Expand the playoff tournament?

[miller76 463]

But that's my point. These are teams that have won the Cup, yet their organizations can't even give enough tickets away to kid themselves into thinking they'll ever get a sellout crowd for their games. With maybe the exception of Dallas, their playoff accomplishments (almost always followed after by mediocre/poor performances, BTW) make the large-scale regional apathy towards the teams in question all the more glaringly obvious. Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa didn't even need to win the Cup for their respective cities to go absolutely bazonkers during their respective deep playoff runs. Vancouver and Minnesota haven't gotten anywhere close to winning a cup in ages, yet have had sellout streaks lasting years. The Ducks actually win the be-all-and-end-all of hockey and can't even get the newspapers to care about it more than Paris Hilton's drug problems, much less any kind of tradititional celebration like a parade. It just feels like a waste of the game.

People that dont live in this area dont understand that the entertainment industry take precidence over everything here. Positive or negative. Thats the way it is here. Its always been like that, and probably always will. Hell I was ticked I had to take an alternate way home yesterday because they had this widely travelled area shut down, do to a filming of a movie. But along with most here, I definetly could give two s***s about Paris Hilton or whoever is doing what. But just because hockey isnt on the news everynight covering the league, doesn't mean that there aren't interested people in it in the area. Hell ESPN doesn't even cover it all! I guess the locl news outlets feel there is always so much other newsworthy stuff they think you should hear about first, I don't know. But the Kings and Ducks are always on TV, just like any other TV market with their local team.

There are die hard fans still going to to see the worse team (Kings) in the league still.

I guess my biggest beef is that people who have grown up in the cooler environments such as Canada feel as if hockey is their game, it's where teams belong, and that hockey certainly cannot be played in an area that gets warm or is never cold enough to play he game on a pond. Hell I dont know. I just returned from Calgary as well. I was there in January. And dumb luck I was there when the Kings were in town. And all I heard was, "hockey is Canada, it should be a crime to play the game in California or even the U.S. The Stanley Cup belongs in Canada" I certainly understand the compassion they feel about the game and the Cup. I am the same. My love for the Wings goes back to 1982. But just because the game is played in an area that it is not widely known as a hockey-mecha, doesn't mean it's a crime either.

People have opinions, and I have mine. But fortunately for me hockey is here to stay in southern Cal. And the rest of the opposing view have something to wine about.

[BlakChamber 8]

I guess my biggest beef is that people who have grown up in the cooler environments such as Canada feel as if hockey is their game, it's where teams belong, and that hockey certainly cannot be played in an area that gets warm or is never cold enough to play he game on a pond. Hell I dont know. I just returned from Calgary as well. I was there in January. And dumb luck I was there when the Kings were in town. And all I heard was, "hockey is Canada, it should be a crime to play the game in California or even the U.S. The Stanley Cup belongs in Canada" I certainly understand the compassion they feel about the game and the Cup. I am the same. My love for the Wings goes back to 1982. But just because the game is played in an area that it is not widely known as a hockey-mecha, doesn't mean it's a crime either.

Agreed. And too often, those people who don't want the NHL outside of Canada, the northeast, and the upper midwest are the same who cry about the lack of exposure the NHL gets in the mainstream media. Let's see, you want the NHL to be a major player, but don't want it to have teams outside a certain area. Makes perfect sense.

Anyway, to get back on topic. No way should the playoffs expand. I think limiting the number of teams and giving some first round byes would be the way to go. But, since that will never happen, leave the playoffs as they are.

Although I like joshy207's divisions.

[chrisdetroit 189]

People that dont live in this area dont understand that the entertainment industry take precidence over everything here. Positive or negative. Thats the way it is here. Its always been like that, and probably always will. Hell I was ticked I had to take an alternate way home yesterday because they had this widely travelled area shut down, do to a filming of a movie. But along with most here, I definetly could give two s***s about Paris Hilton or whoever is doing what. But just because hockey isnt on the news everynight covering the league, doesn't mean that there aren't interested people in it in the area. Hell ESPN doesn't even cover it all! I guess the locl news outlets feel there is always so much other newsworthy stuff they think you should hear about first, I don't know. But the Kings and Ducks are always on TV, just like any other TV market with their local team.

There are die hard fans still going to to see the worse team (Kings) in the league still.

I guess my biggest beef is that people who have grown up in the cooler environments such as Canada feel as if hockey is their game, it's where teams belong, and that hockey certainly cannot be played in an area that gets warm or is never cold enough to play he game on a pond. Hell I dont know. I just returned from Calgary as well. I was there in January. And dumb luck I was there when the Kings were in town. And all I heard was, "hockey is Canada, it should be a crime to play the game in California or even the U.S. The Stanley Cup belongs in Canada" I certainly understand the compassion they feel about the game and the Cup. I am the same. My love for the Wings goes back to 1982. But just because the game is played in an area that it is not widely known as a hockey-mecha, doesn't mean it's a crime either.

People have opinions, and I have mine. But fortunately for me hockey is here to stay in southern Cal. And the rest of the opposing view have something to wine about.

This shouldn't be a debate. It's a free market. If a city has a team and I don't care if it's in Jamaica, and they make a profit, good for them. It's a business just like any other professional sport. If they don't make a profit, they aren't going to have a team for long because no businessman is going to sustain losses for a long period of time.

It's tough on the game to see one of the better team like Nashville last year not be able to attract even the 14,000 fans that it needs to be viable but that's the breaks and it can't last long. If they continue to lose money, even the new group of owners will bail and another city will get a chance.

The Stanley Cup belongs in the city of the winning team - period.

This is a business, and like it or not emotions have nothing to do with it.