainly have something to do with that, but still... Anyhow, our teams both still have series to close out. Hopefully we do our part tonight and you do yours tomorrow, then we can have at it officially! Awesome user ID, by the way!

Each owner has a stake in their own arena. The Pistons play at The Palace of Auburn Hills in the suburbs, and Piston management runs and books things there. Same with the Wings. Wings owner Mike Illitch's Olympia Entertainment runs and books things at JLA.

Well, yeah, I agree, but I think the point is that the corporations are not using the tickets, if they even still have them. Once Stevie retired and Shanny left, sales people started using Piston and Tiger tickets to "impress" their clients.

OK, I would estimate that your seats would be comparable to maybe 10 or so rows up in the JLA upper bowl. Those would still be $210 though! I should say that the cheapest seats are $97, I believe, and that's literally the very last row in the arena, up in the corners where you can't even see the scoreboard because there is an overhang.

Like rdwngnut said though, we'd have to compare physically what each seat is like. 1st row of the Upper Bowl in JLA is still fairly close to the ice. Does Dallas have a lower, mid and upper deck? JLA only has a lower and an upper.

I would say wait until the general public sale. Make sure you're on Ticketmaster right when they come up and take your chances. Worst thing that can happen is that you'd still have to get upper bowl seats in the regular sale.

Seriously? Those same tickets (at least first row of the upper bowl) are $300 for the SCF at JLA!

Problem is, who else can afford it? They have to sell to the corporations because they're the only ones who can buy those high priced seats. Anyone know if Pittsburgh has put them on sale yet? I'd love to see a comparison. I'm guessing that a lot of it is based on the league setting the price.

Typically, presales only have a small amount of tickets anyway. When they go on sale to the general public, there ought to be more "cheap seats" available. Still, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the prices! I really wanted to go to a game or 2, but I just don't know if I can afford it...

Most likely he was enjoying his breakfast, and then when he heard a "professional sports talk show host" make such a ludicrous comment, he probably involuntarily choked on the delicious muffin he was swallowing at the time.

He'd better not touch that thing! Or at most, just simply accept it and skate off. That's not the trophy we or they care about. No, I'm not superstitious at all! Edit: Er...that's assuming everything goes as planned tomorrow... (Dammit...I better not have jinxed anything)

Maybe the Avs fired Quenneville because they saw Bob Hartley was available again?

Octopus Kid-you make some good points, but I would argue that the problem with hockey today is that they've made too many changes to the game too quickly in an attempt to get the casual fan. (Over)expansion in order to get viewers from new TV markets, shootouts to get rid of ties, the trapezoid...etc. It's too much gimmickry. It's just like a good movie-you can have all the coolest special effects in the world, but if the story is bad, the movie won't be any good. We have a great game-speed, skill, hits...there are a lot of strengths to capitalize on there that the current regime has not done effectively. I think that the NHL has done some good things in selling the players a bit more this year. I think getting fans familiar with their players is one of the most effective ways to create a lasting bond. And the third broadcaster in between the benches is also a good idea because you can be introduced to the strategies and things that go on during a game. (Although I chuckle when I think of someone trying to interview Scotty during a game...just would not happen!) Let that initiative take root and see where it goes before the Fox glow puck and the robots (remember those?)

I think it's inevitable. Sometime, McLellan will be a head coach. I just don't think it will be next year. The coaches that were fired have excellent pedigree. I would think that guys like Ron Wilson and Paul Maurice would be considered before McLellan.