25 teams want equal chance for Crosby

[MisterUnspoken]

I'm sure that poster is, but it's not 1994, it's 2005.

How the public views hockey and it's competition today in New York has changed a great deal in this market. It's oversaturated with other sports teams with far more star players. There is a 200m dollar team here that is a year-round mania with the public, baseball has no off-season. There is no stage or time where hockey players can shine or be seen here anymore.

Let's also give Vancouer and New Jersey equal credit for providing hockey with a great show, without them the Rangers cup is as anti-climatic as the Wings first cup in fifty years.

Agreed. My only point being that it seems that via the media, the Rangers cup boosted hockey popularity ten fold. If the Rangers were to get Crosby that would immediately give everyone a reason to follow hockey again in NY (who honestly wants to follow a loser year after year).

I don't want to impose a feeling that this wouldn't happen in lets say Calgary or Edmonton (which I consider true hockey cities) but on the silver platter that is NY it would simply be easier to market him. No one media is better at overexposure and hype than the US (sports) media.

 

[kdb209]

Originally Posted by NYIsles1
I'm sure that poster is, but it's not 1994, it's 2005.

How the public views hockey and it's competition today in New York has changed a great deal in this market. It's oversaturated with other sports teams with far more star players. There is a 200m dollar team here that is a year-round mania with the public, baseball has no off-season. There is no stage or time where hockey players can shine or be seen here anymore.

Let's also give Vancouer and New Jersey equal credit for providing hockey with a great show, without them the Rangers cup is as anti-climatic as the Wings first cup in fifty years.

Agreed. My only point being that it seems that via the media, the Rangers cup boosted hockey popularity ten fold. If the Rangers were to get Crosby that would immediately give everyone a reason to follow hockey again in NY (who honestly wants to follow a loser year after year).

I don't want to impose a feeling that this wouldn't happen in lets say Calgary or Edmonton (which I consider true hockey cities) but on the silver platter that is NY it would simply be easier to market him. No one media is better at overexposure and hype than the US (sports) media.

Sorry, but I have to agree with NYIsles1. Crosby would not even be a blip on the radar now in New York. If the Rags won the lottery and drafted him, it would be buried in the Post somewhere after A-Rod's ingrown toenail.

Now it's all Yankees/Mets all the time. And god help the Rags if the Knicks ever get good again and if/when the Nets move to Brooklyn - they'll be buried even deeper.

The best bet for the league would be for Crosby to end up in a big US market outside of NY - LA, Chicago, Boston, Philly.

 

[DARKSIDE]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl_network/teams/news_story.asp?ID=79206&hubName=nhl-capitals



Happy?

No need for scarcasm. Are you a little kid?

 

[DARKSIDE]

I'm sure that poster is, but it's not 1994, it's 2005.

How the public views hockey and it's competition today in New York has changed a great deal in this market. It's oversaturated with other sports teams with far more star players. There is a 200m dollar team here that is a year-round mania with the public, baseball has no off-season. There is no stage or time where hockey players can shine or be seen here anymore.

Let's also give Vancouer and New Jersey equal credit for providing hockey with a great show, without them the Rangers cup is as anti-climatic as the Wings first cup in fifty years.

I'm a Devils fan, so I have no interest regarding the Rangers. However, weather you like it or not, using a weighted draft going back 3 years gives them a good chance. As a fan of the Islanders, you should be careful with your remarks, because if Crosby is wasted playing in New York City, then he'd be extreamly, extreamly wasted playing on the Island.

 

[Tb0ne]

I wouldn't mind seeing him show up in Vancouver or Atlanta.

Him on the same team with Lehtonen, Heatley, Kovalchuck. Could be a dominate team for years to come.

Naslund-Crosby-Bertuzzi, enough said.

 

[NYIsles1*]

As a fan of the Islanders, you should be careful with your remarks, because if Crosby is wasted playing in New York City, then he'd be extreamly, extreamly wasted playing on the Island.

I would not consider him a wasted opportunity for the NHL regardless of where he eventually plays. I do think for the same reasons he would not help the league with the Rangers he would not help it with the Isles or Devils.

 

[joepeps]

I wouldn't mind seeing him show up in Vancouver or Atlanta.

Him on the same team with Lehtonen, Heatley, Kovalchuck. Could be a dominate team for years to come.

Naslund-Crosby-Bertuzzi, enough said.

this is exactly why I don't want a bottom team getting the pic.....

these bottom teams have gained everything with this lockout.... all the "Big teams" have lost everything... including top players.. and alot of money.....

Now is it fair that bottom teams are developign there players while other teams are retiring theres and on top of that they get the first overal pick... thats not fair...

New system.. new draft = chance for everyone.........

 

[Son of Steinbrenner]

I would not consider him a wasted opportunity for the NHL regardless of where he eventually plays. I do think for the same reasons he would not help the league with the Rangers he would not help it with the Isles or Devils.

when baseketball was in a similar situation as hockey in the 80's michael jorden saved the sport by playing in a "baseball" town. Gretzky went to so cal and look at the fan interest that it caused. Lets face facts you don't want crosby in new york because it would hurt the islanders. New York has been and always will be a baseball town but it doesn't mean crosby would be buried behind stories about the yankees or mets. hockey is a nitch sport who needs a crossover star in a major market.

 

[DARKSIDE]

I would not consider him a wasted opportunity for the NHL regardless of where he eventually plays. I do think for the same reasons he would not help the league with the Rangers he would not help it with the Isles or Devils.

I'm sorry, but to make a statement that Crosby wouldn't receive media attention by playing in New York, is just plain naive or ignorant. As a Devils fan I will even admit that. Figure Crosby in Manhattan, the Rangers finally starting to put together some nice prospects and should they start winning, you think ESPN or NBC won't have smiles on their faces.

Where would Crosby be more helpful? In Toronto, like they need it or Atlanta, where no one gets to watch him play, of course not, it would be NYC, Chicago and LA.

But the realty is who ever wins the lottery, that's where Crosby will have to go, even if it's New Jersey where they just like to win cups and not worry about making every whining fan happy!

 

[DARKSIDE]

Got my copy of the Hockey News. And if the NHL follows there system of using the last three seasons it's bad news for the following teams: Vancouver, New Jersey, Philly, Ottawa and Detroit all getting one ball each out of the #105 balls. The teams that get the most balls being six, are Pittsburgh, Columbus, Chicago, Washington and Carolina. Next five teams get 5 balls, next group get 4, etc. Jaded Fan should be happy.

 

[NYIsles1*]

New York has been and always will be a baseball town but it doesn't mean crosby would be buried behind stories about the yankees or mets. hockey is a nitch sport who needs a crossover star in a major market.

Of course it does and you know it. Gretzky, Jagr, Bure, Kovalev, Lindros were all cross-over stars who played in almost total obscurity in Manhattan for years. If I recall even Gretzky's last game was joined in progress to show a Yankee game in New York.

It's a niche sport the media today does not need to cover and more importantly no longer needs to know. They have better sports stories that more people want to read.

I'm sorry, but to make a statement that Crosby wouldn't receive media attention by playing in New York, is just plain naive or ignorant. As a Devils fan I will even admit that. Figure Crosby in Manhattan, the Rangers finally starting to put together some nice prospects and should they start winning, you think ESPN or NBC won't have smiles on their faces.

Why is it naive or ignorant, do you read the papers here during hockey season or listen to the radio/tv shows on sports? Where are the hockey people talking about other teams or markets like they do baseball, basketball or football.

No one here knows Crosby and baseball dominates the media and will no matter what the Rangers do on a cable station that only had 60,000 homes watch an 80m dollar team in 2003-04. Outside of the small group of Ranger beatwriters and Msg people who lobby the media for Dolan there is nothing to drive interest in him here among casual sports fans which hockey does not here anyway.

Espn is not going to even carry hockey on it's primary outlet until the playoffs if they decide to even pick up the contract at all. If they do it will only be shown on Espn2 which means local games are blacked out.

What will NBC do, show football games and put hockey on for a few weeks in January and March at a time only die-hards will tune in?

 

[MacDaddy TLC*]

Mayor:

On one hand you post and claim the Leafs only making 14.4 million in profits is wrong on my part and to quit consulting John Spano (not Spanos) on financial matters, yet in your so-called homework there it is once again the Leafs operating profit from the same source as I used (Forbes) which shows the Leafs 2002-03 profit: 13.8m

Thanks for contradicting yourself, and proving my point.


So let's see if I have this correct. You now claim the Flyers, Avs, Ranger, Blues, Stars, Wings lost money because of their own stupidity yet all you could do is blame expansion teams for hockey's problem and set up your contraction list of teams that decide to actually run their team as a business.





First off your 2003-04 Espn avg included only a 40 game season and did include a game in a blizzard where only the paid attendance was posted. That game had only 3,000 people attend on 12/7 against Chicago, which counted against the season avg.

Second the Nassau Coliseum capacity was around or slightly above 15,000 for several years, as the building changed it became 16,297 which was reduced to 16,234.

Finally you should know the difference between fans not attending out of indifference vs fans staying home to intentionally punishing unprecedented bad ownership. If the teachers union decided to ice a 15m dollar for close to a decade Maple Leaf fans would also stay home to intentionally punish ownership in Toronto also.

Isles television ratings doubled during this time which you forgot to mention.


Unfortunately the business on the whole could not afford it and were all paying for the Leafs reaction today. Aren't we?

Robert Reichel, Ed Belfour, Brian McCabe. Didn't Gary Roberts get a three hundred percent increase? How many star contracts from other teams were or are being paid by the Leafs: Francis, Nolan, Leetch, Nieuwendyk, Klee..How much did the lastest Doug Gilmour re-union tour cost?

Instead of looking at your homework, I decided to do something
else. I went back to look at the Leafs profits and revenue in 97-98:

Even with a new building the Leafs only make about ten million more in profit than they were making almost nine years ago.

http://www.hockeyzoneplus.com/$reven_e.htm

I wonder how much expansion revenue kept the Leafs out of the red in those days if they were making an operating profit of only two or six million.

What's the Leafs future without a spending advantage? What was their past when they had one besides jumping from conference to conference. I like the Isles a lot better than the Leafs coming out of this lockout.

Good luck getting people to pay those ticket prices to see a youth movement after a few bad seasons in Toronto. Maybe then we can talk about the Leafs being entitled to the number one pick...

1. Total revenues was:

• Operating revenues of $13.8 million US
• Ticket revenue of $49 million US
• Other revenues of $42.2 million US
• Total revenues of $105 million US

I contradicted and You proved nothing (except an inability to add three numbers )

2. Supply and demand favoured the players in getting higher contracts. This was due to expansion and diluting the talent pool. The stupid teams bought themselves into the red. The Leafs did not!
3. Excuses, excuses excuses. The Snow snowstorm, we only had 40 home game (hey genius every team only gets 41 games). You say the Leafs if they cut down to a 15 million budget wouldn't draw? How old are you? Have you ever read ANY hockey books? Have you heard of Harold Ballard and are you aware of how he destroyed the Leafs for 3 decades? BTW< they played to a sold out crowd EVERY DAMN NIGHT!! No excuse for not supporting a team for 15 years.
4. The Leafs din't give Nolan his contract. Blame the Sharks. Reichel: who could have predicted he wouldn't score.. but he was still more bang for the buck than the 90 million dollar man in Long Island! The only scoring he has done is in his cougar hunting off the ice. Roberts 300% raise? Again with The Spanos math eh, sport?), Klee, Niewuendyk all took less to play in Toronto. The last Doug Gilmour reuinion? All 1 game of it after the trade deadline. So it cost them one game + the insurance on his contract picked up two payments. It sounds like your bitter that players actually want to come to Toronto and that the Leafs will do whatever is neccessary...

5. When a salary cap comes into play, there will be less money for everyone to spend. This will be an advantage to the Leafs because of the intangibles that Toronto can offer. Do a little research a see if you can figure it out. (Messenger and I have spelled it out enough times) When the money is relatively equal, which is what the cap will do, the Leafs can pretty much pick and choose their targets.

6. No need to wish Toronto Luck. They have had sold out EVERY GAME for an eternity through the good the bad and the ugly. Keep your good luck for yourself and hope the Isles survive. I for one hope to see them go the way of the dodo bird.

 

[Son of Steinbrenner]

Of course it does and you know it. Gretzky, Jagr, Bure, Kovalev, Lindros were all cross-over stars who played in almost total obscurity in Manhattan for years. If I recall even Gretzky's last game was joined in progress to show a Yankee game in New York.

It's a niche sport the media today does not need to cover and more importantly no longer needs to know. They have better sports stories that more people want to read.


Why is it naive or ignorant, do you read the papers here during hockey season or listen to the radio/tv shows on sports? Where are the hockey people talking about other teams or markets like they do baseball, basketball or football.

No one here knows Crosby and baseball dominates the media and will no matter what the Rangers do on a cable station that only had 60,000 homes watch an 80m dollar team in 2003-04. Outside of the small group of Ranger beatwriters and Msg people who lobby the media for Dolan there is nothing to drive interest in him here among casual sports fans which hockey does not here anyway.

Espn is not going to even carry hockey on it's primary outlet until the playoffs if they decide to even pick up the contract at all. If they do it will only be shown on Espn2 which means local games are blacked out.

What will NBC do, show football games and put hockey on for a few weeks in January and March at a time only die-hards will tune in?

yeah you remember wrong. Gretzkys last game was on ABC.
you can bring up the rangers only had 60 thousand viewers to watch and 80 million dollar team but the fact is they had 60 thousand viewers to watch a team that missed the playoff for 7 years! If the rangers were any good those numbers would be near 100000 viewers. the fact remains the rangers still have a number of sell outs. (check every thread you post in bashing the rangers. you know when you tell people how the garden is dead yet you can't back it up with numbers)

Dude your act is tired and your arguments are lame.

If crosby ends up in any big market in the united states (not just new york) it would help the nhl. The NHL can market crosby in new york but would have trouble if he was in atlanta. It doesn't matter that new york is a baseball town. Please name 5 NHL cities in america that hockey is the number one sport? ~chirp chirp tumbleweed chirp chirp~

New York is the capital of the world it only makes sense to have the best young star since who knows when to be playing there.

 

[DARKSIDE]

Of course it does and you know it. Gretzky, Jagr, Bure, Kovalev, Lindros were all cross-over stars who played in almost total obscurity in Manhattan for years. If I recall even Gretzky's last game was joined in progress to show a Yankee game in New York.

It's a niche sport the media today does not need to cover and more importantly no longer needs to know. They have better sports stories that more people want to read.


Why is it naive or ignorant, do you read the papers here during hockey season or listen to the radio/tv shows on sports? Where are the hockey people talking about other teams or markets like they do baseball, basketball or football.

No one here knows Crosby and baseball dominates the media and will no matter what the Rangers do on a cable station that only had 60,000 homes watch an 80m dollar team in 2003-04. Outside of the small group of Ranger beatwriters and Msg people who lobby the media for Dolan there is nothing to drive interest in him here among casual sports fans which hockey does not here anyway.

Espn is not going to even carry hockey on it's primary outlet until the playoffs if they decide to even pick up the contract at all. If they do it will only be shown on Espn2 which means local games are blacked out.

What will NBC do, show football games and put hockey on for a few weeks in January and March at a time only die-hards will tune in?

Number one there wasn't any hockey due to a lockout and number two the Rangers have been miserable over the last seven years. Now, I don't know about Long Island Newspapers or Newsday, However, I've read recent hockey articles from Richard Chere from a Jersey paper, Sherry Ross of the Daily News, Lapointe from the NY Times and of course if you can stomach Everson and Brooks from the Post. Everson and Brooks wrote articles in the Post just yesterday. Man, where do you live?

 

[tom_servo]

yeah you remember wrong. Gretzkys last game was on ABC.

I thought it was Fox.

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Got my copy of the Hockey News. And if the NHL follows there system of using the last three seasons it's bad news for the following teams: Vancouver, New Jersey, Philly, Ottawa and Detroit all getting one ball each out of the #105 balls. The teams that get the most balls being six, are Pittsburgh, Columbus, Chicago, Washington and Carolina. Next five teams get 5 balls, next group get 4, etc. Jaded Fan should be happy.

I take it my Flames will get 4 balls then!

Hmmm,Crosby to Iginla *scoorrrres*

I like the ring to that

 

[NYIsles1*]

1. Total revenues was:

• Operating revenues of $13.8 million US
• Ticket revenue of $49 million US
• Other revenues of $42.2 million US
• Total revenues of $105 million US

I contradicted and You proved nothing (except an inability to add three numbers )

I did not have to add anything. You told me I was incorrect and that the Leafs in 2003-04 made more than 14.1 million. Then you post a book of information where you claim the Leafs in 2002-03 made 13.8 million.

So again where is this big Leafs profit?

2. Supply and demand favoured the players in getting higher contracts. This was due to expansion and diluting the talent pool. The stupid teams bought themselves into the red. The Leafs did not!

But you were the one who blames the expansion markets, now your includingflip-the so-called big markets and claim they were stupid. Is there any one left besides the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL you have not blamed?

3. Excuses, excuses excuses. The Snow snowstorm, we only had 40 home game (hey genius every team only gets 41 games). You say the Leafs if they cut down to a 15 million budget wouldn't draw? How old are you?

Old enough to have enjoyed Pat LaFontaine's hat-trick and an 11-5 Islander win in Toronto in 1984 in a very quiet Maple Leaf Garden besides the bus loads of Isles fans in the house with center ice tickets. The Alan Bester era did not exactly pack them in.

Have you ever read ANY hockey books? Have you heard of Harold Ballard and are you aware of how he destroyed the Leafs for 3 decades? BTW< they played to a sold out crowd EVERY DAMN NIGHT!! No excuse for not supporting a team for 15 years.

Wonder if you have written that if Salming, Palmateer and McDonald were sold off in their prime or handed to the Detroit Red Wings. Ballard on his worst day was a prince compared to Pickett, Spano, Milstein/Gluckstern.

4. The Leafs din't give Nolan his contract. Blame the Sharks. Reichel: who could have predicted he wouldn't score.. but he was still more bang for the buck than the 90 million dollar man in Long Island!

So we should blame the Sharks for the Leafs grabbing his contract? Any Islander or Coyote fan who saw Reichel for years knew he was not going to score much less give him three million for Pat Quinn to forget to include his name in the lineup in the playoffs as he had to leave the bench.

Is this the same 90m dollar Yashin who had seven points in seven games and opened the scoring in game seven in Toronto and did everything but score the tying goal in the third peirod? Seems like the Sens still have the same playoff problems without Yashin.

It sounds like your bitter that players actually want to come to Toronto and that the Leafs will do whatever is neccessary...

I'm bitter the Isles are not in the playoffs for a fourth straight season because some teams mismanaged themselves and the sport out of business. The Leafs did whatever was necessary for themselves, as usual by being reactionary and eveyone is paying for it.

5. When a salary cap comes into play, there will be less money for everyone to spend. This will be an advantage to the Leafs because of the intangibles that Toronto can offer. Do a little research a see if you can figure it out. (Messenger and I have spelled it out enough times) When the money is relatively equal, which is what the cap will do, the Leafs can pretty much pick and choose their targets.

They are not going to be picking or choosing very often. The fans in Toronto are not going to be very happy about that either for what they pay. The players in a capped world are going to sign where there is the most financial security.

6. No need to wish Toronto Luck. They have had sold out EVERY GAME for an eternity through the good the bad and the ugly. Keep your good luck for yourself and hope the Isles survive. I for one hope to see them go the way of the dodo bird.

Isles will be more than fine moving forward and have a tv contract that will bring in far more than the Leafs to sustain the franchise which is good for the entire league.

What's going to sustain the Leafs when they can no longer write a check or absorbe another big contract.

 

[DARKSIDE]

I take it my Flames will get 4 balls then!

Hmmm,Crosby to Iginla *scoorrrres*

I like the ring to that

Yes they do.

 

[NYIsles1*]

Number one there wasn't any hockey due to a lockout and number two the Rangers have been miserable over the last seven years. Now, I don't know about Long Island Newspapers or Newsday, However, I've read recent hockey articles from Richard Chere from a Jersey paper, Sherry Ross of the Daily News, Lapointe from the NY Times and of course if you can stomach Everson and Brooks from the Post. Everson and Brooks wrote articles in the Post just yesterday. Man, where do you live?

So Everson (Devils beatwriter) writes one article and Brooks does his usual anti-NHL song and dance after Wednesday's meeting and this is your idea of large market coverage that will drive Crosby's popularity here? When was the last time during a hockey season here did any of these people do a feature on a player?

Even markets with less papers have far greater coverage and unlike here it's not burried.

Sherry Ross writes so infrequently for the Daily News on hockey when it was still being played it would be a miracle if she did a story on a local player. Joe Lapointe is a solid writer but the work is very infrequent and the A.P does most Times updates.

Diamos, Dellapina are the beatwriters and do their one article per game when the Rangers play or when something important happens. The Isles have the same thin coverage from Botte, Ron Dicker and Evan Grossman.

The Rangers most of those seven years went into the season with big expectations of winning and unlike other New York teams that lost, no one noticed or cared in the media. Brian Leetch got traded and it did not get one back page because Joe Torre decided to talk about a new contract in Feb.

 

[Son of Steinbrenner]

So Everson (Devils beatwriter) writes one article and Brooks does his usual anti-NHL song and dance after Wednesday's meeting and this is your idea of large market coverage that will drive Crosby's popularity here? When was the last time during a hockey season here did any of these people do a feature on a player?

Even markets with less papers have far greater coverage and unlike here it's not burried.

Sherry Ross writes so infrequently for the Daily News on hockey when it was still being played it would be a miracle if she did a story on a local player. Joe Lapointe is a solid writer but the work is very infrequent and the A.P does most Times updates.

Diamos, Dellapina are the beatwriters and do their one article per game when the Rangers play or when something important happens. The Isles have the same thin coverage from Botte, Ron Dicker and Evan Grossman.

The Rangers most of those seven years went into the season with big expectations of winning and unlike other New York teams that lost, no one noticed or cared in the media. Brian Leetch got traded and it did not get one back page because Joe Torre decided to talk about a new contract in Feb.

stop reading newsday. the backpages of both the daily news and post said
"maple leetch"

 

[PecaFan]

Got my copy of the Hockey News. And if the NHL follows there system of using the last three seasons it's bad news for the following teams: Vancouver, New Jersey, Philly, Ottawa and Detroit all getting one ball each out of the #105 balls. The teams that get the most balls being six, are Pittsburgh, Columbus, Chicago, Washington and Carolina. Next five teams get 5 balls, next group get 4, etc. Jaded Fan should be happy.

So what kind of weighting did they do?

And surely Colorado has to be in that group with the lowest chances? If not, then they've picked a really stupid system.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Got my copy of the Hockey News. And if the NHL follows there system of using the last three seasons it's bad news for the following teams: Vancouver, New Jersey, Philly, Ottawa and Detroit all getting one ball each out of the #105 balls. The teams that get the most balls being six, are Pittsburgh, Columbus, Chicago, Washington and Carolina. Next five teams get 5 balls, next group get 4, etc. Jaded Fan should be happy.

That would be in line with what Bettman was widely quoted to have said on April 8th, so it would make sense if this is true. Bettman seems to have said (it being so widely quoted) that every team would have a chance, but the chances would be heavilly weighted toward the top rather than the bottom. This scenerio fits that. If this is so it means that the top 15 teams, basically the 14 non-playoff teams most years plus one, would get 75 of the 105 balls, or a 71.5% chance of number one. The bottom five alone would get a 30% chance of number 1, bottom ten a 55% chance at number 1. No, it is not what I would have picked, I still can not understand a loaded team ending up with number 1, even if the chance is small, but it is a compromise that I can take much more than an equal chance for all.

 

[Mess]

Rumours are starting up that Crosby may not go to a Team in the US ..

Crosby may have a say in where he lands
At the NHL general managers' meeting last week, voices were raised and some anger vented over which team will select first at the postponed 2005 entry draft -- when it is finally held.​

Link : http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/news/sports/story.html?id=81be4e0c-bfa8-4f09-b50b-d70bc11efcfc

You need a subscription to read it though..

However they are having a lively discussion on the Habs board regarding this ..


This Post : http://www.hfboards.com/showpost.php?p=2767909&postcount=37

This Thread : http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=139844

So Crosby may have the last say yet ..

 

[DARKSIDE]

That would be in line with what Bettman was widely quoted to have said on April 8th, so it would make sense if this is true. Bettman seems to have said (it being so widely quoted) that every team would have a chance, but the chances would be heavilly weighted toward the top rather than the bottom. This scenerio fits that. If this is so it means that the top 15 teams, basically the 14 non-playoff teams most years plus one, would get 75 of the 105 balls, or a 71.5% chance of number one. The bottom five alone would get a 30% chance of number 1, bottom ten a 55% chance at number 1. No, it is not what I would have picked, I still can not understand a loaded team ending up with number 1, even if the chance is small, but it is a compromise that I can take much more than an equal chance for all.

Well, at the very least we can all stop worrying and guessing about the method they will use and finally put this subject to rest. However, please remember that the system I posted was at the suggestion of the "Hockey News." TSN, reported last night only weighted lottery system and 20 teams now making the playoffs. We'll see in the coming day's what system the NHL will choose.

 

[DARKSIDE]

So what kind of weighting did they do?

And surely Colorado has to be in that group with the lowest chances? If not, then they've picked a really stupid system.

Believe it or not, again using the Hockey News system of using the records of the past 3 years, Colorado get's 2 balls.