OT: Your SECOND favorite NHL team?

[Poulin 0n My St1ck]

2nd Team?...not really.
If i am watching late games (after Isle game or such) over the years tended to watch the San Jose games the most...had more interest in that team and liked their broadcast more than others.
Now i find myself watching Vegas games....novelty maybe, but they are fun to watch...and kinda nice to pull for what is an underdog?...will definitely pull for them in the playoffs.
Past that....I watch what might be a good game...or if i want another team to lose to help us i will pull for the opposing team....which, really does not happen anymore this year.

When I had the Center Ice Package, I'd always watch the Sharks because I'd love listening to Randy and Drew.

 

[sabremike]

Uh, the Islanders

 

[Riseonfire]

Kind of annoying since the realignment and the playoffs, but I have a soft spot for the Capitals. I hate Wilson as much as all of us, calm down. Ov has just been an incredible joy to watch.

Also I have a friend on the Devils currently so rooting for them this year now that we're seemingly out of it.

 

[QuadDeuces]

I've always had a soft spot for the Flames.

 

[danteipp]

Growing up in Connecticut, my second team was the Hartford Whalers but, once they moved and I lived in Tampa for a while, I started pulling for the Lightning. I still root for them, provided it doesn't impact the Isles. I have family down there, love the area and arena, etc.

I will also cheer for the Jets. I enjoyed playing as them in Sega NHL Hockey back in the 1990's when they had Selanne, Housley, Tkachuk, Zamnov, Steen, Olausson, etc. And they have drafted a few of the players that I was hoping the Isles would acquire.

I wanted Ehlers over MDC and I am a big fan of Kyle Connor. Connor should have won the Hobey Baker over Jimmy "Old Man" Vesey. That was a complete embarrassment of voting bias. When Barzal and Connor started to slide, I was dreaming of the Isles somehow getting up there to get both of them. Well, they got one at least.

And in the 2016 draft, I know it would have been next to impossible, but when there was talk that the Blue Jackets might be willing to trade the #3 pick, I pushed hard that if Laine slipped to that spot (there was a time that people talked about Laine and Puljujarvi as 2a and 2b), you do what you have to in order to make a pitch for him. I would have moved that year's first, the next year's first and whatever else was within reason for Laine (MDC before his value dropped, Pulock, etc). I thought Laine would have been the missing RW for Tavares' line.

And how can you go wrong with whoever is playing the Rangers? Although not so much now in the drive for a better draft pick.

 

[MattMartin]

Anybody playing the Rangers, Penguins, or Washington.

 

[YearlyLottery]

Kind of annoying since the realignment and the playoffs, but I have a soft spot for the Capitals. I hate Wilson as much as all of us, calm down. Ov has just been an incredible joy to watch.

Also I have a friend on the Devils currently so rooting for them this year now that we're seemingly out of it.

Brother of a friend had played with Kinkaid when they were younger, so I have always enjoyed rooting for the Devils.

 

[Riseonfire]

Brother of a friend had played with Kinkaid when they were younger, so I have always enjoyed rooting for the Devils.

He's been their hot goalie lately. I scored on that scrub back when and now he could be backstopping Jersey in the playoffs? like wtf?

 

[BarBeauWahlDobLok]

This is actually pretty funny, because I was thinking of my second favorite team for the past couple of weeks.

When I first became an Islander fan in 1980, I was four, almost five years old, and my brother's friend was a Ranger fan, but I already decided on the Islanders because of my brother and my Dad (neither of whom have cared about the Islanders since 1984).

But as a kid, I looked up to my brother's friend, we had more in common than my brother and I did, even though he was four years older. But as far as hockey goes, we had games on SportsChannel and WOR Channel 9. Almost daily, the Islanders or Rangers were on TV. So, I saw the Islanders and the Rangers often, obviously. Since they were the two teams that were always featured, I actually did consider the Rangers my second favorite team for about two years, but then I was told that I couldn't do that. So, I stopped.

For about seven years, I didn't have a second favorite team. Then I saw Steve Yzerman play a game against the Devils in early 1989. Now, I knew who Yzerman was, of course, but the Islanders were terrible that 1988-89 year, and I wanted something to root for in hockey. Yeah, I still rooted for the Islanders, but I tired of seeing them lose. So, I adopted Steve Yzerman as one of my favorite hockey players, and the Red Wings as my second favorite team as a result. Then when Pat LaFontaine held out in 1991, Steve Yzerman was my favorite player for a few months, but I still liked the Red Wings.

Right now, and for the past 15-20 years, I've really only paid attention to the Islanders. Yeah, I'd still watch the Rangers and Devils up until about ten years ago to root against them, but I can't listen to their broadcast the way I did when it was Sam and JD and Gary Thorne/Mike Emrick and Peter McNabb. With the Islanders, I just adjusted to their new broadcast teams, Bill Jaffe along with Howie Rose was my least favorite. And certainly, Jiggs and Ed will be my favorite until the day I die. Nothing but fond memories, even in the worst of days, for those guys.

I really don't have a second favorite team. I don't root against the Rangers or Devils as easily as I once did. I just root for the Islanders, and for this year, against the Flames. I'd love to have a passion for the NHL the way I once did, but just like with so many things, a great deal of authenticity in the broadcast and the players is missing.

With that said, ways to improve the game: Do away with the player interviews, let the coaches talk about the refs, and just cut the ice between periods. No fancy entertainment.

 

[Knoxville555]

Bruins and Redwings I don't mind. If either of them are playing (when the isles are not) on TV I'll always watch.

I can't stand: Rangers, Caps, Pens, Flyers, Canucks, Panthers

 

[thegoldenyear]

Probably the Leafs because I was born 'n' raised in Toronto. Just about my earliest hockey memory is the 1978 TOR-NYI QF. (My earliest in-person memory would be asking my dad why the Leafs crowd was booing the Rangers' #77 every time he carried the puck. "Oh, because he used to be on the Bruins." And that was my introduction to Phil Esposito. Perhaps an early indoctrination into booing the Rags, too.) I was cool with the Leafs winning that '78 series, but by '78-'79 I was a full-on Islanders nut. Grade-school young, but I lived through those 19 series wins. I'm mostly enjoying this Leafs team after a dozen years of not caring. They had some real assholes to move out after the Pat Quinn era ran aground... And yes, I was 100% pro-Isles for the 2002 TOR-NYI tilt. Peca's breakway goal in G3 ranks above Bates as the loudest I've bellowed for this team since Volek.

All my most disliked teams are our rivals. Literally my bottom-four since about 1981 is PITT-NYR-WSH-PHA. Friends and parents ask me why I hated Jagr more than any non-Mario player of the past quarter century, and...hello, who'd he play his first 1,526 season+playoff games with? Why would I cheer for that?

But I do cheer for the Bruins because family reasons, and I'm fine with the Devils because they've been my surrogate Patrick/Metro team during the last 25 years of suckage. Out west, Vancouver because I lived there a spell. I've greatly enjoyed the last decade of Chicago Blackhockey. Those four teams cover the four divisions.

 

[Bronson]

Dallas Stars. Jere Lehtinen was a god back in the days.

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

As a child of the 90's, Sharks and Ducks. Kariya was my guy when the Isles were terrible. But I've lost interest in the Ducks since they are no longer Mighty.

Fins up for the playoffs, go Sharks!

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

Brother of a friend had played with Kinkaid when they were younger, so I have always enjoyed rooting for the Devils.

f*** the Devils. f*** the whiny Devils fans. and f*** the swamp that is New Jersey. Disgusting these Isles fans in here saying they are rooting for the Devils. But I dont have to worry because the Devils are missing the playoffs anyway. Look at their schedule, we have a better chance of making it than them. I actually think we pass them before the season ends. Florida and Columbus (and all our own poor efforts) are why we will miss the playoffs, not the Devils.

 

[saintunspecified]

I don't have a second team. I'm just rooting for a Preds-Lightning SCF.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

As a kid the Devils were always my #2. Went to many games at the Brendan Byrne arena.

I lived in Boston for 7 years and adopted the Bruins as my #2. Went to many games and they won the cup when I was there so that was cool.

Now living in MN I've adopted the Wild as my second team.

 

[Bones45]

**** the Devils. **** the whiny Devils fans. and **** the swamp that is New Jersey. Disgusting these Isles fans in here saying they are rooting for the Devils. But I dont have to worry because the Devils are missing the playoffs anyway. Look at their schedule, we have a better chance of making it than them. I actually think we pass them before the season ends. Florida and Columbus (and all our own poor efforts) are why we will miss the playoffs, not the Devils.

I've always disliked the Rangers and their fans -- but at least I understand them.

But the Devils? They are just complete garbage. Horrid team, horrid players, horrid rink and State. Like the adopted stepchild you never wanted. Maybe its the jersey, or Chico doing the broadcasts.. or their dumas fans.. not really sure...

Like Oliver from the Brady Bunch. Just go away Devils -- nobody would care at all.

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

I've always disliked the Rangers and their fans -- but at least I understand them.

But the Devils? They are just complete garbage. Horrid team, horrid players, horrid rink and State. Like the adopted stepchild you never wanted. Maybe its the jersey, or Chico doing the broadcasts.. or their dumas fans.. not really sure...

Like Oliver from the Brady Bunch. Just go away Devils -- nobody would care at all.

At least someone has some sense in this thread. This whole thread is terrible. There is no such thing as a "second team" in your favorite sport. For my second and third sports, there might be a second team I kind of like, but in hockey its the Islanders or no one. There will be teams I root against or different ones I pick to root for in the playoffs each year if we are not there, but there is no second team. And if there was, it certainly would not be the f***ing Devils. After the way their fans were talking about us earlier this season, I cannot wait to see the completion of their collapse. They have been just as bad as us the past month or so.

 

[Bones45]

At least someone has some sense in this thread. This whole thread is terrible. There is no such thing as a "second team" in your favorite sport. For my second and third sports, there might be a second team I kind of like, but in hockey its the Islanders or no one. There will be teams I root against or different ones I pick to root for in the playoffs each year if we are not there, but there is no second team. And if there was, it certainly would not be the ****ing Devils. After the way their fans were talking about us earlier this season, I cannot wait to see the completion of their collapse. They have been just as bad as us the past month or so.

So you're saying that I'm the voice of reason?

About time someone around here realized my genius.

 

[sabremike]

Look at their schedule, we have a better chance of making it than them. I actually think we pass them before the season ends.

Even Alex Jones would read that and say "Wow, that's totally batshit crazy!".

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

Even Alex Jones would read that and say "Wow, that's totally bat**** crazy!".

You want to bet on that? Maybe you should look at the Devils schedule first. Look at their schedule and come back to me and tell me that there is no way the Devils could go 4-8 or 5-9 the rest of the way. Obviously, it is not likely, but you look at the schedules and tell me it is impossible that the Isles (given that they always do this late in the season and just miss the playoffs) that the Isles go 8-5 or 9-4 and the Devils go 4-8 or 5-9.

 

[nycole]

New Jersey stinks.

 

[sabremike]

You want to bet on that? Maybe you should look at the Devils schedule first. Look at their schedule and come back to me and tell me that there is no way the Devils could go 4-8 or 5-9 the rest of the way. Obviously, it is not likely, but you look at the schedules and tell me it is impossible that the Isles (given that they always do this late in the season and just miss the playoffs) that the Isles go 8-5 or 9-4 and the Devils go 4-8 or 5-9.

The Devils could literally fail to win another game this season and still be very likely to finish ahead of the Isles. If it wasn't for the first two months of the season they would be the worst team in the entire sport, they aren't magically going to go on some run. Hasn't the team won like 6 games in regulation over their last 40 or some insane figure like that?

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

The Devils could literally fail to win another game this season and still be very likely to finish ahead of the Isles. If it wasn't for the first two months of the season they would be the worst team in the entire sport, they aren't magically going to go on some run. Hasn't the team won like 6 games in regulation over their last 40 or some insane figure like that?

I dont exactly consider 8-5 "going on a run." 10-3 or 11-2 would be going on a run. But either way, I am far more confident that the Devils will not make the playoffs than the Isles "go on a run." That was the point of my post, that the Devils suck too, not that the Isles are good.

 

[doublechili]

The Quebec Nordiques.

Seriously. If/when they get a team I will follow them. Always loved the unis and Forsberg too. Otherwise, I don't have and have not had a second favorite team. I had Flyers season tix for several years and rooted for them when the Isles were bad (remember that year?), but I would not classify them as a "second favorite".