Teams we have seen the last of

[Lou is God]

i'd have to look at the san jose sharks and wonder though...wasn't there a report that they just barely broke even last year by making it to the western finals, despite having a real low payroll? those are the kinds of things you look at and go "hmm".

Considering that they sell out there place consistently and they have always made a ton of money off their apparel that makes NO sense whatsoever, none. Something is fishy.

 

[Slangston]

"Buffalo Sabres (Sabres owner Golisano payed a visit to Hamilton twice in January)"

And what exactly is that supposed to mean? Sounds like a lot of BS to me.

 

[old kummelweck]

Springfield Isotopes

 

[SuperNintendoChalmrs]

Hamilton Mustangs.....they play in a crappy old barn and are afraid of Racki.

 

[Levitate]

Considering that they sell out there place consistently and they have always made a ton of money off their apparel that makes NO sense whatsoever, none. Something is fishy.

that's what i thought too, but apparently their attendence has actually been declining and they lost some corporate sponsership and suite sales

here's the article from last year about it

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/news_story.asp?ID=84990&hubName=nhl-sharks

lost $6-7 million with a payroll of $36 mill and went to the western finals

though i might question those figures since we don't know what they include in terms of revenues vs. expenses

 

[kenabnrmal]

2.) Anaheim: The logo?...eewww. The name, what's so mighty about them...ewww. Greater Los Angeles should be Kings country.

Its pretty sad when smart fans like yourself can't come up with a compelling reason to contract the Ducks, besides the fact that they hate the team's name. I'm not claiming the OC is a top hockey market, but its not exceptionally bad either. Fan support was fantastic in the early going, but as Disney went on renegging on promises to Selanne and Kariya to support them, fan support waned. When the team is in the playoffs and playing competitive hockey, the fan support is there. Like 99% of the other hockey markets, if you win in Anaheim, fans will come out. New ownership who give the fans a competitive product to throw their support behind would be nice before judging the market. Although why? Its so easy just to say "ugh, the name...".

 

[bladoww]

Washington Capitals (Capitals were never a household name in that City and now with Major League baseball there fans will be saving their money for baseball tickets instead)

haha. :lol

Wrong.

 

[Levitate]

i'm living in the washington area now and they at least do bring up the capitals from time to time even during the lockout, but they're not too enthusiastic about them...but the area is a huge sports market so it's not a bad idea to have a team here as long as they can really tap into it.

 

[keltic]

The league needs to contract some teams to make the product on the ice better when they actually do decide to play hockey again.

1. Contract Anaheim, Atlanta, Columbus, Florida, Nashville, San Jose.

2. Move the Lightning to Quebec City and call them the Nordiques, move the Hurricanes back to Hartford and call them the Whalers and move the Coyotes back to Winnipeg and call them the Jets.

3. Change Colorado's team's name to the Rockies, Minnesota's team's name to the North Stars.

Purge the League of the garbage that ruined it during the 90's and 00's... I want hockey back to the way it used to be... enjoyable to watch.

 

[Boltsfan2029]

Anaheim Mighty Ducks (The movie stunck bad, the team is even worse)
showing 'Classic Predators Hockey games'...PLUS I hate Country music.......Nuff said)

There's logic for ya'!

 

[kmad]

Springfield Isotopes

Wrong

In the end, Homer unveiled the Mayor of Albuquerque's sinister plot, so the team stayed in Springfield.

 

[rwilson99]

The league needs to contract some teams to make the product on the ice better when they actually do decide to play hockey again.

1. Contract Anaheim, Atlanta, Columbus, Florida, Nashville, San Jose.

2. Move the Lightning to Quebec City and call them the Nordiques, move the Hurricanes back to Hartford and call them the Whalers and move the Coyotes back to Winnipeg and call them the Jets.

3. Change Colorado's team's name to the Rockies, Minnesota's team's name to the North Stars.

Purge the League of the garbage that ruined it during the 90's and 00's... I want hockey back to the way it used to be... enjoyable to watch.

What an idiotic first post.

First, lets' contract teams where population is growing in the South and West while ignoring all population trends.

Second, let's repeat one the gross errors of the 1979 WHA expansion and put another team in a small Canadian Market where expenses will be higher, due to taxes and travel, and fan support limited due to population density.

Third and Fourth, let's live in the past.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

For all those who keep crying for contraction, I have a question. Would you really prefer relegating yourself to forever second or even tenth class status as a sport rather than allow the league to get itself in order with a Cap, new rules, and perhaps taking advantage of new technologies such as HDTV to grow?

If you get rid of markets, 5, 6 or more teams, do you think that you will ever get a TV contract of any national substance? It is pure idiocy, you all can then be kings of your very small insignifcant mountain instead perhaps a part of one of the top four sports leagues in north america.

Some of you are among the most selfish homers I have ever seen, obviously we care about our teams or we would not be here. How do you think that we would react to your telling us to go away?

 

[SJeasy]

I have heard the Sharks mentioned for contraction long before this. I understand why. Their non-payroll expense is high. They also heavily subsidize the Barons in Cleveland. They have removed their underachieving, high payroll performers and may be able to break even. The Sharks are looking toward the build from within model. They voluntarily did what the league was looking forward to doing with the CBA.

Their problem would be going forward if their current team seriously inflates salaries through performance/arbitration or if the residuals of the dot.com bust further erodes corporate sponsorship and regular attendance. The job market here is rebuilding, but the new jobs are not as lucrative. (it sounds a lot like what is happening with the CBA.) The fans are very strong and loyal, and the team goes way out of its way to show appreciation to the fans.

 

[SJeasy]

I also forgot to mention that the Sharks have gotten Fox to almost give equal time to Sharks vs. the Warriors (yuk) (bad team that pays too high for players that will never make the playoffs on their own). Last year, they televised all but 11 games through ESPN or Fox and without the CBA issue would have moved towards broadcast of the complete schedule.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

The league needs to contract some teams to make the product on the ice better when they actually do decide to play hockey again.

1. Contract Anaheim, Atlanta, Columbus, Florida, Nashville, San Jose.

2. Move the Lightning to Quebec City and call them the Nordiques, move the Hurricanes back to Hartford and call them the Whalers and move the Coyotes back to Winnipeg and call them the Jets.

3. Change Colorado's team's name to the Rockies, Minnesota's team's name to the North Stars.

Purge the League of the garbage that ruined it during the 90's and 00's... I want hockey back to the way it used to be... enjoyable to watch.

Dude waited three months to make his first post and this is it?


Using his logic, Quebec, Hartford and Winnipeg were among the unfortunate glom-ons following the WHA "merger." Let's bag all of them. Plus, the Rockies were an ill-advised 70s expansion/relocation. Can them, too. Plus, Philly/St. Louis/Pitts/LA/Van and all those other teams from that unfortunate over-expansion in the late 60s. Shut 'em all down. Not to mention that ridiculous expansion into Boston and NY in the 20s.

P.S. I am not a crackpot.

 

[Titanium]

If the NHL went bust and Europe became the new location for the top world league...would they make sufficient money to play the players anything like what they're used to? We all know the players are playing in Europe for a fraction of what they get in the NHL! Won't someone have the foresight to create a new league that pays somewhere between what the players get in Europe and what the players get currently in the NHL? Surely that would entice North American players back home, even if most Europeans would prefer to stay in their home continent?

Saying Europe will become the new location of the top league is a short-sighted view of the effect of the closure of the NHL, in my opinion!

 

[Jacob]

Including Pitt shows an enormous ignorance about hockey. The Pens were in the top 3rd of the NHL in attendence for the last 10 years up to last year despite having among the highest ticket prices in the NHL. They are in the top 5 local TV hockey markets in the US. There is not a chance of them contracting or moving with a new arena and probably a 50/50 of them staying even without one.

I actually agree with arnie. I'm going to take my temperature in a bit.

Penguins officials seem very unconcerned with the CBA, and more interested in the slot machines licenses being tossed around Pennsylvania.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I actually agree with arnie. I'm going to take my temperature in a bit.

Penguins officials seem very unconcerned with the CBA, and more interested in the slot machines licenses being tossed around Pennsylvania.

Yup, hard to say but I agree with arnie too. Except that the Pens were almost exactly at the midway point in attendence, not top third, when you average the last 10 years. Still, that makes no difference, top third, top half, that still puts them ahead of many many teams that none ever talk about contracting, including Chicago, Washington, and some Canadian teams. Our NHL game television ratings are also among the highest the Fox records for a hockey market, I think that several have quoted the figure as top five.

 

[tuckerdomi]

Get rid of 5 or 6 teams, the leauge is watered down, there is too many players in the NHL that dont deserve to be in the NHL.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

IMO the league should downsize, but they shouldn't do it for a while, right now it would just make the NHL more of a joke to immediately drop some teams after the conclusion of the lockout (cancellation or otherwise). But if there were teams to go Anaheim should definitely be one, and a team should end up in Quebec again (Que vs. Mtl = intense). If the Coyotes can't get their self in gear, then either relocate them or fold. The Penguins should definitely stay as should Columbus (who I think will be a very good hockey market...eventually), Nashville and one of the Florida teams (most likely Tampa at this point).

 

[HockeyCritter]

Anyone but me remember the Kansas City Scouts?

Scouts to Rockies to Devils, correct?

 

[monkey_00*]

In continuing with my first post of this thread.......I would get rid of the following 10:

Phoenix-Anaheim-Buffalo-Carolina-Pittsburgh-Tampa Bay-Washington-NY Islanders-Nashville-Columbus

My version of the much improved NHL would look something like this:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlanta
Boston
Detroit
Florida
Montreal
New Jersey
NY Rangers
Ottawa
Philadelphia
Toronto

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Calgary
Chicago
Colorado
Dallas
Edmonton
L.A.
Minnesota
San Jose
St.Louis
Vancouver

Then you also add a European Super League (NHL Division) with teams in the following 8 markets:

Stockholm
Helsinki
Moscow
Prague
Zurich
Milan
Berlin
Slovakia

Of course it will never happen like this for two reasons:

(1) WHA starts up next season....Phil Esposito just named the new President of that League.

(2) Investors in Europe would rather start up their own League over there and have nothing to do with the North Americans.

 

[rekrul]

ya know the logic behind the sudden contraction is about as absurd as the speed of the new teams themselves. The NHL decides to expand 9 new franchises in 10 years then well the prodcut is waterened down, nah lets take em away. what 5 years and Nashville isn't hockey mad, well pull the plug already!

my god how long does talent need to develop anyway, at the very least you need five solid years before you know the quality of your system and drafts. There are no more expansion drafts even atlanta was begining to look like a solid foundation was beginning. The high end talent pool that needs to bring teh NHL back to desent scoring was beginging to show signs of life. Now every bitter frostback that lost their team to warm weather US citys wants to turn back the clock as if a NHL team could work there, ( but keep Ottawa adn Minnesota cause they are hockey mad there). The franchises are NOT the problem, its getting eyeballs to watch NHL hockey on TV. If the local Thrasher team has some 'russian sounding guy' lighting up the NHL think a least a few new eyeballs might not watch their tragic NBA team for a change?

When San Jose got a team hockey was a afterthought, now we have probably one of the strongest grass roots hockey mad fan bases in a 'warm climate'. It got the largest ice facility in the west coast of the USA built. Kids still can't get enough ice time with 3 sheets so they are buliding 2 more in the area. This is with the local media mostly ignoring the NHL until the playoffs.

it takes time to develop a fan base, if they could have saved this sport perhaps in 10 years some of those new cities might have got somthing going.

 

[Larionov]

The only way to contract a team is to buy out the existing owner, who will naturally want what he views as being fair market value for the franchise. That would likely be a minimum of $80 million U.S. Therefore, if you wanted to fold two teams, that would be $160 million between the remaining 28 owners. If you are an owner, is it really worth $6 million to you to get rid of two teams, $12 million to get rid of four, etc.?