E.J. Hradek comments on ESPN: Bettman wanted to go higher on the cap number

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IronMarshal

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Mar 7, 2002
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PecaFan said:
Quite simple. Folks love to take a shot at Bettman. If you're anti-Gary, it's far more scathing to insinuate a "little dictator" forcing his will on the rest of the league, by having "only 8 owners" on his side.


I'll take the shot at Bettman. Gary Bettman killed hockey. Yes he had help, but in the end the blood is on his hands. And guess what? I'm not a union man by any stretch of the imagination. Bettman pushed for expansion and more expansion. Many of these owners, some past, some new, thought "Hey, I got an NHL franchise, we have lots of TV markets, we're gonna make money in this." But that is not the way it works. I live in the market of one of the most successful hockey businesses in the world, the Philadelphia Flyers. Ed Snider built this franchise from scratch (after a slightly unsavory weeding out of his partners). But Edddie understood what he was doing. This is hockey, the game of the great white north, not of the temperate red, white and blue. Snider built a market for his team. He created an interest in the team, he strove to put a good product out there. Made his team the model for success. He developed Flyers fans. Grew them. Cultivated them, and harvested them. Most Flyers fans are Flyers fans first, they'll watch other teams play, but the die for the Flyers. The NHL tubing the season means only one thing to them, NO FLYERS HOCKEY. That is something many of these other owners have never understood.
So Bettman, Mr. Basketball, comes in and is going to make the NHL into another NBA success story (The NBA has its own troubles now, but has a core audience of people who grew up playing their sport in every city of the country and way out in the hinterland. Hockey is Canada's sport. Those of us who grew to love it, did so because we were lucky enough to catch the bug thanks to people like Ed Snider.
If these franchises are run correctly, seed money, good products on ice, good marketing strategies (not gimmicks), intelligent investing, they can create success. Look at the difference between the ownership of the Wild and the old North Stars. Ineptness begets failure. The Wild have taken a more intelligent track than the No Stars.
So Bettman's accomplices in this fiasco? The inept 8 man mafia who can't run their businesses correctly, and therefore can't compete (In Boston's case it comes down to greed, as they have a captured market and should be able to compete unless the owner is a coplete Moron like Wirtz), and that moron Goodenow as well as a select group of stubborn stupid players.
I can't help but feel that Bettman and Goodenow upon reaching this state should have been locked in a roomwith a hockey stick wielding Bobby Clarke. I guarantee a compromise or many shattered bones.
End of rant.
 

GKJ

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Feb 27, 2002
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IronMarshal said:
I'll take the shot at Bettman. Gary Bettman killed hockey. Yes he had help, but in the end the blood is on his hands. And guess what? I'm not a union man by any stretch of the imagination. Bettman pushed for expansion and more expansion. Many of these owners, some past, some new, thought "Hey, I got an NHL franchise, we have lots of TV markets, we're gonna make money in this." But that is not the way it works. I live in the market of one of the most successful hockey businesses in the world, the Philadelphia Flyers. Ed Snider built this franchise from scratch (after a slightly unsavory weeding out of his partners). But Edddie understood what he was doing. This is hockey, the game of the great white north, not of the temperate red, white and blue. Snider built a market for his team. He created an interest in the team, he strove to put a good product out there. Made his team the model for success. He developed Flyers fans. Grew them. Cultivated them, and harvested them. Most Flyers fans are Flyers fans first, they'll watch other teams play, but the die for the Flyers. The NHL tubing the season means only one thing to them, NO FLYERS HOCKEY. That is something many of these other owners have never understood.
So Bettman, Mr. Basketball, comes in and is going to make the NHL into another NBA success story (The NBA has its own troubles now, but has a core audience of people who grew up playing their sport in every city of the country and way out in the hinterland. Hockey is Canada's sport. Those of us who grew to love it, did so because we were lucky enough to catch the bug thanks to people like Ed Snider.
If these franchises are run correctly, seed money, good products on ice, good marketing strategies (not gimmicks), intelligent investing, they can create success. Look at the difference between the ownership of the Wild and the old North Stars. Ineptness begets failure. The Wild have taken a more intelligent track than the No Stars.
So Bettman's accomplices in this fiasco? The inept 8 man mafia who can't run their businesses correctly, and therefore can't compete (In Boston's case it comes down to greed, as they have a captured market and should be able to compete unless the owner is a coplete Moron like Wirtz), and that moron Goodenow as well as a select group of stubborn stupid players.
I can't help but feel that Bettman and Goodenow upon reaching this state should have been locked in a roomwith a hockey stick wielding Bobby Clarke. I guarantee a compromise or many shattered bones.
End of rant.



:handclap: :handclap: :handclap:


100% fact here.
 

Michalek

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Mar 3, 2002
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go kim johnsson said:
it should be common knowledge by now. You're the only one who doesn't think the Wild are a profitable franchise. You're the one who should be supporting evidence as to why St. Paul is not a viable market.

St. Paul is a great market , I just believe that if the right CBA wont be in place , end excitement from expansion will be gone then they will really , really strugle.

Honestly how they can compate themselfs with teams like Avs or Wings
 
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