sgoodcore Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 NBC is really good at pretending there's only a handful of teams in the league.Philly, PIT, BUF, WAS, NYR, MTL, and maybe BOS, get more time on NBC than anyone. The league does have about 6-8 too many teams in the league anyway. It's pretty obvious as to why the Pens are on so much, they're the current Cup owners and have the face of the league on their team. Try selling a Leafs/Coyotes game to your average bored tv watcher in the States on a Sunday morning. League has 3-4 teams in bad markets but the talent level on each team is pretty good. Phoenix may need to move but they're still 4th overall in the best conference in the NHL. I'd like to see Atlanta, Phoenix, and Florida re-locate north of the border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Where would they all go though? I could see Toronto getting a second team. Quebec City has been trying to get one back, but like when they moved before, they're only a bad-exchange rate away from struggling financially again. They're just not quite big enough. Everyone talks about Hamilton, but that's 25 minutes from Buffalo who Bettman likes, and struggles whenever they don't do well. I don't know much about Winnipeg. Can a city like Halifax sustain a team? My guess is no, but I again don't know much about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Well I think pretty much all the teams in Canada are going to struggle when the exchange rate falters. The whole league may suffer as well with a mass lowering of the salary cap. That said, I think Quebec could get a team back without much issue. Every team, when its not great on-ice is not going to draw people in droves. Only a few cities do well regardless of the team. I don't like Hamilton because I don't like its effect on Buffalo. Maybe move one of the teams to Seattle if the place doesn't exist in Canada? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zak138 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Most of the Canadian cities you mentioned already failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Two things: firstly, I don't know everything. I don't have the answers, just theories. I don't think Quebec necessarily failed. And if they did, so did Atlanta and a team is back there now. Conversely, there was a team in Northern California that failed, the Golden Seals and the Sharks are doing quite well. Also, there was a team in Denver before the Avs, they are now the Devils. So just because during one stint a team failed doesn't mean it will fail again. Second, just because I don't have a handle on where a specific team should move doesn't mean my opinion they should move is invalid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 For Quebec City - By comparison, the greater-Buffalo area has over a million people, and the Sabres also draw a TON from Southern Ontario (which is why Hamilton would kill the Sabres). Quebec City's greater-metro region has a little over 700,000. They would need to be consistently good, steal fans from the Habs to do well in a solid economy. Since the NHLPA pays in USD, a bad exchange rate is HUGE for a team on the brink like that. The reason it doesn't effect Toronto and MTL is because those teams make a killing regardless, so they can handle the fluxuations in the exchange rate. If I recall correctly, Calgary has had a few scares. Vancouver... I have no idea, and Edmonton has a hard time drawing players just to live there in the first place. I would love more Canadian teams, but the fact that it's a mostly-US-based league doesn't pan out well for those cities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I think rather than have a few teams move, the league should give a thought to contraction. Maybe not, since it's a recession, but when you have the Lightning defaulting on their lease, Phoenix in bankruptcy, and teams drawing terrible attendance numbers, there might just be too many teams. Contraction will also nudge some of the fringe players out of the league and teams will get a tad more depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I'm with you on all counts. I'm not sure Quebec City would be great either, its just one random city I've heard chatter about. Sounds like, based on what you're saying, it wouldn't work well. But I don't think South Florida, Atlanta, Nashville (though that probably has to do with the team always being rumored to move), and Phoenix are working well. Now, Phoenix is interesting because their lease with the building is horrid. Changing that around may mean they can stay in Arizona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Scanning through this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_100_largest_metropolitan_areas_in_Canada ... I don't see any choices that jump out. Obviously a decision to put an NHL team depends on a lot more than population, but it's a big factor. I wonder why Seattle, or really the northwest US in general, hasn't ever clamored for a team. It doesn't seem there's too dense a region in North Dakota for a team anywhere. I'm glad Minnesota got one back. Las Vegas could potentially work, or it could be an abysmal failure- no idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zak138 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I think it should probably be a mix of contraction and moving one or two teams back to Canada. With less teams, you'll have better talent in more places, making more hockey watchable. The problem with Hamilton is Buffalo has a good team again and I'm pretty sure their attendance is still pretty bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Bettman hates Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I think Portland has an AHL team. Have to figure Seattle can support an NHL one now. They have no basketball team any longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suburbanargyle Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I think Portland has an AHL team. Have to figure Seattle can support an NHL one now. They have no basketball team any longer. I don't know which one you meant, but it's Portland, Maine that has the AHL team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I think Portland has an AHL team. Have to figure Seattle can support an NHL one now. They have no basketball team any longer. I don't know which one you meant, but it's Portland, Maine that has the AHL team. I always figured it was Oregon since the Ducks used it as their affiliate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 I wish milwaukee had an NHL team. they have an AHL, the Nashville affiliate. I dont really see how a team in Quebec City would draw away from the Habs, when Ottawa is a closer and larger market/team. I mean, the biggest marketing problem they had was that everything was in French there, and made it difficult for players/fans to follow them when they rarely had english translations for anything. Maybe today that'd be different.. who knows. they could move a team back to Hartford? doubt it Winnipeg is like Edmonton... who in their right mind would want to live there? I think out of all canadian cities, WInnie should get a team first because there is NOTHING at all around them... give them something to look forward too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 also, only 5 AHL teams are west of chicago, 3 of them in texas and two in canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 oh, and the WHL (western hockey league) is in western Canada, Oregon and Washington state. its a junior league though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgoodcore Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Makes way more sense for a team to be in Portland, Maine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 It makes the most sense from an economic standpoint to put a team in Southern Ontario. Buffalo or no Buffalo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Why are they so set on Hamilton? Couldn't they put the team in London, which puts it equal distance between Detroit, Toronto and Buffalo so no one market is hit harder than the others? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 also... quebec city when the Nords were there was the 2nd smallest city to have a professional sports franchise, only bigger than Green Bay wisconsin. so, I mean, thats pretty fucking small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Why are they so set on Hamilton? Couldn't they put the team in London, which puts it equal distance between Detroit, Toronto and Buffalo so no one market is hit harder than the others? I don't get all this market shit. Toronto has more than enough rabid hockey fans in their population to support several franchises within the city alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Why are they so set on Hamilton? Couldn't they put the team in London, which puts it equal distance between Detroit, Toronto and Buffalo so no one market is hit harder than the others? I don't get all this market shit. Toronto has more than enough rabid hockey fans in their population to support several franchises within the city alone. yeah, maybe toronto does, but buffalo doesnt, so space the new franchise a bit further away from them, and let the toronto fans who want to jump ship drive 50 minutes further from hamilton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Here is why NBC keeps showing the Pens: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tc/comments/penguins_flyers_nbc_game_draws_higher_ratings/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ice_hockey_leagues also, this just doesnt seem fair/right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco_national_ice_hockey_team Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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