codswallop
yes, i am an alcoholic
FlyersFan10 said:See, no matter how you look at it, a salary cap will keep irresponsible organizations irresponsible and with no reprecussions for their irresponsibility. Organizations who are responsible with money, drafting, trading and signing free agents are penalized for being responsible. I'm sorry, but as a Flyers fan, I don't feel the need for my team to keep organizations like Nashville, Florida, Atlanta, Washington, etc....all afloat because their owners at one time or another ran the organizations in the ground or did not draft and trade properly or responsibly.
I've accepted the fact that people around here are gonna spew basically the same rhetoric in every thread no matter what side you believe (it's just packaged a tad differently depending on the topic). Don't like it but I expect it, so there's little real need for anger. But it's generalizations like this that can spark me a bit.
I know the angle you we're going for when you mentioned those four specific teams (not rocket science to figure it out). In the case of Florida and Washington, there has been some questionable management at times. Moreso for the Caps. But throwing Atlanta and Nashville in there makes zero sense given what you said.
These have been two of the lowest payroll teams since they entered the league. Part of that may have been the frugal nature of the owners in regards to the team, but most of it was because they both had the right plan in trying to build up a brand new franchise. And they have both stuck to that plan. Could they both have spent more, definitely. Leopold could afford it and (before their recent troubles at least) AOL/TW certainly could have afforded it. But they didn't. Each team drafted well, and not just the first round blue-chipers either. Made sensible trades and off-season acquisitions; predicated around keeping their youth and bringing in players to help out with that youth. Of course each team has made a bad decision here or there, what team hasn't? But they have been kept to a minimum and in light of some other player movement around the league, the mistakes of Atlanta and Nashville barely even register. Don't know about you, but that sounds like pretty good management to me.
Nashville is just coming off their first playoff appearence, the better times are just starting for them. And Atlanta finally has owners who actually give a damn about the team, and we know they have some great talent to build around. Hockey as a participation sport has exploded in Nashville since the team arrived, and it continues to grow even with the lockout. Atlanta has a population of 4 million, with quite a hefty northern influence in that population (at the least 1/3, don't know the exact numbers). Throw in the converts and add even a hint of success, there's no worries about the fan base.
Bashing a team because of its location has been done to death on these boards. The desperate or the chronically cranky grasping at straws, usually speaking of what they don't realistically understand.
I just thought it was time to go ranting, this topic seemed ripe for it.