Around the League - 2023/24

[henchman21]

I don't think there is a huge favorite in the series and either team can win. Goaltending and depth clearly go to Winnipeg. Gamebreakers and firepower goes to the Avs. If George can give 5 good starts the Avs, the Avs should win the series. If he only gives 3 good starts, I don't see how the Avs win.

Maybe it's because gambling adverts are new to me but I don't find them more intrusive or harder to ignore than adverts for anything else.

It is the sheer amount of them. I find the same two Geico ads just as annoying... but only one of these was socially acceptable 20 years ago. Where I think you really notice this is when you watch sports in other states than ban it. If you watch a game in Texas and then watch it in Colorado, there is a very stark difference in the advertising.

 

[Ceremony]

I don't think there is a huge favorite in the series and either team can win. Goaltending and depth clearly go to Winnipeg. Gamebreakers and firepower goes to the Avs. If George can give 5 good starts the Avs, the Avs should win the series. If he only gives 3 good starts, I don't see how the Avs win.


It is the sheer amount of them. I find the same two Geico ads just as annoying... but only one of these was socially acceptable 20 years ago. Where I think you really notice this is when you watch sports in other states than ban it. If you watch a game in Texas and then watch it in Colorado, there is a very stark difference in the advertising.

What we really need is to bring Ray Winstone's floating head back

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

Yep. They're moving to Utah to facilitate the Avs move to Arizona. This is all starting next season.

Arizona Avalanche, with the snow replaced with sand/dust.

Utah Coyotes with the coyote logo altered to show the figure dressed in a plane white shirt with the LDS mission patch, a tie, and dress pants

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

I've been thinking about this SLC team. I get that its about $$$ for the league with the relocation fee, and then they can charge Arizona an expansion team fee, too, if that happens. But I don't really get it from a viewership point of view. SLC is small at around ~200,000 population. The arena can only fit 14K seats for hockey, which means the Yotes will go from the smallest arena in the league (4.5K Mullett) to the smallest arena in the league (14k Delta Center) - which is over 1K fewer seats than the next smallest arena (Winnipeg)

I know the Jazz sell out pretty well, but basketball seats 18.3K in that arena, so 4.3K more ticket sales per game than hockey could support.

 

[BoxOfChocolates]

I've been thinking about this SLC team. I get that its about $$$ for the league with the relocation fee, and then they can charge Arizona an expansion team fee, too, if that happens. But I don't really get it from a viewership point of view. SLC is small at around ~200,000 population. The arena can only fit 14K seats for hockey, which means the Yotes will go from the smallest arena in the league (4.5K Mullett) to the smallest arena in the league (14k Delta Center) - which is over 1K fewer seats than the next smallest arena (Winnipeg)

I know the Jazz sell out pretty well, but basketball seats 18.3K in that arena, so 4.3K more ticket sales per game than hockey could support.

Salt Lake’s metro population is closer to 1.5M

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

Salt Lake’s metro population is closer to 1.5M

That's still only good for 46th in the US. Behind some much bigger cities without an NHL team.

I understand the desire to be in Houston and Atlanta, those are massive metro areas. SLC though?

 

[Miri]

I don't think anything is overcoming the Hellebuyck vs Georgiev factor in this series.

We definitely have better scorers. They have better keeper. All we need is for our players to play good defence and match them physically. Cause in that last game we seemed to be incapable of doing so. The second goal Monahan scored, the whole sequence was like Jets skating toward our goal basically in straight line, our players trying to stop them along the way, but bouncing off them like annoying insects. If we play like that, we may as forfeit the series now.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

I've been thinking about this SLC team. I get that its about $$$ for the league with the relocation fee, and then they can charge Arizona an expansion team fee, too, if that happens. But I don't really get it from a viewership point of view. SLC is small at around ~200,000 population. The arena can only fit 14K seats for hockey, which means the Yotes will go from the smallest arena in the league (4.5K Mullett) to the smallest arena in the league (14k Delta Center) - which is over 1K fewer seats than the next smallest arena (Winnipeg)

I know the Jazz sell out pretty well, but basketball seats 18.3K in that arena, so 4.3K more ticket sales per game than hockey could support.

The SLC metro area is rougly 1.3M people, so not that small.

Also, from this ESPN article: Leaving Arizona: Everything you need to know about the Coyotes moving to Salt Lake City

Beyond the building and the owner, the NHL believes it's a market with a ton of potential for hockey. It's a winter sports town, and one that's expected to host the 2034 Winter Olympics -- a bid that could produce a new arena for the Jazz and the new NHL team. Salt Lake City has also been experiencing an economic boom: a 2024 report by the Milken Institute ranked Salt Lake City fourth among 403 U.S. cities in growth of jobs, wages and high-tech industry.

Friedman has also said on 32T a couple times over the last few weeks that the expectation is Smith is going to spend this summer and completely change the team. And that's not him saying that, it's other owners that have told him that.

 

[henchman21]

I've been thinking about this SLC team. I get that its about $$$ for the league with the relocation fee, and then they can charge Arizona an expansion team fee, too, if that happens. But I don't really get it from a viewership point of view. SLC is small at around ~200,000 population. The arena can only fit 14K seats for hockey, which means the Yotes will go from the smallest arena in the league (4.5K Mullett) to the smallest arena in the league (14k Delta Center)

I know the Jazz sell out pretty well, but basketball seats 18.3K in that arena, so 4.3K more ticket sales per game than hockey could support.

Salt Lake City's population doesn't really reflect the actual market size. It is similar, but less extreme, to say Denver is only 700k, when it is really a market of about ~3m. Salt Lake has about ~2.6m in the same general vicinity... the numbers are screwy because of how many towns there are and the area of Salt Lake being split into 3 different main metro areas (Provo, Ogden, and Salt Lake). Salt Lake's CSA is actually 22nd in the US (Denver 18th). In that stat, Salt Lake is above Pittsburgh, Columbus, Las Vegas, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, and Buffalo as NHL markets.

In other words, SLC is much bigger than people think it is.

On the arena, their current situation is far from ideal. It is certainly better than Arizona.. but not an amazing arena for hockey. The major difference here is that Utah has already approved public funding and an area for a new arena. They are building for the 2034 winter olympics and the gov't funding is there. I'd expect a new arena to be completed around 2028 (slim chance of 2027 even) that will be designed for hockey from the ground up. So there is only a few seasons of play in the Delta Center. There are also some tweaks they can make to the Delta Center to up capacity in the meantime (though I doubt it will happen for next season).

The Jazz just don't sell out pretty well... they have 292 consecutive sellouts and one of only 12 teams to sell out every game this past season.

 

[BoxOfChocolates]

That's still only good for 46th in the US. Behind some much bigger cities without an NHL team.

I understand the desire to be in Houston and Atlanta, those are massive metro areas. SLC though?

It’s more about getting a good owner in a market that fits your demo.

On top of it being on relatively short notice.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

We definitely have better scorers. They have better keeper. All we need is for our players to play good defence and match them physically. Cause in that last game we seemed to be incapable of doing so. The second goal Monahan scored, the whole sequence was like Jets skating toward our goal basically in straight line, our players trying to stop them along the way, but bouncing off them like annoying insects. If we play like that, we may as forfeit the series now.

Being outscored 17-4 in three games vs The Jets this season doesn't indicate the Avs have the better scorers. One might think that with Mack, Mikko, and Makar, but the Jets are the deeper team. You get past the Avs top line and top pair on D, and the scoring falls off a cliff pretty quick.

 

[MacKaRant]

Brother. That team is bad. Badder than bad.

I honestly think this might be one of the worst playoff teams in the last 30 years, maybe more. They are going to get annihilated.

They played the Rangers okay in the regular season. The skaters aren't worse than that Canadiens team that made a Cinderella run to the Cup. They have a fourth-line center who's apparently so good that some on the board wanted to trade a first round pick for him. Shesterkin traditionally struggles in early playoff series. There is always the Panarin getting ragdolled again wildcard. There always has to be one upset in the NHL playoffs. There is the President's Trophy "curse" (which I don't believe in and I don't think is statistically supported, but maybe the Rangers players believe).

 

[Balthazar]

They played the Rangers okay in the regular season. The skaters aren't worse than that Canadiens team that made a Cinderella run to the Cup. They have a fourth-line center who's apparently so good that some on the board wanted to trade a first round pick for him. Shesterkin traditionally struggles in early playoff series. There is always the Panarin getting ragdolled again wildcard. There always has to be one upset in the NHL playoffs. There is the President's Trophy "curse" (which I don't believe in and I don't think is statistically supported, but maybe the Rangers players believe).

True, but they made that run because of their goalie, not the skaters.

 

[the_fan]

Avs quickly need to learn how to play a grinding game vs the Jets because Jets aren’t gonna open up and run and gun. The problem is, I don’t think Avs have played many grinding games this year. Maybe just a few?

 

[AvBuff]

Being outscored 17-4 in three games vs The Jets this season doesn't indicate the Avs have the better scorers. One might think that with Mack, Mikko, and Makar, but the Jets are the deeper team. You get past the Avs top line and top pair on D, and the scoring falls off a cliff pretty quick.

I dunno. Winnipeg had 2 stretches in 2024 alone where they lost 5 and 6 straight games. The fans were convinced that the Jets were cooked. Hellebuyck got shelled by the Islanders, NJ, Vegas and Montreal in those stretches. He's good, but not invincible. The Avs haven't played them very well. On Saturday, they didn't even show up.

I look for the Avs to kick it into 6th gear in Game 1. Just too damn much SCP experience to make me buy into doomsday scenarios. Mac, Makar, Mikko, Toews, Nuke . . .they have been there, done that (Nuke has really done that) in the playoffs and know what's required.

Won't be easy, but until proven otherwise, that's my position.

 

[the_fan]

I really think if we score more goals than the Jets we will probably win

 

[RockLobster]

I really think if we score more goals than the Jets we will probably win

 

[expatriatedtexan]

You say this like every game isn’t meaningless and like life has any meaning at all.

Too many damn sleepless nights wrestling with that one.

Life might be easier if it came with instructions. But then again, they would probably just remind us not to drink the battery acid.

 

[henchman21]

Too many damn sleepless nights wrestling with that one.

Life might be easier if it came with instructions. But then again, they would probably just remind us not to drink the battery acid.

I'm all for rules and being good to people... but damniit! It is my god given right to drink battery acid if I want! It has to be in the Constitution somewhere!

 

[Bender]

Honest question and I want honest answers…

Other than @Sea Eagles, does anyone truly believe we can beat the Jets in the 1st round?

If the Avs play their best, I believe they can win this series.

Jets are currently on a 7 game winning streak with a possibility for an 8 gamer going into the playoffs.

So...is this going to continue throughout the first round and potentially beyond or are they going to be due for a 'stinker' here or there at the worst possible time?

I predict the Avs are going to win a close game one in Winnipeg, and then this entire board is going to shift from doom and gloom to planning the parade again.

Yeah that sounds about right.

The Jets are going to pound the Avs into submission. Georgiev is so bad, the team clearly has zero faith playing in front of him.

The Jets probably were praying for Colorado in the 1st round.

Just like we were praying to get Seattle last year.

 

[Bender]

I'm all for rules and being good to people... but damniit! It is my god given right to drink battery acid if I want! It has to be in the Constitution somewhere!

As a Canadian, I will defend your right to drink as much battery acid as you want.

 

[S E P H]

I don't understand what happened in Philadelphia but if Tortorella pulled the goalie to get Detroit out of the playoffs he should have a statue built outside Ball Arena.

Found on main board.

 

[MacKaRant]

It's possible Torts didn't know Detroit picked up a point and eliminated them, though it did happen three minutes before Torts pulled his goalie. You'd think they'd have someone upstairs relay down that pulling the goalie was pointless. But they probably had a game plan going into the third that they needed a regulation win and just stuck with it.

Either way, anything that so needlessly f***s Detroit is hilarious and should be welcomed.

Once Philly knew they weren't going to make playoffs, it was better for them from a draft position perspective to get 0 points from the game anyways

 

[dahrougem2]

Just like we were praying to get Seattle last year.

I definitely was not