Penguins vs Red Wings in the media coverage war

[YoungGuns1340 1]

They were forced to get rid of Jagr, Straka, Lang, Morozov, and many more because of issues within the city/state. Their fans stood up when the team was almost moved. Lemieux stepped in with his own money to keep the team in Pittsburgh. Their fans continued to show up even when the team was horrible, even when the team was on the brink of relocation, even though their arena is the worst in the NHL by a fair margin.

High draft picks don't instantly make you a contender. Columbus, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago, Florida, and many other terrible teams prove that. Pittsburgh completely redefined their game in order to compete defensively. The players, the coaching, the management, and the fans all deserve credit.

Luckily for the NHL, nobody subscribes to your idea that terrible teams should always be terrible. That's why the draft is set up to promote this kind of parity, where terrible teams with 0 future can turn it around to be a legitimate contender in under 5 years.

1. IF they were forced to get rid of players, it was because they weren't making enough money. Where does a lot of that money come from? fans. Who were non-existant. I wasn't born yesterday. I've seen many Pens games pre-Crosby, and that arena is a freaking desert with few jerseys spotted in the stands.

2. They're fans continued to show up even when they were horrible? Is that why they couldnt rank higher than 22nd pre-Crosby?

3. Mellon arena is so bad? Youre preaching to the choir. The Joe is also one of the oldest arenas in the NHL, and its more or less a warehouse. Yet you dont see Wings fans using that as an excuse. If Pens fans care so much about the arena that it turns them off from the game, then that says a lot about the fan base.

4. Tell me how many of Columbus, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago, and Florida have had a chance at nabbing Crosby with the no-brainer #1 pick? Let me tell you: None. Tell me how many of those teams had a top 2 no-brainer pick in one of the deepest drafts in years and were able to have their choice between Ovechkin and Malkin? Let me tell you: None. Pittsburg has had THE BEST drafting positions for the past five years, bar none. You only get that by sucking.

5. I like how you come up with phantom ideas of other posters to make your idiotic and untrue statements seem realistic. Thankfully, the majority of the posters on this board are smart and informed and have a skill called reading comprehension. Unfortunately for you, you cleary don't. Cause nowhere in my post did I even IMPLY that Pittsburg should suck forever. But becuase youre intellect cant seem to account for itself, I will spell it out for you: Pittsburg sucked so hard and so long that they built up a slew of superstars who were sure-fire winners. THATS how why they're in the finals.

Edited May 23, 2008 by YoungGuns1340

[KronwallCRUNCH 5]

1. IF they were forced to get rid of players, it was because they weren't making enough money. Where does a lot of that money come from? fans. Who were non-existant. I wasn't born yesterday. I've seen many Pens games pre-Crosby, and that arena is a freaking desert with few jerseys spotted in the stands.

2. They're fans continued to show up even when they were horrible? Is that why they couldnt rank higher than 22nd pre-Crosby?

3. Mellon arena is so bad? Youre preaching to the choir. The Joe is also one of the oldest arenas in the NHL, and its more or less a warehouse. Yet you dont see Wings fans using that as an excuse. If Pens fans care so much about the arena that it turns them off from the game, then that says a lot about the fan base.

4. Tell me how many of Columbus, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago, and Florida have had a chance at nabbing Crosby with the no-brainer #1 pick? Let me tell you: None. Tell me how many of those teams had a top 2 no-brainer pick in one of the deepest drafts in years and were able to have their choice between Ovechkin and Malkin? Let me tell you: None. Pittsburg has had THE BEST drafting positions for the past five years, bar none. You only get that by sucking.

5. I like how you come up with phantom ideas of other posters to make your idiotic and untrue statements seem realistic. Thankfully, the majority of the posters on this board are smart and informed and have a skill called reading comprehension. Unfortunately for you, you cleary don't. Cause nowhere in my post did I even IMPLY that Pittsburg should suck forever. But becuase youre intellect cant seem to account for itself, I will spell it out for you: Pittsburg sucked so hard and so long that they built up a slew of superstars who were sure-fire winners. THATS how why they're team is in the finals.

Check mate.

[Pensfan 0]

What part of PITTSBURGH - 30 (read: DEAD. *******. LAST) are you completely incapable of understanding? Congrats, you can now fill a tiny arena with bandwagoning ******* who draw blank faces at the mention of Lemieux because the draft rewards terrible teams. It's like Calgary circa 2004. No thanks for me.

Your constant above and beyond whining has grown annoying. Quit getting so offended if people don't agree with your point of view. We don't need your opinion shoved down our throats in every thread, followed by you trying to prove how big of an e-penis you have when we don't agree with it. After all, it's just a messageboard. I have yet to see one post from you supporting the Red Wings, instead, it's all about your hatred for Pittsburgh.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Pensfan

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

#5 Who cares if Crosby whines? Gretzky whined, Lemieux whined, Chelios whines - what does it make a difference? Zetterberg dove a lot this season, does that somehow negate the fact that he's an amazing player?

The amount of people that hate Crosby just because he's popular is astounding.

I want Detroit to win, but I see absolutely no reason why the media should be focusing on them. Pittsburgh is the better story by far.

And you can pretty much make a claim that a majority of players in the league whine at some point in their careers.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

As a Canadian, I hate that everyone north of the 49th is getting shafted by the NHL in preference for Miami Beach and Atlanta. All the NHL is doing as far as I'm concerned is making itself increasingly clear it dosen't want Canadian/non-fringe interest in the game, because I'm not seeing a 'compromise' occuring here as much as a shunning. Which makes sense given the NHL's mindset - ultimately there are more people in the States that could potentially be turned onto hockey than those already tuned in. So we allow more and more 'potential' hockey markets in instead of ones chomping at the bit for easy, local access to the NHL because hey, why get instant and continuous profits in a hockey-crazed market when we can sit around with our thumbs up our assess for twenty years waiting for Atlanta to start giving a f*** about hockey? And now we get a diving whiner as the solitary face of the entire league. What a wonderful message being sent out to a population who already consider hockey a joke of a sport when we could use a player who actually has some class to his game like Ovechkin. The WHL feels more and more appealing every season since the lockout - I'd prefer obscurity to what the NHL is insisting on doing to the game.

There aren't going to be many Canadians boycotting the game I think. Hockey is your sport, you aren't going to leave it anytime soon in all likelihood.

So focus on bringing it into new areas. It just doesn't get popular and happen overnight. It takes time.

And Atlanta had a hockey team before the Thrashers actually. The Flames played there.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

The decision to draft Crosby andMalkin could;ve been made by a chimp.

And if the Red Wings had the same chance to do it/lucked out in the order to do it, they would've chosen them as well in all likelihood. Would our team then deserve less credit then?

[nkuehnl 0]

Thankfully, the majority of the posters on this board are smart and informed and have a skill called reading comprehension.

Let me get this straight.

-you're denying that Pittsburgh's financial trouble had nothing to do with being screwed around by their city and state, and it was only because fans weren't buying jerseys/tickets (ignoring tickets, as I've already pointed out that their attendance was decent for a team/arena of that caliber - who is going to buy a Dick Tarnstrom jersey?)

-you think Pittsburgh got Crosby because they sucked, even though every team had a decent chance to get him and standings were almost irrelevant

-you think the Joe is even remotely close to how terrible Mellon Arena is, even though the Joe has practically no restricted viewing area while the Igloo is littered with them

-you think that a terrible arena is not going to affect prices with a team that can only muster 58 points and that the attendance for one year is somehow relevant to how the fans support their team, even though Detroit's attendance problems were MUCH worse back in the 80s, and the only reason they got Yzerman was through "sucking hard"

-you think attendance figures at 90%+ capacity indicates that fans showing up aren't showing up

-you think Malkin was a surefire winner, even though there was a lot of struggle to actually get him over here and playing

-you think Fleury was a surefire winner, even though he's probably not even in the top 5 goalies in the league and will likely never be there

Really?

I could go on a rant about how ridiculous your quote is, but this sentence should be enough to convey my feelings.

Oh man, the Gatorade (Coca-Cola?) corporation is going to be absolutely f***ed if it isn't capable of doing an ad featuring a sport the vast majority of people in America couldn't care less about anyway! Get out the red ink, accountants, Gatorade is going into financial freefall because 30 seconds of still images wasn't produced!

Haha, you think my comment had anything to do with Gatorade profits? It has everything to do with marketing the NHL, you dolt. If Crosby doesn't do the commercial, and Gatorade doesn't want anyone else, GUESS WHAT - there's no commercial marketing the NHL anymore! Well done, Gatorade wants to promote hockey for free but Crosby, who should act more like Jesus apparently, has told them to piss off and now there's no free marketing for hockey. Gee, I wonder if this is a bad thing.

What part of PITTSBURGH - 30 (read: DEAD. *******. LAST) are you completely incapable of understanding? Congrats, you can now fill a tiny arena with bandwagoning ******* who draw blank faces at the mention of Lemieux because the draft rewards terrible teams. It's like Calgary circa 2004. No thanks for me.

What part of PITTSBURGH - 28 can't you understand? Here's some basic math you missed out in school while raging about Crosby:

If arena A holds 21,000 and has 18,000 attend - that's 85% capacity.

If arena B holds 17,000 and has 16,000 attend - that's 94% capacity.

Guess which arena is filled more? Go on, guess.

This is why we don't look at total attendance to compare franchises, and instead, we use arena capacity to determine who is really filling their arena. Until you click that PCT to re-sort the column, you're arguing pointless data.

Edited May 23, 2008 by nkuehnl

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

17000 fairweathers 64 games in a row. You must be so proud.

As a fan of a team that cannot sell out its own arena...you lose all credibility by saying this...congrats...you are now the lowest

IQ poster I have seen in this community.

Yeah...I'm damn proud...perhaps you should be proud of your team, as opposed to bitter over the success of another.

Damn...you're small

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

If all Crosby wanted to do is play hockey he'd say no to all - hell, SOME - of these endorsements. Unless he's being shackled and forcibly dragged into the studio so he can spend all day posing in his clothing line, saying he dosen't solicit this coverage is nonsense. What, he dosen't earn enough money on the ice to survive as is? He dosen't even need to worry about room and board, he bunks with Lemieux.

"Mr. Crosby...we would like to give you 2 million dollars to do a commercial...it will take you one day..."

"Aw..geez...no thanks"

I'm sure you would be turning that down....Crosby took a lower salary BECAUSE he can make big bucks in endorsements...when Malkin gets 10 million/year (yes..thats more than Sid)...Sid will just smile...because that was his plan.

[Spinner 6]

I just wonder how the media is going to handle the Wings winning the cup. Are they going to say how great the Wings are or how sorry the world is that Crosby didn't get to hoist the cup?

[littleram 0]

17000 fairweathers 64 games in a row. You must be so proud.

Detroit a perennial NHL powerhouse year after year...And you still can't sell-out the joe?

You must be so proud. "hockeytown?"

[pits200 0]

#1 Crosby will never be Gretzky no matter what anyone thinks, 2 different players in 2 different time. Besides Gretzky had 55 goals and 109 assists his 3rd year, and the next year he had 92 goals, if Crosby ever hits 60 goals ill eat my words, but ill say this he will never be a 60 goal scorer, he may hit 120+ points but it will be 90 As 30 Gs.

Come on now, anyone who uses the numbers from 20-25 years ago that Gretzky put up is not very knowledgeable about hockey.

Hockey is a different sport, not just the rules, but like in all pro sports now a days there is so much parity. Gretzky was amazing, dont get me wrong, but he was playing against players who were so much less skilled than him it was ridiculous. You'd have big lumbering defensemen who couldn't catch a cold. Now you have big players like Lidstrom who are strong and fast and would put up a MUCH better match against the Great One.

Back then

Defensemen- 4

Gretzky- 10

Difference of 6

Now

Defensemen 8

Gretzky 10

Difference of 2

This is the main reason you will never see anything close to a 200 pt scorer again. The players are just better.

Edited May 23, 2008 by pits200

[Icteria virens 11]

And if the Red Wings had the same chance to do it/lucked out in the order to do it, they would've chosen them as well in all likelihood. Would our team then deserve less credit then?

actually yes, when the Pittsburgh Penguins organization can consistantly draft players in the 3, 5, 6 and 7 rounds of the NHL draft that turn out to be stars then I'll be impressed. See Datsyuk, Zetterburg, Lidstrom, Federov, Franzen, Osgood, McCartny. Heck, we haven't drafted above about 28 or so in the first round since I can remember.

They've got 2 number 1 overalls, 2 number 2 overalls and a 5th overall in their lineup. they got those picks by sucking for 5 years. They've been a good team for 1-2 years, when they've done it for 15 years like the Wings have then I'll be impressed. Any team can do it for a short time, what happened to TB, Car, ANA, Buf Edm, and Cal? I would think Wings fans above all should know this.

Konstantinov was 212 overall. granted the Wings didn't know if he'd ever play in the NHL , same for Feds but still, give the DRW organization credit for taking the risk, any team in the NHL could've had those guys. Same with all the others listed.

there's no denying we've drafted well, consistently, for well over a decade. We've done it in the non-cap era, the cap era. Who's won the Presidents trophy 2 of the last 3 years when all I heard was the new era Wings were going down, wouldn't even win their division let alone the Prez. trophy. Pitt hasn't done it, 10 years from now if things stay the same I'll be impressed but not now. They haven't earned it.

[pits200 0]

Datsyuk's Top 10

Very Nice, but you can't argue. Crosby's top 10 was better.

Not being a biased fan either.

[Reds4Life 51]

Very Nice, but you can't argue. Crosby's top 10 was better.

Not being a biased fan either.

Corsby's top ten? Show me, please.

Pavel is much more exciting player. Yeah, I don't like Crosby. But still, Pavel is better stickhandler his moves are sensational. Crosby is flashy player too, but not as exciting as Pavel Datsyuk.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Reds4Life

[pits200 0]

Corsby's top ten? Show me, please.

Pavel is much more exciting player. Yeah, I don't like Crosby. But still, Pavel is better stickhandler his moves are sensational. Crosby is flashy player too, but not as exciting as Pavel Datsyuk.

Different kind of top ten. You're right about Dats, his stick work is phenomenal. But Crosby takes on a whole team in a couple of these.

Edited May 23, 2008 by pits200

[PaVel DaTsYuK fan13 0]

You can't blame the league for it. The Penguins have a team with a surplus of young talent that hasn't been seen since the Oiler's dynasty. They really do have the potential to be a dynasty, and it's the leagues best chance at climbing up the professional sports latter.

[Malking71 0]

You can't blame the league for it. The Penguins have a team with a surplus of young talent that hasn't been seen since the Oiler's dynasty. They really do have the potential to be a dynasty, and it's the leagues best chance at climbing up the professional sports latter.

I wish the NHL was popular enough where people like Datsyuk and Lidstrom could land national sponsorships and be interviewed on national radio. But it is simply not there yet. The great unwashed would rather cheer for gangster stars that hit there wives than care about a star who's name sounds funny. Most hardcore Penguin fans, including me, would like it better if the national media spread the coverage around a bit. Sid would take take far less crap if he wasn't exposed as much as he is. Saying that, as hardcore NHL fans like we are, we need to just suck it up and let the NHL marketing do it's job so that one day, people like Datsyuk and Lidstrom will get the exposure that they deserve.

[Reds4Life 51]

Different kind of top ten. You're right about Dats, his stick work is phenomenal. But Crosby takes on a whole team in a couple of these.

Hm. Not very many dekes, most of goals he scored in this video were kinda weird..Crosby falling down and scoring a goal..interesting top10, but I am sure he scored some more flashy goals.

I still prefer highlights of Datsyuk or Ovechkin though.

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

Detroit a perennial NHL powerhouse year after year...And you still can't sell-out the joe?

You must be so proud. "hockeytown?"

oh s*** I forgot

Pittsburgh is an awful sports town

gotta remember that next time

[Spinner 6]

Detroit a perennial NHL powerhouse year after year...And you still can't sell-out the joe?

You must be so proud. "hockeytown?"

We've been selling out the Joe year after year since you've won your last cup. Yes we are proud. The problem this year, IMO, is more caused by the economy than lack of interest. I know I haven't been able to afford a game this year having a 100 mile drive and gas prices soaring. You can be darn sure that I haven't missed a single game on tv tho. So yes, we are Hockeytown, and you'd think better if you knew how passionate we are about our hockey.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

So Pittsburgh doesn't deserve any credit for turning their franchise around, it just magically happened. Now it's also their fault that the media is all over the greatest young canadian player in 20 years?

Holy hell. How many hours until we can actually watch these teams play some hockey??

[Spinner 6]

So Pittsburgh doesn't deserve any credit for turning their franchise around, it just magically happened. Now it's also their fault that the media is all over the greatest young canadian player in 20 years?

Holy hell. How many hours until we can actually watch these teams play some hockey??

I think it's great they turned it around and that Sid is getting non-viewers interested in the sport. I wish all markets were able grow and build their fanbase. I will, however, defend Hockeytown till the end whether we are packing the Joe or not. Kudo's to Pittsburgh for turning their franchise around increasing national recognition for the sport of hockey. They're still going to lose the SCF tho

[stormboy 47]

obvious homers are obvious.

[Icteria virens 11]

I just wonder how the media is going to handle the Wings winning the cup. Are they going to say how great the Wings are or how sorry the world is that Crosby didn't get to hoist the cup?

I think you know based on this year's PO's so far.

they're going to make all kind of excuses for the Pens, we've heard all about the Dives injury problems, Dallas having to play an oT game 4 weeks ago was contributing to their poor preformance in games 4, 5and 6 of the Detroit series. It never ended and it won't this round, not with the poster boy of the new NHL in the series.

the wings are so yesterday, been there, done that. good for so long it's just so melodramatic. Presidents trophies, cap or no cap. They just keep drafting and scouting well.

I now know how NE Patriots fans feel.