Blind leading the blind

[eye]

The more players like esche pronger and mccabe talk the more I realize that they are sounding more and more like the arrogant Bob Goodenow than the professional players that once seperated them from other pro ahtletes. No longer are they showing the class we all came to love about hockey players. Goodenow or should I say Blind leading the blind into obscurity and what will be the biggest miscalculation since Sadaam in 1990. The NHL is losing it's value and players like Pronger McCabe Esche and others may think they are doing the right thing for the game but IMHO and the opinion of the vast majority of media and hockey fans is that this work stoppage will cost many of the NHLPA members their jobs and lower the value of the remaining players by a very high percentage. NO HOCKEY THIS YEAR AND LIKELY NOT UNTIL JANUARY 2006 UNLESS THE NHLPA IS BROKEN A MOVE MANY OF US HOPE COMES SOONER THAN LATER. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT GOODENOW SUPPORTS HIS PLAYERS BREAKING RANKS AND TAKING JOBS FROM PLAYERS IN EUROPE AND IN THE AHL. TALK ABOUT A LEADER THAT ISN'T LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE AND IS ONLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE TOP END GUYS AND HIS OWN EGO.

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[BLONG7]

I hope 6-8 teams fold, and these union ******** are out 150-200 jobs!

 

[Jag68Sid87]

6-8 teams folding hurts a whole bunch of fans on this board. Think about what you're saying. What if YOUR team is among the 6-8 teams that fold???

Getting rid of franchises doesn't solve anything. And quite frankly, NOBODY should be for it (not the owners, because they agreed to expand and receive the fees as a result, and not the PA because those are jobs lost--and DEFINITELY not the fans, who probably know somebody who's a fan of one of those teams that would be sacrificed).

 

[Street Hawk]

Right, but...

6-8 teams folding hurts a whole bunch of fans on this board. Think about what you're saying. What if YOUR team is among the 6-8 teams that fold???

Getting rid of franchises doesn't solve anything. And quite frankly, NOBODY should be for it (not the owners, because they agreed to expand and receive the fees as a result, and not the PA because those are jobs lost--and DEFINITELY not the fans, who probably know somebody who's a fan of one of those teams that would be sacrificed).

Unfortunatley, there might come a point in time when it doesn't make sense for a franchise to continue operating if it loses money. If this work stoppage continues for 2 years, then how many Americans in the Non Traditional markets or going to care about hockey when it returns?

The PA believes that someone will buy and save an NHL franchise. We'll have to see if it happens again.

If a franchise in a market isn't doing well, will another owner be that willing to come in and try to make it work?

And if local ownership can't be found and someone wants to move the team out of the city into another one, there's the issue of Lease Agreements with the stadiums. I know most people have mentioned the likes of Nashville, Carolina, Florida, Anaheim, etc. as teams most at risk, but all of these teams have pretty iron clad leases with the Gaylord Entertainment Center, RBC Center, Home Depot Center, and Arrowhead Pond that they won't be able to break easily. The cost of breaking the lease might be too much for an interested party to take on.

Perhaps the best thing for the league is to retreat back to its strong hold cities, bebuild the fan base and improve the quality of the game, and then try to enter new markets again.