Hank

I'm going to try and make it down there for around 3:00 today (Friday). I want to see if I can get a cheap Composite stick.

I second that. Again, Jim B. is not going to invest this kind of money saving a team in Nashville when all he wants is an NHL team near or in his home town. He's got deep pockets for a long court battle. And while that battle's going on, the Hamilton Predators will be playing to a full house. And I don't think he's pissing off the BOG in the least right now. Why would they care if the Preds get moved. All Ballsillie has done is show how much worth an NHL franchise is - even one of the weakest ones. Now they can go to Vegas and K.C. and say "See! Nashville was losing money hand over fist and they were sold for $220M. Your expansion fee will be $100-150M". The BOG loves owners with lots of money that bring exposure to the league. Ballsillie's done both so far.

I don't doubt this at all. Steve Yzerman is a different bird and it's why I love him. While other athletes are fighting and clawing for every inch of adulation and fanfare, this guy runs from it. Just look at his jersey retirement ceremony. The guy spent the entire time downplaying his career and heaping praise on others. Saying that, I'd love to get Yzerman's autograph some day, even if he was 80 years old. P.S. I know that a lot of charities come to him to sign autographs for their cause. I wouldn't doubt it if Yzerman simply cut a check for what they needed so he could remain out of the limelight and with his family.

Start to? The BOG has proven to be a collection of bobbleheads several times over in the past and present. Nothing they do makes sense most of the time. I totally agree with you that they'd be idiots not to accept the sale, but you never know with a group of guys that still consider Bill Wirtz a valued owner. Listening to XM204 last night, some Preds fans came on saying that they're only 150 season tickets short of activating the 14,000 paid attendance clause. But I have a feeling that Ballsillie has an Ace up his sleeve. He's not going to spend this kind of jack to be stuck in Nashville for the next 10 years. He'll probably move this team ASAP and drag that lease through the courts in the meantime. If the move happens I hope it happens this year already. Get it over with. I know this is crazy-talk, but I heard a rumour that the NHL actually wanted to expand to 33 teams and make 3 conferences. Each team would play the teams in their conference 4 times (40 games) and then play each team outside their conference twice (44 games) totaling 84 games. Not sure how playoffs would work but I imagine they'd simply seed each team 1-16 and play it out from there. It's only crazy rumours but I wouldn't put the league past this type of expansion/re-alignment.

http://www.spectorshockey.net/rumors.html Take it for what it's worth. But Bob MacKenzie won't talk about rumours unless it's coming from an iron clad source. With Teemu possilby retiring and the possiblity of Giggy's pads signing with the Kings, the Ducks could be hurting next year. Note: If Neidermayer and Teemu retire I'm sure the Ducks could resign Giggy's pads. But there's still the possibility of them walking.

The same could be said for longtime fans such as myself. I never understood why people equated clutch-and-grab with 'old time hockey'. I guarentee you if the game was played just like it was in the 80's the sport would be booming with new fans. But sadly, with the technological advances in equipment and coaches penchant for defensive systems, we'll never, ever see that kind of hockey again. Regardless, there are still things that can be done to promote offense. Regarding the whole debate over how great Anaheim is as a hockey market, I think the 15,000 speaks for itself. I think it shows that a great majority of the "fans" that followed the Ducks to the Cup were bandwagoners or Sharks/Kings fans. They sure jumped off once the final buzzer rang. I have no problems with building up a fan base but it's not like the Ducks came out of nowhere. They have the most playoff wins since 03 and have been to the conference final 3 of the last 4 years and twice to the Finals. I would think that should have created a strong base. Certainly stroner than 15,000 showing up to celebrate the victory. I know that there are some excellent Ducks fans out there, but clearly there aren't enough. For me, this pathetic turnout made me happy only because of some of the ignorant Duck fans that showed up here and because of what that horribly retarded LA Times writer, Hellen St. James, wrote about Detroit. Don't start throwing stones from inside your glass house.

I'm trying to find the link that shows this, but I'm almost positive TSN reported a measley 20,000 for TB's Stanley Cup celebration. EDIT: Found it: http://www.ci.tampa.fl.us/dept_mayor/Going...oing_places.asp (you have to scroll down a bit to find it).

I was listening to XM this morning and they were talking about an interview they had with Rich Winter (Hasek's agent) that took part yesterday. It really sounds like Hasek is leaning towards playing again next year. They also spoke about the possiblity that Kozlov will return to Detroit. Regarding Lang, from all accounts, it sounds as if Lang wouldn't return even if Holland desperately wanted him back. Lang wants out in a big way.

I think this is a disgusting concept. These are 12 year olds here! If your kid is fighting in hockey when he's 12 then there's something seriously wrong with the league they play in. It also says a lot about the people that like to watch 12 year olds fight in hockey. And there's a big difference between teaching them self defense compared to this. Martial Arts is more than just teaching someone how to land a proper round house kick to someones solar plexis. It teaches discipline and self control as well as physical fitness. And it also serves a purpose to protect individuals when they're faced with a dangerous situation. Getting in a fight in hockey is a lot different than confronting some drunk a'hole in a parking lot or alley. I know I'll get flamed for saying all of this, but I find this whole concept disgusting. Even Tiger Williams has said anyone that fights in hockey, without being paid for it, is an idiot. I wonder what he'd think about parents sending their 12 year old CHILDREN off to learn how to fight on ice.

Exactly. The whole reason his deal with the Pens fell through is because Mario refused to let him move it out of PIttsburgh. Why on earth would he keep a $220M investement, that loses money, in the worst hockey market in North America? Liopold begged Nashville to support the team and was very public about trying to draw local investors. NOBODY stepped up to the plate and the building was still half empty every single night despite having one of the best teams in the league. I don't know how you're going to get more fans in the building now that the hometown owned club has been sold to a guy that is widely known for wanting a team in Southern Ontario. Besides, this guys very bright and has deep pockets. No lease is going to keep him there. Preds will be out of Nashville in 2 years tops. Chances are they'll be somewhere else by the beginning of the 08-09 season. It sucks for true Preds fans, but the fact is it's a horrible hockey market with a terrible fan base. It should have never been there in the first place.

This is what kills me too. I know there are a few Ducks fans here but they're few and far between. And the proof of their 'loyal' fan base was proven last night when the Honda Center was basically empty an hour after the Cup was hoisted. I sat and watched all the interviews and by 11:00 there was nobody in the upper bowl. That was 8:00 LA time. That's a joke! People in Detroit or in real hockey markets would have, AND HAVE, partied with the team until they left the ice. I guess all those Sharks and Kings fans can get off the bandwagon now and go back to rooting for their team in October.

Congrats to the Ducks. They were a great team from start to finish. I was also very happy to see Teemu get his name on the Cup. He's a class act and he deserves it. However, I still can't give Giggy props. When he gave the CBC an interview without his upperbody gear on I just about laughed my kids awake. My 4 year old son has wider shoulders than him and yet he looks like a damn robot with his gigantic equipment on. What a joke. Even my wife was shocked. She asked "That's Giguere?!?!?!?". She couldn't believe what a frail birdlike man he looked like. If that doesn't send a message to the competition committee I don't know what will. He is a great positional goalie, but without that defense in front of him and without that mountain of padding he'd be nothing. Congrats to the rest of the Ducks. You earned it.

I used to live in Winnipeg and that city, at the time, did not support their team well at all. I would routinely get tickets for any game I wanted by simply walking up to the building 10 minutes before game time. And it's not like the tix were expensive. I used to get seats behind the goalie, against the glass, for $35 CDN each. However, despite the cheap tickets and how readily available they were, the upper bowl would remain mostly empty for the majority of games. The only time I saw it sold out was when they honoured Teemu Selanne for scoring a milestone goal. I believe the Kitchener/Waterloo area would be great for a hockey team. There's over 5M people there with plenty of rabid hockey fans. They'd have no problem filling the seats, but more importantly getting corporate sponsers.

I just heard about this on XM. Good riddance. Just another talented kid that played well and then went in the toilet after they got the big $$$. I know he'll get picked up by someone but if I was a GM and was in desperate need of a centre I'd still stay away from this cancer.

I agree, but at the same time there will be way moer expectations on them. I hope they can shoulder that. I also wanted to agree with those that pointed out how different the wings sound from this years knockout. In years past it was the same old cliche's they'd throw at you, making you believe that they didn't believe they had a good enough team. But this year they're genuinly pissed because they know how hard it is to get back in that situation. They were up 1-0 and on the verge of being up 3 games to 2 in the WCF and they blew it. That broke their back. If they win that game I truly believe we win in Anaheim in game 6. And after watching how horribly inexperienced the Sens look I think the Wings would have swept them. No question. But those are the breaks and you have to have luck to make it all the way. Look at some of the lucky bounces the Ducks have gotten on the way to the Cup. I'm not saying that in a bad way as Detroit got quite a few themselves when they won in years past. But I can't remember the last team that won the Cup with such massive injuries that the Wings suffered. If they can stay relatively healthy next year and Hasek comes back, they'll have a great chance at it. Like Drapes said, their young players are only getting better and if a healthy Bert resigns and we can sign another gritty forward to replace Lang and Calder I think we'll be right there. With the cap rising to $52M I would hope the Wings could squeeze in a Hartnell or Smyth.

Shoreline, I might be wrong on this as I don't have the specific numbers in front of me, but weren't there only 2 or 3 teams that raised ticket prices after the lockout ended? And if I'm not mistaken I think a good chunk of the teams actually reduced their prices by 10%. And yet, despite this, the league's revenus were even higher than the previous seasons. Switching from ESPN to OLN looks terrible now and I can understand why everyone despises it. But we can only truly guage this impact over a longterm tenure. Who's to say that Versus doesn't explode in the next 3-5 years? I know that might seem hard to believe but ESPN was once a laughing stock concept. Many people laughed at Al Bernstein for leaving a chushy job to become their head sportscaster. Now who's laughing. My whole point is, NHL fans and non-NHL fans seem so obsessed with harping on the negatives of this league that they don't stop to see the positives. The NHL isn't perfect and it never will be. But I've seen some good things the past 2 seasons that weren't there the past 10. It's time to stop sulking. It's not going to do any good anyways. If people are truly that angry at Bettman and how the league is run, then stop watching it and stop supporting it. That's the only way change will happen.

I really couldn't care less if the ratings were -30. Everyone's constantly crying doom-and-gloom saying how this league is going down the toilet and how the NHL will be gone in a few years. The NHL is suffering so badly and it's such a poorly run league that it was only able to do something that Major League Baseball, the apple of America's eye, couldn't; recover immediately after a work stoppage. The Cap has gone up from $42M to $52M in two years. It's generated close to $2.5B this season which is almost $500M more than what it did pre-lockout. People like Jim Ballsillie are so rabid for a franchise that he bought the Predators for $220M. Sure sounds like a league that's going down the toilet. Hockey's fine and I'm tired of the NHL and it's fans having such an inferiority complex. It gets it from trying to compare itself to the NFL. Well guess what, there isn't a league in North America that can touch the NFL. MLB is only now coming out of it's post-lockout problems and even then it's still suffering from the steroid scandle that's tainted it over the past 15 years. The NBA has been having issues itself. People seem to forget that HNIC gets more viewers than the NBA game of the week on TNT. I don't care if pig wrestling gets better ratings than a Stanley Cup final. The league is fine. I enjoy watching it and judging by the $$$ it continues to pour in, it's going to be around for a long, long time. Stop obsessing over the NHL's place in the sports conscience of America. Just sit down and enjoy the games and the awesome talent that plays in it.

So you'd rather root for a Redwings team that doesn't have Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Nick Lidstrom or Domink Hasek? Because that's exactly what would happen if someone like Cherry were the commish.

Absolutely! There's no reason to have hard plastic, or any hard substance, in the players elbow and shoulder pads. I hear your frustration. In todays day of technology there's nobody on this planet that can convince me that smaller goalie equipment, that's just as safe as today's, is impossible. If Nick Lidstrom can wear skates made of the same stuff his compositie stick is, why can't they do the same for upperbody protection? I'd much, much rather see smaller goalie equipment than go to a bigger net, but I think we'll see the nets become enlarged before the goalie equipment is reduced. And if anyone's going to complain about it (like me) then the wrath of the fans should be directed towards the goalies. They're the ones that have ruined the game.

I love Grapes and I think he's very entertaining but you don't want this guy as commissioner of the NHL. If you did, every player would be from the OHL, WHL and the NCAA. He hates the Quebec league (or anyone from Quebec) and despises Europeans. So there goes 50% of the skill the league has to offer. He'd also put in rules to make fighting mandatory. Whiile I enjoy a good tilt, I like the ones that are from the result of emotion boiled over. Not two goons that politely ask one another if they'd like to dance. Probie got in a lot of scrapes and I'm sure some were 'staged', but he had some wars that were brought about by his rage and the emotion of the game. That's what makes a good fight. Not two guys that hold on to each others sweaters for 2 minutes while spinning each other around. But if it's between a couple of guys that are really ticked off about something then it's a good show and good for the game. Did anyone see the tilt between Brad Boyes (when with Boston) and Tony Lydman earlier this year? Boy was it a dandy! Or the one with Paul Mara and Mike Richards? Another good bout. Anyway, Cherry's great because he tells it just like he thinks it is. But you can't tell me that teams like Detroit are bad for the league. Just like you can't tell me that someone who once said "Cory Perry will be better than both Ovechkin and Crosby" is a hockey genius. Cherry's great at what he does. He's not always right, but he's always entertaining.

It's funny that you mention this because Shanahan was just quoted as saying the competition committee focused too much on the goalie leg pads and not enough of the upperbody protection when the lockout ended. It really needs to be addressed. It's not just Giggy, but a lot of other goalies like Luongo are rediculous. That's a good question too. I don't know. It's funny how a referee that sees a blatant penalty right in front of him keeps his arm down while the one 80 feet away calls it. I don't think officiating in the NHL will ever get to the point where fans will approve. But I hope they can try to keep a consistant standard. I thought, for most games, that standard was upheld through last season to this season. But some stuff hasn't been called with consistancy throughout the playoffs.

I understand what you're saying. But the fact is times change. In the 1940's-50's the game was played by men who averaged 5'8" in height, only 2 lines of forwards and 4 dmen were used. Goalies didn't wear masks, and therefore shooters respected their saftey and very rarely shot high. Look at old film and you'll see proof of that. There were no slapshots until Boom-Boom Geoffrion discovered it by accident. There were a lot more fights than there are today, but not as much as some people think there was. You know the term "Gordie Howe Hattrick"? (1goal, 1 assist and a fight). Gordie Howe only had ONE his entire career. Scoring was abysmal too. 3-2 and 2-1 games were the norm but top scorers were still able to get a point a game because they only used 6 forwards really. 1992-93 there was a tonne of scoring. I think 19 of the top 20 scorers got 100+ points and there were two 70-goal scorers along with 14 50+ goal scorers. I look back at his season fondly because it was full of great goals, scorers and, yes, more fights. Top scorers also averaged between 25-35 minutes a night. But the fact is, times have changed considerably since then. Much, much better and bigger goalie equipment, defensive systems, rolling 4 lines, instigator penalty, etc. I don't think there's going to be any change to this so the league needs to do something to open the game up again. Regarding the officiating, I'm going to mimic what others have said here; it's a very tough job. There's no harder sport to referee. Also, I don't blame the refs for the Wings loss in the least. Sure, there were some missed calls, but in the end we didn't take advantage of our opportunites and the Ducks did. My whole thing concerning the finals is that it's boring from a fans standpoint. I just want to watch good hockey, and game 2 was a stinker in my opinion. I think the only way the NHL can make a league that features more odd man rushes and scoring is to greatly reduce the goalie equipment (or go to bigger nets - make this the goalies decision) and go to 4 on 4 full time. I know that sounds radical, but like I said earlier, NHL hockey used to be played 6-on-6 but was reduced to 5-on-5 when players got bigger and faster. That's exactly what's happening now. I don't think a bigger ice surface is the answer as it would only serve to assist in trapping systems. Just watch European hockey. It's boring as hell. I know that with NHL calibre rosters it wouldn't be as bad, but can you imagine what coaches like Jacque Lemaire, Jacque Martin or any coach the Devils employ would do with that big of surface? We're talking a bananza of 1-0 games. With 4 on 4 it would make traps a lot harder to do. It would also cut out a bunch of no-talent players from the league. Of course the union would never go for reduced jobs (although, the higher priced players would like it as they'd get paid more), and I'm sure there would be even less fighting so that would make some people ticked off. I'm rambling now, but my whole point is, I want hockey to open up to the point where creativity can reign like it did back in the 80's and early 90's. I don't think there's only 1 thing the league can do, but a combination. But I think an excellent start would be to reduce the goalie equipment and continue to get the obstruction out of the league.

I've been there to watch a few Bulldog games. It's a nice arena but it should be updated. I'm still wondering how Hamilton will like it if he brings the team there only to leave once his arena is built in Kitchener-Waterloo. Not saying that would happen, but I can't see the NHL allowing 3 teams in Southern Ontario (even though they could probably support it).

Here's an idea then; LEAVE I'm very sorry that you're being annoyed on a message board that isn't about your team.

Show me one playoff game from last year to this year that didn't have passion. They've all been spilling over with it. You want to talk about OLD time hockey, then what era are you referring to? Because if you mean the 80's and early 90's there was a tonne of scoring, no hooking and holding and no defensive zone traps. The 'new' NHL is closer to what oldtime hockey used to be. Think I'm full of it? Then what about players like the great Jean Beleveau? He said that hockey in 05-06 was the closest he's seen since his heyday. I've heard other players like Joe Sakic praise it as well. Sure, there's less fights but that's got a lot more to do with the systems put in place and the influx of Europeans. There's no room for goons that can't do anything out there. I like a tilt as much as the next guy but if fighting served any purpose above and beyond entertainment you would see a LOT more of it in the playoffs where the games are 10000x more important. If fighting really did translate into wins then the deadline would be ripe with deals for goons. And don't spout off about 'tradition'. If everyone wanted to stick to tradition then hockey should be played 6-on-6, where goalies can't go down to block shots, no bluelines and no forward passing. Because that's what NHL hockey was in the beginning. And baseball has changed considerably. Designated hitters, shorter mound, tighter ball, large bullpens. Heck, at one time if the ball bounced over the wall it was called a homerun. Times have changed and sports need to as well. People forget that sports are entertainment. And last nights game was anything but. I wouldn't pay to watch Lebron James or Michael Jordan get mugged up and down the floor all night resulting in a 24-22 game. So why should hockey fans have to watch their stars suffer through the same things?