MacK_Attack

Ryan Smyth has a knack for the garbage goal, as well. As for the 6.3 to Timmonen, makes me feel a little better about the Bryan McCabe warchest.....Tomas Kaberle is an absolute steal at 4.25 now.

Leafs tickets have been the most expensive seat in professional sports since the beginning of time, but the building is full no matter what. Hamilton's drawing power will be getting those who can't get Leafs tickets and those who either don't want to drive to Buffalo or deal with the hassles of border-crossing to plunk down the cash for seasons tickets, which they have clearly already had overwhelming success without putting a single cent into marketing. I'm not saying that Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids couldn't make a go of it, but Hamilton is a potential gold mine for the NHL. The demand and wealth is there to make it a very successful franchise. The Leafs and Sabres do not come even close to satisfying Southern Ontario's professional hockey needs. Hamilton's metropolitan population may not be that huge, but there's 7-million people within an hour's drive from Hamilton. It's not an overnight process, but you can see in Ottawa how it can be done. You had people/families who had been Leafs, Habs or Nordiques fans for generations, but they slowly switch allegiences as time goes on. The next generation that comes around that didn't know what it was like to not have an NHL team in their city (or nearby area) are definitely more likely to support only that local team. It just takes time to build loyalty.

Money. Southern Ontario has the corporate/personal dollars to not only keep the seats sold, but full during games, which is better for the bottom line, because professional teams make huge dollars on booze sales/concessions at games. The economy in Michigan would not be able to handle another team. Yes, the interest would be there, but the money isn't.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=21...amp;hubName=nhl

Oh yeah, I'm sure Jacques Martin would love to deal with him all over again...

This is his 3rd go-around with the Bolts.

Balsillie will start selling season's tickets and private boxes for Copps Coliseum tomorrow (or at least gathering names via deposits). Deposits range from $500 for an upper-bowl seat, to $1000 for a lower-bowl seat.

I think that pretty much sums up the depth of this draft. It's a crapshoot. It basically comes down to teams taking players who suit their needs, rather than the "best player available" route, since there's no clear cut players that stand out above the rest once you get out of the top 3 or 4.

Brett MacLean has really surprised me this year with how far he has shot up in the rankings....I mean, he's a pretty good power forward, but his production is greatly inflated by that Tavares kid he plays with (never heard of him, I know). I think he'll be a decent NHLer, but not first round material. Hope he proves me wrong, he's a hometown boy.

Nah, not funny, just further proves that refs have no bias towards or against any teams. Fans just cook crap like that up when they need a target to blame a loss on.

Lucky to be as good as they are. They lost 5 games in two months of playoff hockey.

Ducks are too deep to not make it back. They'll be a top seed.

Ahh Fergie, you never cease to amaze me. Is it too early to go buy a John Tavares Leafs jersey? Without Mats Sundin by his side, he would be very lucky to score 10 goals a year. He's a big oaf with no coordination. He and Ponikarovsky make a half-decent PK unit because they have the wingspan of pterodactyls, but that's about it. John Ferguson is a useless tool who has absolutely no ability to negotiate contracts.

Jim Balsillie's lawyer was on Primetime Sports on the FAN 590 about an hour ago. He went through a few different scenarios on how Balsillie can get out of the lease and such. He also went through how an owner goes about getting approved to move a team. The lawyer couldn't come right out and say it, but they're clearly preparring to move the Predators.

Bill McCreary is the best referee in the world. End of story. You want a different ref? You're going to get a poorly refereed game in comparison to a McCreary game. He's quite simply the best.

Here it is:

Alfredsson has always been a bit on the gutless side. He usually throws hits (and as we saw last night, gloved sucker-punches) when his opponent either can't defend himself, or isn't looking. The guy definitely picks his spots and it's about time people took notice of it. He isn't as squeaky clean as the Ottawa media would have one believe. Nobody is saying what Krusty did was on the goon level like Pronger's hit (Chris Neil is another story), but it was a classless thing to do. It's a respect thing, there's certain things you don't do on the ice and needlessly firing a puck at an opponent is right up there. Stop comparing it to Pronger, it's a different type of play we're dealing with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG99kRovlZI Yeah, I stick by it....it was an elbow to the head. He put his arms up and had no intention of hitting him with anything other than a forearm or elbow.

How about the elbow that is connecting with the head?

So wait....didn't Ottawa have more powerplays than Anaheim last night? I don't think the refs are the reason that the Sens only played 3/4 of a period last night.

(Neil on MacDonald)

Two Conn Smythe's in three playoff seasons....not a bad batting average for Giguere.

Yeah, the Baby Leafs were a fun game to go to during the couple trips I made to the Rock a few years back. Logistically, it just didn't make sense to keep the team there, sadly. (Side note, could the crusty European defenceman you're thinking of possibly be Pierre Hedin? He played one season for the Baby Leafs and went back to Europe as quickly as he could. May have also been Max Kondratiev, but he was only in the AHL for a very brief period of time.)

They'll play each other once in Anaheim.

He was drafted in '02, but he didn't come over here until the 2005/06 season, I think.