NHL likely to officially cancel season by tomorrow...

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:21 pm

And once Bettman is removed, replace him with Gretzky.

Gretz knows the game from the perspective of players and owners, and by all accounts he seems to be a very, very decent human being who can find compromise between the sides.

Plus, like E.F. Hutton, when Wayne Gretzky talks, people listen. Even people outside of hockey.

Sounds nutty to hire Gretz as commish, but the NHL needs out-of-the-box thinking more than ever now.

Take care,
PK

rubba19 · Post by **rubba19** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:30 pm

If we are laying blame on the players side, I advocate substituting "NHLPA" for the word players. When this season is scrubbed, I believe that there will be some serious vocal dissention from many players that will crack the NHLPA apart and would play under a cap.

If I am a player, I want to replace Goodenow NOW! He has hindered any compromise by the no cap stance and now has taken away a full season of salary that will never get back. He is making Donald Fehr look like a humanatarian!

I also agree with the removal of Bettman. Replace him with an ex-player (Gretzky?)or a Canadian (I heard Paul Beeston thrown around - good name) who knows the grass-roots level of the game Bettman does not.

Both sides are killing the game. Plain and simple. If they don't watch it, and they tie the cap to revenue, each team will have about $100US to spend on players.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:41 pm

The NHL also faces a dilemma that no other North American sports league encounters: Canada and U.S. want different things from the game.

Canadians treat the sport like the sacred jewels of the family. I would venture that most Canadian fans are traditionalists who loathe things like shootouts, changing offsides, etc. I think many Americans would favor that because they want to see more scoring, more offense, more gimmicks.

Hockey is more than a sport in Canada. It's a religion, and Canadians don't want to see their game watered down with excessive expansion in the U.S. Sun Belt, especially at the expense of Canadian cities. Small-market economics also are a greater factor for Canadians, due to the exchange rate and the relatively small population of the Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton markets.

But U.S.-based economics, sponsorship and currency drive the NHL's fiscal bus, even if the sport is barely a blip on the U.S. sports radar anymore.

The whole thing is a tricky equation, as I think Canadians and Americans treat the game very differently and want different things from it.

Baseball and basketball, despite having teams in Canada, don't have similar problems. The NBA and MLB teams in Canada are simply expansion outposts for sports that aren't woven into the fabric of Canadian society like hockey.

Take care,
PK

rubba19 · Post by **rubba19** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:49 pm

pk500 wrote: But U.S.-based economics, sponsorship and currency drive the NHL's fiscal bus, even if the sport is barely a blip on the U.S. sports radar anymore.

The difference in the US$ and the C$ is overlooked. I'd be mad when my company had to make 20% more just to break even with other similar organizations.

Q: Does anyone know when Canadian teams had to start (or started) paying in USD and who?

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:10 pm

rubba19 wrote:Q: Does anyone know when Canadian teams had to start (or started) paying in USD and who?

As an Oilers fan, I remember the Oilers having problems negotiating with guys like Ryan Smyth and Dan McGillis in the mid-90s because they wanted their salaries is USD as the canadien dollar was diving at the time. I think by the end of the 90s it (begrudgingly) became standard practice for all canadien teams. Someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

lsdean · Post by **lsdean** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 7:02 pm

Looks like it might finally be over.

"Talks ended badly"

http://www.tsn.ca/news_story.asp?ID...mp;hubName=main

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:52 pm

pk500 wrote:And once Bettman is removed, replace him with Gretzky.

Not going to happen...he wants to coach the Coyotes allegedly.

GROGtheNailer · Post by **GROGtheNailer** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:05 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:
pk500 wrote:And once Bettman is removed, replace him with Gretzky.
Not going to happen...he wants to coach the Coyotes allegedly.

I'd be very suprised if 99 coaches, it would be interesting as hell but i'd be suprised. He's my fav player of all time w/ Orr a close second, use to always wear number 4 as a defenseman when i played.

PK is right, a lot of Canadians are tradionalists but suprisingly even the tradionalists are open to some changes...but not ones that go too far. Keep the net size the same, tone down the goalie equipment instead. I could deal with a shoot-out but only in the reg season and only after a 5 minute O.T. I'm on the fence regarding taking out the red line, sure would open up the middle in some ways.

Calgary has a population of about 1 million and Vancouver has about twice that but I guess comapred to other cities those would indeed be small markets. Toronto and surrounding area is over 5 million so they are usually financially ok. Even though they are quite small i would love to see a franchise in Halifax.

I think PK hit it square when he said Canadians and Americans treat the game very differently but there are pockets of die-hards in the states. They really needed to get a deal done but the philosophy of the two sides is the b*tch of it all. Cap or no cap...who is going to crack first?

Granatofan · Post by **Granatofan** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 3:07 pm

I would venture that most Canadian fans are traditionalists who loathe things like shootouts, changing offsides, etc.

I don't know about that. Pretty much every Canadian I ever played online begged for offside and two line pass to be turned off in Rivals.

Ted

ubrakto · Post by **ubrakto** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 5:00 pm

GROGtheNailer wrote:Keep the net size the same, tone down the goalie equipment instead.

Gotta agree here. They were showing a Blues/Penguins game from 1981 on our local Fox Sports station last weekend. I hadn't really watched old NHL tape in a long time and was absolutely blown away by how small the goalies looked. It made the nets look 100% bigger.
---Todd

mobiggins · Post by **mobiggins** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 5:03 pm

Yeah...it wasn't just the leg pads, though. Their pants didn't have nearly as much padding back in the day, either. I'm a goalie myself, but I'm all for bringing pad size down a notch.
The leg pads are too wide, the pants have unnecessary flares on the outside, and at the waist line, the latter making the goalies look huge at the waist under the jersey, and the chest and arm protectors are massive these days.
I'd hate to face pucks with 1981 protection, though. Ouch!