2015-16 NHL Season

Tannehill17

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Since I didn't see a thread for this season, I figure I'd start one. The 2015-16 NHL season is upon us and I for one am very excited. Got tickets for tomorrow's Florida Panthers home opener against the Flyers. According to co-owner Doug Cifu, it's expected to be a packed house. This makes me very happy. With the Dolphins sucking complete ass and the Panthers trending upward with their young talent, this is the their chance to grab a hold of that elusive South Florida entertainment dollar as attendance has been somewhat of an issue these last few years. It's also time to put the "South Floridians don't like hockey" myth to rest once and for all.

The way I look at it, when you have a coal black team like the Dolphins perpetually underachieving, this is the perfect time to strike, especially when the iron is hot like it is now. I for one would much rather spend my money watching Ekblad, Bjugstad, Huberdeau and co. than the overrated prima donnas on the Dolphins. Don't even get me started on the Heat. I've tuned that sport out entirely!

Anyway, I kind of got off track here. Here's to a great 2015-16 NHL season!
 
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Got tickets for tomorrow's Florida Panthers home opener against the Flyers..

Nice..

I got a chance to watch the Avs home opener on tv Thursday night. They opened the 3rd period with a 4-1 lead on Minnesota. The NBC crew calling the game were expounding on the Avalanche' new found toughness & approach, etc. Then Colorado proceeded to give up 4 goals in a 5 minute span (losing 5-4). Tragic, but funny.

I'm a geek for uniforms, it looked like Colorado's made a minor alteration to their sweater.. They used to have a Bigfoot/Yeti print on their shoulders, not it looks like the 'C' from their state flag replaced it. But maybe they've had those for a while now..
 

Tannehill17

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Nice..

I got a chance to watch the Avs home opener on tv Thursday night. They opened the 3rd period with a 4-1 lead on Minnesota. The NBC crew calling the game were expounding on the Avalanche' new found toughness & approach, etc. Then Colorado proceeded to give up 4 goals in a 5 minute span (losing 5-4). Tragic, but funny.

I'm a geek for uniforms, it looked like Colorado's made a minor alteration to their sweater.. They used to have a Bigfoot/Yeti print on their shoulders, not it looks like the 'C' from their state flag replaced it. But maybe they've had those for a while now..

I noticed that too. Yeah, that secondary logo is new for this year. They've also incorporated that 'C' into their new alternate jerseys they've unveiled. It's also the primary logo for their stadium series jerseys.
 

Tannehill17

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Good crowd at tonights game... and they said hockey in South Florida was dead, pshhhh. The Panthers throttled the Flyers 7-1. Jagr with 2 goals and the young kids Bjugstad, Huberdeau, Barkov, and Ekblad all showed up on the score sheet. As I said in my earlier post, with the Dolphins fielding a nearly all black team (second in the league to only the Raiders) I hope they crash and burn while the Panthers (at least temporarily) become kings of the South Florida sports scene. Will we ever be Toronto or Montreal? no, but I think we can at least be on par with a Tampa or Nashville.
 

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My hometown Red Wings are off to a good start. Two kids that were born in Michigan are leading the way, highly regarded rookie center Dylan Larkin and Justin Abdelkader. Also have Luke Glendening on the roster. I'll go out on a limb and say the Wings have more players on their roster from their home state then any other US team.

Edit: oops, it looks like Minnesota has 4 guys from the state on their roster. Good for them. One thing about Larkin (UM) and Abdelkader (MSU) is that they also played college hockey in the state.
 
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celticdb15

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Thought this thread deserves a bump. I know ill be making an effort to watch more NHL games this year as they are very pleasing on the eye. Hockey has grown on me over last few years for obvious reason. As a white man I get sick and tired of watching dark basketball and football teams.
 
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I know ill be making an effort to watch more NHL games this year..

Celtic, I remember you commenting last season that you're a relatively new NHL spectator.. but I can't remember if I asked who you follow (?) You have a team you're in to..

I've been following the Ovechkin pursuit for most Russian NHLer goals. During the Caps-Flyers game, he put one in, it looked like he became the new record-holder. Camera showed a little celebration amongst Ovi's friends & family in the Philly stands, but review confirmed an offside & erased the goal. So I think he's still currently tied with Fedorov.

Watching what Russians have done recently in boxing, and in the NHL over the last 20 yrs. I wonder what they could accomplish if they played American football..
 

celticdb15

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Celtic, I remember you commenting last season that you're a relatively new NHL spectator.. but I can't remember if I asked who you follow (?) You have a team you're in to..

I've been following the Ovechkin pursuit for most Russian NHLer goals. During the Caps-Flyers game, he put one in, it looked like he became the new record-holder. Camera showed a little celebration amongst Ovi's friends & family in the Philly stands, but review confirmed an offside & erased the goal. So I think he's still currently tied with Fedorov.

Watching what Russians have done recently in boxing, and in the NHL over the last 20 yrs. I wonder what they could accomplish if they played American football..

Most of the games I've watched have been Blackhawk games.They get the most marketing time in my region and they've been very good last few years. Wouldn't consider myself a fan yet because I'm not the bandwagon type and have never cheered for any Chicago teams besides Blackhawk s and Northwestern.

PS I think Russians would be naturals at football.
 

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Fighting is rapidly disappearing in the NHL. On average there is 3/10 of a fight per game so far this season, with 80% of games having no fights.

I think it's a healthy trend. Hockey is a sport that demands a lot of skill and toughness. Endless fighting is more of a detriment than a positive, and has always served to give the league a bit of a Roller Derby image that it doesn't need. There will still be fights, but they will more and more be spontaneous rather than purposeful.

The NHL currently suffers from an often dull product, thanks to the few goals being scored and too much obstruction. It needs to be opened up, but the league's GMs and owners always seem to lack vision, and for some reason the owners remain enthralled with Gary Bettman.
 
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Fighting is rapidly disappearing in the NHL. On average there is 3/10 of a fight per game so far this season, with 80% of games having no fights.

I think it's a healthy trend. Hockey is a sport that demands a lot of skill and toughness. Endless fighting is more of a detriment than a positive, and has always served to give the league a bit of a Roller Derby image that it doesn't need. There will still be fights, but they will more and more be spontaneous rather than purposeful.

The NHL currently suffers from an often dull product, thanks to the few goals being scored and too much obstruction. It needs to be opened up, but the league's GMs and owners always seem to lack vision, and for some reason the owners remain enthralled with Gary Bettman.

Baseball owners have been the same way. They were very upset when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season HR record in 1961. "Too easy to hit home runs," they wailed.

In 1963 they had the bright idea of widening the strike zone, resulting in less hitting, home runs, and scoring. Attendance went down and they had to lower the pitcher's mound in 1969.
 
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..some reason the owners remain enthralled with Gary Bettman.

Personally I'm not a fan of Bettman's. And I know a lot of fans resent that Bettman's not a lifelong hockey guy (he was hired for his business acumen, not his hockey pedigree). But if I put myself in an owner's shoes, I probably appreciate that Bettman has been instrumental in expanding the North American hockey market.
I hold a provincial attitude about where hockey should be played, never been into hockey in Arizona or San Jose, etc. But Bettman is doing what the owners want, expanding what the market can bear. I assume he's a success from the owners' collective perspective..
 

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I'm probably in the minority of fans who actually think Bettman's done a good job. A lot of people aren't old enough to remember how bush league the NHL was under Clarence Campbell and John Ziegler. Under Campbell you actually had a team (Cleveland Barons) fold, which I can't remember ever happening in any of the 4 major North American sports. And Ziegler was the one who allowed the Colorado Rockies to move to New Jersey. The New York area did NOT need 3 teams. Remember, this was in the midst of the Islanders dynasty in which despite winning 4 cups, still had trouble breaking the Rangers stranglehold on the NYC market. That's not even counting the lack of marketing. Ziegler couldn't market a canteen of water to a Bedouin in the Sahara Desert.

As a sunbelt fan, I am thankful for Bettman's attempt to grow the game in non-traditional areas. Despite what some "traditionalists" might think, there is no way the league could have moved into the 21st century using the regional format they had used in years prior. Plus, if the league wants that nice fat TV contract, they will need teams in large non-traditional markets. The current US TV deal is pretty underwhelming as opposed to the Canadian TV deal which is pretty much maxed out in terms of revenue potential. That is why I oppose relocating struggling US franchises such as the Coyotes to Quebec. Teams like the Panthers struggle, not because people down here don't like hockey, it's that people down here don't want to watch shi**y hockey. Before Vinnie Viola came along, the Panthers were owned by a cheap Jew (Alan Cohen) who only cared about bringing in those northern snowbird dollars during the winter months, as well as trying to get a casino built near the arena (the casino never came to fruition) He literally put nothing back into the team. This resulted in 15 wasted years in which the team lost an entire generation of fans. The millennials who are now in their 20's have never grown up with a winning team, thus have no reason to care about the Panthers.

As for Bettman, his job isn't to appease the whiny NHL fan base, it's to make money for the owners which he has done in spades (don't buy into that crap about the league losing money) He also crushed the players union in one of the biggest stare downs in sports history (I wish spineless Bud Selig could have done this) and he got the league cost certainty. As much as fans like to whine about having to prop up struggling franchises, this also helps teams like the Oilers and Flames, who without cost certainty, would be in some serious dire straits right now. As much as people would like to see a team back in Quebec (and don't get me wrong, I do too as long as it's through expansion and not relocation) and while Quebec may be worth more than a struggling franchise in Florida or Arizona, healthy franchises in Florida and Arizona would be worth 5 times more than a franchise in Quebec due to the sheer population sizes in those cities (The Miami/Ft Lauderdale/West Palm Beach market has 6 million which puts it at around the same size as Philly and DC) Not to mention all the corporate money that exists down here that doesn't exist in Quebec.

Anyway, I kind of started going off on a tangent here. I'm a huge hockey fan, but I always feel like I have to defend the sunbelt markets when they get crapped on by "traditionalists"
 
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Don Wassall

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I'm probably in the minority of fans who actually think Bettman's done a good job. A lot of people aren't old enough to remember how bush league the NHL was under Clarence Campbell and John Ziegler. Under Campbell you actually had a team (Cleveland Barons) fold, which I can't remember ever happening in any of the 4 major North American sports. And Ziegler was the one who allowed the Colorado Rockies to move to New Jersey. The New York area did NOT need 3 teams. Remember, this was in the midst of the Islanders dynasty in which despite winning 4 cups, still had trouble breaking the Rangers stranglehold on the NYC market. That's not even counting the lack of marketing. Ziegler couldn't market a canteen of water to a Bedouin in the Sahara Desert.

As a sunbelt fan, I am thankful for Bettman's attempt to grow the game in non-traditional areas. Despite what some "traditionalists" might think, there is no way the league could have moved into the 21st century using the regional format they had used in years prior. Plus, if the league wants that nice fat TV contract, they will need teams in large non-traditional markets. The current US TV deal is pretty underwhelming as opposed to the Canadian TV deal which is pretty much maxed out in terms of revenue potential. That is why I oppose relocating struggling US franchises such as the Coyotes to Quebec. Teams like the Panthers struggle, not because people down here don't like hockey, it's that people down here don't want to watch shi**y hockey. Before Vinnie Viola came along, the Panthers were owned by a cheap Jew (Alan Cohen) who only cared about bringing in those northern snowbird dollars during the winter months, as well as trying to get a casino built near the arena (the casino never came to fruition) He literally put nothing back into the team. This resulted in 15 wasted years in which the team lost an entire generation of fans. The millennials who are now in their 20's have never grown up with a winning team, thus have no reason to care about the Panthers.

As for Bettman, his job isn't to appease the whiny NHL fan base, it's to make money for the owners which he has done in spades (don't buy into that crap about the league losing money) He also crushed the players union in one of the biggest stare downs in sports history (I wish spineless Bud Selig could have done this) and he got the league cost certainty. As much as fans like to whine about having to prop up struggling franchises, this also helps teams like the Oilers and Flames, who without cost certainty, would be in some serious dire straits right now. As much as people would like to see a team back in Quebec (and don't get me wrong, I do too as long as it's through expansion and not relocation) and while Quebec may be worth more than a struggling franchise in Florida or Arizona, healthy franchises in Florida and Arizona would be worth 5 times more than a franchise in Quebec due to the sheer population sizes in those cities (The Miami/Ft Lauderdale/West Palm Beach market has 6 million which puts it at around the same size as Philly and DC) Not to mention all the corporate money that exists down here that doesn't exist in Quebec.

Anyway, I kind of started going off on a tangent here. I'm a huge hockey fan, but I always feel like I have to defend the sunbelt markets when they get crapped on by "traditionalists"

I agree that Quebec should have a team, and that the league has always had backwards owners and executives.

But disagree that Bettman crushed the players' union. The players make fantastic money, especially considering how much the league's TV revenue trails the NFL, MLB and NBA. And unfortunately the big money has created some prima donnas, something the NHL never used to have. My favorite team, the Penguins, are Exhibit A in that department.

As for the Southern teams, Bettman became NHL commish in '93. Tampa and Florida were well in the works before then.

The NHL's biggest problem is that scoring is too low and there are way too many boring games. It's the league's equivalent of baseball's "dead ball" era before Babe Ruth came along and shattered that paradigm.
 
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Bettman's job isn't to appease the whiny NHL fan base, it's to make money for the owners which he has done in spades.. Anyway, I kind of started going off on a tangent here.. but I always feel like I have to defend the sunbelt markets when they get crapped on by "traditionalists"

Fair enough. I tried to convey that point in my earlier post.. Bettman is hired to make the owners money. And he has been working toward that end when he set out to expand hockey south & west. I think he was instrumental in getting hockey transplanted in the late 90s, to Arizona & North Carolina. My take on hockey in the desert is purely emotional.. it just seems stupid. But if the market can bear it, it is a win for the NHL product. And Bettman has taken chances.. hockey failed in it's return to Atlanta, I think it's hurting in AZ.. but Bettman is (admirably) trying to cultivate non-traditional markets.

But I do think there is a negative in running a sport solely as a business. NASCAR isn't the same sport since it broadened out of the South. They're now bothering their bedrock, generational fans who wave Confederate flags, it's not just a contest of American car makers anymore, etc. But it does make a helluva lot more $, so..
Personally (& again emotionally) I hate the NFL games in London. It's about creating an early morning game for American audiences & shilling NFL garbage to Europeans, not somehow improving the sport. But ultimately the spectator market will reject or accept what it desires.. But how much tradition will be sacrificed in the process (?) Just all my subjective opinion..
 

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hockey failed in it's return to Atlanta, I think it's hurting in AZ.. but Bettman is (admirably) trying to cultivate non-traditional markets.

Just one thing I wanted to add. Hockey didn't fail in Atlanta. It's owners failed it. Essentially what happened to the Thrashers was, the owners (Atlanta Spirit Group) bought the team in a package deal with the Atlanta Hawks and Phillips Arena. However, they only really wanted the arena and the NBA team and wanted nothing to do with hockey. They did everything in their power to sabotage the Thrashers, whether it meant not building up hockey at the grassroots level, hanging on to people like Don Waddell (a terrible GM and proven loser) for far too long, as well as the arena experience for hockey games being.... well lets just say less than ideal (broken monitors, trash everywhere, etc..) It was much like the movie Major League where the owner wanted to intentionally sabotage the team in order to move it. Atlanta's black mayor did nothing to stop this either. He almost seemed happy to be rid of "whitey's" sport.
 

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I've been opposed to every team that's switched cities in the past 30+ years. In each instance it's been because of poor ownership, or a city not willing to be blackmailed into spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars building a new stadium or arena. The only legitimate excuse for a franchise to move is weak attendance, and there isn't a single NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL team that fits that criterion, even though in many cases tickets are bought by corporations and given away; the fact remains they're still paid for.

The owners of professional sports teams have a monopoly license to blackmail cities. The leagues themselves are "too big too fail," thus too big to have legitimate competition, not to mention too important to fail because they are essential components of the power structure's communist racial agenda.
 

Tannehill17

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I've been opposed to every team that's switched cities in the past 30+ years. In each instance it's been because of poor ownership, or a city not willing to be blackmailed into spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars building a new stadium or arena. The only legitimate excuse for a franchise to move is weak attendance, and there isn't a single NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL team that fits that criterion, even though in many cases tickets are bought by corporations and given away; the fact remains they're still paid for.

The owners of professional sports teams have a monopoly license to blackmail cities. The leagues themselves are "too big too fail," thus too big to have legitimate competition, not to mention too important to fail because they are essential components of the power structure's communist racial agenda.

Just wanted to say good post! This is something that is lost on today's DWF's, even those amongst NHL ranks.
 

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Patrick Kane registered a point in his 20th straight game tonight, the longest streak ever by an American-born player. Pretty impressive to achieve in the NHL's boring "dead puck" era.
 

celticdb15

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Patrick Kane registered a point in his 20th straight game tonight, the longest streak ever by an American-born player. Pretty impressive to achieve in the NHL's boring "dead puck" era.

Streak continues tonight at 25 straight games!
 

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Alex Ovechkin has become the first Russian to score 500 goals in the NHL, hitting the milestone last night. At age 30 he stands a good chance of getting to 700 or more before he retires. He currently ranks 42nd all-time in goals.

At the age of nearly 44, Czech-born Jaromir Jagr now ranks 4th all-time with 737 goals. He's still going strong this season, with 15 goals already for Florida. He may be the most remarkable hockey player ever when it comes to sustained productivity, having begun his NHL career back in 1990! He helped lead the Penguins to two Stanley Cups early in his career, and in return the Pittsburgh DWFs continue to boo him to this day.
 
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Ovechkin has become the first Russian to score 500 goals in the NHL, hitting the milestone last night. At age 30 he stands a good chance of getting to 700 or more..

Congrats to Ovechkin.. and he's admirably gaining ground in what you aptly describe as a dead puck era..
For years now, it's supposed to have been the year for the Caps, but they can never close in the playoffs. Great regular seasons are followed by disappointing post-seasons. Recently up 3 games to 1 in a playoff series to the Rangers, they predictably collapsed. But this year, the Caps seem more authentic.. OV is playing like a man possessed, & this kid Tom Wilson infuses Washington w/some nastiness. Could be another short post-season, but things seem better in DC.

I think sometimes players with the talent of OV take for granted that their individual gifts will deliver a championship.. but after years falling short, they have to really summon supplemental intangibles like heart & will.

I also saw last month, your Pens fired their coach.. and Pittsburgh players actually came out publicly & admitted they were playing without heart, & their shortcomings cost Johnston his job. The realization came kinda late, but thought it was respectable.
 

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Congrats to Ovechkin.. and he's admirably gaining ground in what you aptly describe as a dead puck era..
For years now, it's supposed to have been the year for the Caps, but they can never close in the playoffs. Great regular seasons are followed by disappointing post-seasons. Recently up 3 games to 1 in a playoff series to the Rangers, they predictably collapsed. But this year, the Caps seem more authentic.. OV is playing like a man possessed, & this kid Tom Wilson infuses Washington w/some nastiness. Could be another short post-season, but things seem better in DC.

I think sometimes players with the talent of OV take for granted that their individual gifts will deliver a championship.. but after years falling short, they have to really summon supplemental intangibles like heart & will.

I also saw last month, your Pens fired their coach.. and Pittsburgh players actually came out publicly & admitted they were playing without heart, & their shortcomings cost Johnston his job. The realization came kinda late, but thought it was respectable.

The Capitals are far and away the best team in the Eastern Conference so far. If they don't get to at least the finals this year it'll be a bitter disappointment, especially given that the rest of the conference is wallowing in mediocre "parity."

Very frustrating following the Penguins (again) to this point. Underachieving, soft, poor work ethic, the often-heard adjectives associated with this team in recent years, especially grating to me because White players in a White sport should never deserve to be described that way.

But the coaching change was clearly needed. Their game has picked up considerably under Mike Sullivan, who at least isn't the typical Pittsburgh coach that the players can walk all over, but still a long way to go to be a genuine threat if they make the playoffs.
 

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I watched the game where Ovechkin scored #499 - an OT winner against the Rangers. Incredible save - though not by the goalie, Holtby, as the caption says - then Ovechkin takes it all the way from his own net and scores:

[video=youtube;oO_jNWJGZPU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO_jNWJGZPU[/video]
 

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The other night rookie Connor McDavid came back from injury after nearly three months. Here's what happened in his first game back:

 

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Am I hearing it wrong or does the announcer at 47 seconds compare McDavid's goal to Tiger Woods?

At any rate, good that McDavid is back!
 
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