up2here

I feel the same,if thats what it takes for the league to survive then so be it, lets just hope myself and a lot of people are wrong. My wife likes to remind me that I'm wrong a lot so theres a good chance.

Dont get me wrong I like a good scrap as much as anybody but you cant compare the NBA,MLB or the NFL to the NHL. All of those leagues already have major TV deals and are already established throughout the entire United States market. They dont need to take anything out of their sports in hopes of attracting more viewers. I hope I'm wrong and the NHL can survive without one but I have my doubts.

My original point was that fans in Southern States love Football,Baseball and Basketball,none of which have fights on a regular basis, and that the NHL may need these fans to survive.

This smells like another "Panic after losing one game even though we just won the Stanley Cup" thread...

Times and salaries have changed,and now were in a recession.

Basically yes but I dont think the NHL will survive as a niche sport. I think most of us long time fans will still watch.

I actually beleive the NHL needs to seriously curtail fighting in order to survive. A big reason the NHL lacks a major TV deal is the lack of exposure in the Southern states. There are 30 million people in Southern California, 24 million people in Texas, 18 million in Florida and 10 million people in Georgia and a vast majority of these people (Over 80 million potential fans)dont understand fighting. They watch football,basketball and baseball religously,none of which have fights on a regular basis.While I myself dont mind seeing a good fight I can also understand how it could also be difficult to explain to young child why these men are fighting. Pierre Maguire is a tool for sure but he may have a misguided point.

Goalie Post lists Osgood as the starter. Can anyone confirm this? http://goaliepost.com/

I think the league knows the reason but theyre trying to stress the danger of removing the helmet. Broken hand better than broken head kinda deal.

I think that is a solution but not a simple one. A more simple solution is tougher penalties on players who remove their helmet for a fight. No solution is going to solve this 100% and I would hazard a guess that theres less chance of death being in a hockey fight than there is to drive a car.

You know what I find amusing about that logo is that the duck on the jersey is not wearing the jersey that the duck is on.

How can any bad logo list not include this catastrophe:

The B's have so much depth that I doubt they even feel this. Just means more ice time for Ryder,Krejci,Wheeler,Savard,Lucic etc.

Hey Damien! How does 3 Central Division titles,2 Presidents Trophies and a Stanley Cup grab you?

Ken Klee to Pittsburgh at 13??! Go smoke another one. I also wonder what we would be done about the Cap. Most of the teams are close to the cap and wouldnt be able to pick up some of the higher salaried players.

No mention of the visor which I am nearly positive has had something to do with the slow start.

4-1 Wings and ,watching from the press box ,Brunnstrom officially rues the day he signed with Dallas.

I just picked him up in my fantasy league.

No Phaneuf,I might have to visit the Flames message boards.

To this point Kenny has been a man of his word. I wouldnt say its impossible that Franzen gets traded ,but highly unlikely.

Wings 2 ,Jackets 1. The game will be close because all of our Swedes will be depressed by the thumping Canada put on their junior team.

Holland has said a few times that he will not trade Franzen even if he doesnt think they can sign him, so I think we can throw that option out.

I could be wrong but doesnt the Salary Cap end after the regular season? So in theory we could call up Leino,Helm or Ericsson anyway.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/app?service=page&am...erGame&pg=2 NHL.com is a great site for stat hounds like myself and I noticed some interesting numbers when looking at the top forwards ice-time. Ovechkin leads the league at just about 23 mins per game followed by Malkin at over 22.5 mpg,Pav leads the wings at just over 19. So AO is playing almost 3 more minutes per game than Pavel and Malkin is playing more than 2 more minutes. Over 82 game this is like playing between 10 and 12 extra games and may play a part in making these players more tired come playoff time.

Eklund says it will be Bruins vs. Rangers from either Yankee Stadium or Citi Field. He was actually the first person to reveal this years as well.