Would You Watch Scabs Play?

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Solak

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With the league already in trouble I would hope to hell that Bettman wouldn't even consider such a stupid alternative. With the number of good players we already have in the NHL the tv ratings are terrible. The seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals finished 19th on cable tv ratings...19th!, behind reruns of the Cosby show, Spongebob Squarepants, etc. etc. Non-hockey sportscasters have been saying that people won't watch because there isn't a bonafide superstar. With all this in mind, there is no way the NHL would survive in the U.S. if this were allowed to happen.
 

Slats432

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Joe Solak said:
With the league already in trouble I would hope to hell that Bettman wouldn't even consider such a stupid alternative. With the number of good players we already have in the NHL the tv ratings are terrible. The seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals finished 19th on cable tv ratings...19th!, behind reruns of the Cosby show, Spongebob Squarepants, etc. etc. Non-hockey sportscasters have been saying that people won't watch because there isn't a bonafide superstar. With all this in mind, there is no way the NHL would survive in the U.S. if this were allowed to happen.
You don't understand the purpose if this is your opinion. The purpose of scabs is to start the game moving again, and put more pressure on the PA to capitulate. Eventually players cross and the game moves on.
 

Solak

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George Bachul said:
You don't understand the purpose if this is your opinion. The purpose of scabs is to start the game moving again, and put more pressure on the PA to capitulate. Eventually players cross and the game moves on.

If it is a strategy to get the players to give in and agree to a cap, then maybe, but I think that is kind of risky and that it could backfire....my statement was more if it backfired and we were left with just scabs. People have to remember that with such a high number of players not being from North America they could easily say screw the NHL and just play for their home countries for good. I just don't want to see that happen.
 

shakes

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If I wanted to watch the ECHL or players from semi pro league I would watch the ECHL or some semi pro league. I guess a lot of you are too young to remember watching NFL scabs.. fun fun fun.. just a cash grab for the poor, destitute owners.

The quality of the game would be horrible compared to the NHL and even IF you could get a couple of NHL players to cross the picket lines, they wouldnt be the Forsbergs, Sundins, Sakics of the NHL, it would be the Steve Webbs, Darby Hendricksons. No thanks. I'd rather watch the money grab solutions that the NHLPA are offering like that 4 on 4 thing, than watch a bunch of no name, mens league, barely pro calibre players skate.

You don't understand the purpose if this is your opinion. The purpose of scabs is to start the game moving again, and put more pressure on the PA to capitulate. Eventually players cross and the game moves on.

Barely anyone watches the stars of the game play in the US. What makes you think they will come out in droves to see a bunch of scabs hack around? If anything the quality of the product would embarass the owners and put pressure on them to get back the real hockey players
 

littleHossa

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What if that barely pro, no name player was you? Or your friend? wouldn't you want to see scabs play then? I think that pro hockey players know what a system is, and know their own skills. European league sell tickets and they're not the best players around. And we have the proof from the World Cup that the best players don't always make the best hockey, some players didn't get ready or had no emotion and some games were very boring.

As I've said it before, as long as it's not 20 year olds CHLers, it's all good. ECHLers and AHLers have talent as well, the goons in the NHL have a lot of talent, the NHL could put less pressure on the coaches to win, just make it entertaining hockey and see 600 ECHLers give their best with their 15 minutes of fame.
 

Solak

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shakes said:
If I wanted to watch the ECHL or players from semi pro league I would watch the ECHL or some semi pro league. I guess a lot of you are too young to remember watching NFL scabs.. fun fun fun.. just a cash grab for the poor, destitute owners.

The quality of the game would be horrible compared to the NHL and even IF you could get a couple of NHL players to cross the picket lines, they wouldnt be the Forsbergs, Sundins, Sakics of the NHL, it would be the Steve Webbs, Darby Hendricksons. No thanks. I'd rather watch the money grab solutions that the NHLPA are offering like that 4 on 4 thing, than watch a bunch of no name, mens league, barely pro calibre players skate.



Barely anyone watches the stars of the game play in the US. What makes you think they will come out in droves to see a bunch of scabs hack around? If anything the quality of the product would embarass the owners and put pressure on them to get back the real hockey players

Thats more of what I was getting at. Even if they brought in replacement players as a tactic to get the players back it would alienate a lot of the audience in the U.S, it wouldn't deter the diehard fans but they can't take the chance of losing more viewers and even if the real players came back after that I think many people wouldn't watch again.
 

struckmatch

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Van said:
If you think the trap/defensive hockey doesn't exist outside the NHL, you haven't watched much hockey outside the NHL in recent years.

Obviously I know that defensive hockey is everywhere. But we can all agree that Junior hockey, and other leagues are more offensive based than the NHL nowadays. I've watched lots of Junior hockey, and it's easy to see the "caution to the wind" style of play at times.
 

shakes

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littleHossa said:
What if that barely pro, no name player was you? Or your friend? wouldn't you want to see scabs play then?

No.

littleHossa said:
I think that pro hockey players know what a system is, and know their own skills. European league sell tickets and they're not the best players around.

This is completely different. That is the level of play that the fans expect to see game in game out. You think the fans would be happy to watch players not as good as the ones they have been used to watching? Don't bet on it.

littleHossa said:
And we have the proof from the World Cup that the best players don't always make the best hockey, some players didn't get ready or had no emotion and some games were very boring.

I think the key word here is some. As in some games were boring and some people thought they were boring. I didn't watch any of the euro pool, but there was a couple of times in the tournament where I got shivers hearing Bob Cole announce "Lemieux to Iginla, Iginla to Sakic, Sakic shoots and scores!" or watching exciting semi final games from both pools.

littleHossa said:
As I've said it before, as long as it's not 20 year olds CHLers, it's all good. ECHLers and AHLers have talent as well, the goons in the NHL have a lot of talent, the NHL could put less pressure on the coaches to win, just make it entertaining hockey and see 600 ECHLers give their best with their 15 minutes of fame.

All the while, buying $3 cokes, $4 hotdogs, $10 programs and outrageous ticket prices (sure they will be lowered a little, but if you are thinking a major slash, you are fooling yourselves. NHL arenas cost a lot to operate for events and as the owners have said, they are losing money, so they aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
 

thinkwild

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This is a great poll We should send it to Bettman. Once he realizes fans side with him, will wait, and will support scabs, we'll be guaranteed not to have to watch an annoying season of hockey this year. Way to go guys.

I can imagine some fans going to games just to shout scab, after they get all riled up by the picket line violence. Causing fights in the arena and getting thrown out, bringing more police because its just not safe going to games anymore.

You dont want a lockout, start threatening this. This is what I think the Fan Association position should be. Mayhem. Seems an appropriate response to owners who cant help but be irrational.
 

littleHossa

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Here are some of the points that had to be argued with.
shakes said:
I think the key word here is some. As in some games were boring and some people thought they were boring. I didn't watch any of the euro pool, but there was a couple of times in the tournament where I got shivers hearing Bob Cole announce "Lemieux to Iginla, Iginla to Sakic, Sakic shoots and scores!" or watching exciting semi final games from both pools.
The Canadian team was exciting in all of their games, but they also won all of their games. A lot of teams when they played against Canada didn't look good, had no passion or were to slow, and well if you're a fan of those teams you would of though that the World Cup wasn't that good entertainment. Furthermore, the European pools and the non-Canada games were the majority. Some games were fun, but they were the minority, as most of those good games involved Canada. We would watch some of the most boring games ever if it had Canada in it, I'm talking about the casual fans or the overseas fan who have some expectations.

shakes said:
All the while, buying $3 cokes, $4 hotdogs, $10 programs and outrageous ticket prices (sure they will be lowered a little, but if you are thinking a major slash, you are fooling yourselves. NHL arenas cost a lot to operate for events and as the owners have said, they are losing money, so they aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
The players represent 76% of the total budgets of NHL teams, the owners could make a 50% cut on the price of going to a game and make a bit of money. Before saying vague statements like "NHL arenas cost a lot to operate" etc they cost anywhere between 20%-10% of the total money an owner spends, major slashes in ticket prices could be possible from a financial point of view.
 
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