2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[conscript]

Holy shit balls. Colin Campbell is apparently stepping down as the NHL Wheel O Justice spinner. Shanny is taking over. We may actually see punishments that fit the offense consistently handed out. /boggle.

Also Shanny rules.

Edit since I don't want to tack it onto my lengthy diatribe about failing franchises:

I don't think any of us can be really surprised by Campbell stepping down after those emails got out from the last couple years about him berating officials for making calls against his kid and calling Savard and whining baby.

[VanillaO]

I just read that, too... wow.

[phazedin]

I bet the constant stream of conspiracy theorists pointing at the lax bruins punishments finally broke the camel's back. Not only that but i'm sure he simply got tired of having every single decision he made second guessed and critiqued, horrible job if you need validation on a regular basis.

[conscript]

In my perfect world, the NHL would recognize it's role as a niche sport outside of Canada, cut 4-6 teams, and just pare down to 4 division of 6-7 teams each.

Cutting the NHL back to 28 teams would be super. 24 might be a little severe, but I could certainly see 28 working. I wonder how much it would actually hurt the league or benefit the league though. Say two teams like Phoenix and formerly Atlanta were cut. Both teams run far, far into the red with total losses last year being roughly $55 million combined (Phoenix lost $37 million last season and I thought I read somewhere the Thrashers were in the $20 million area). Cutting those two teams would deepen the NHL talent pool. Neither or those squads can be bringing in that much from merchandising. Hell, Atlanta's jersey market is probably going to skyrocket with the team moving to Winnipeg. I know I plan on buying an Atlanta jersey (which I may actually go do now just to see what NHL.com is doing with those lol. Apparently they are still $115 for replicas $300 for authentic). Only a few other markets don't work in my eyes that would be candidates for contraction.

Columbus is falling apart for remarkably similar reasons to Atlanta. They have an all world talent in Rick Nash that they put absolutely nothing around. Just like Atlanta did to Hossa, Kovy, and Heatley. They have been to the playoffs once, got absolute shit on and haven't been back since. Their attendance is shrinking. They do apparently have some ridiculously good player coming up next season though so maybe they will have someone to play with Nash.

Florida can be a good market if they get a new owner because apparently their current one is a complete moron. Their GM has ran their team into the ground, given away all of their valuable assets, and fires coach after coach. I feel pretty bad for Kevin Dineen who is about to have his coaching career burnt to the ground before it can really get started in the NHL.

The Islanders are bound to move. No way will this new stadium deal end up getting approved, then Yang is going to have his head explode in frustration and he will pull that franchise from there as quick as he can. Do they have any islands in Quebec City?

And then there is Phoenix that we all know will never work and now has about zero viable buyers with TNSE buying the Thrashers. Enjoy giving $100 million to a rich businessman to buy your team Glendale after giving the NHL at minimum $50 million to cover the losses of that bleeding franchise. All for a franchise worth $~70 million lol. Can't wait for the Hulsizer deal to finally, finally! fall through as expected and the NHL to amend its bylaws to allow the city of Glendale to own the team. That is likely the only way the Yotes aren't going to lose money hand over fist as they will save on rent.

Perhaps it would be a more elegant decision to just axe some of those franchises to mend the bleeding wounds that are draining the NHL. But it is the NHL after all which is why we should anticipate them expanding to 32 wit new teams in Seattle/Portland and KC.

[Asera]

Whoever does their market research for potential places to host a team are daft in the league.

They put a teams in places that never fill the arena without a second thought. Yet they say Halifax can't support a team because the Metro Centre is too small.

pretty sure a regular season team in Halifax with a sold out Metro Centre almost every game will take in more money than places like Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas, Nashville, Sunrise, etc.

[Epuration]

Whoever does their market research for potential places to host a team are daft in the league.

They put a teams in places that never fill the arena without a second thought. Yet they say Halifax can't support a team because the Metro Centre is too small.

pretty sure a regular season team in Halifax with a sold out Metro Centre almost every game will take in more money than places like Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas, Nashville, Sunrise, etc.

Is the metro center the one that the cwg was in?

[VanillaO]

If wikipedia is right, capacity of under 11,000? That's waaaaay too small to make it in the NHL. Average ticket price would be huge, just to keep up with player salary... otherwise you're looking at a below-cap team.. which sucks. If it's not 11,000... well.. then my bad.

[conscript]

Whoever does their market research for potential places to host a team are daft in the league.

They put a teams in places that never fill the arena without a second thought. Yet they say Halifax can't support a team because the Metro Centre is too small.

pretty sure a regular season team in Halifax with a sold out Metro Centre almost every game will take in more money than places like Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas, Nashville, Sunrise, etc.

That is extremely doubtful. The Metro Centre only seats 10,595 for hockey. Even with all the shenanigans teams pull with attendance figures Halifax would still be in the bottom three or four. Even with the strength of the Canadian dollar, the NHL wouldn't touch a stadium that small with a 20 foot pole. If they were to build a new stadium like rumored they would be as viable as any major Canadian city.

The market research of the last round of relocation and expansion can be easily summed up: US TV market size.

[Atrea]

Whoever does their market research for potential places to host a team are daft in the league.

They put a teams in places that never fill the arena without a second thought. Yet they say Halifax can't support a team because the Metro Centre is too small.

pretty sure a regular season team in Halifax with a sold out Metro Centre almost every game will take in more money than places like Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas, Nashville, Sunrise, etc.

I think the NHL is reluctant to put a team that far East. Doing so would put them in the Atlantic Time Zone, and there are already problems for East coast teams playing on the West coast (and vice versa.)

Could you imagine a Halifax team having to play a team like Vancouver in the finals? It would be murder on the players.
Not to mention the 4 hour time difference would make watching such a series on television problematic for both city's audiences.

Couple that with smaller populations - I believe Halifax has just over 250k people? - and lack of realistic backing from investors, and you have a pretty strong case against a team being sent there.

I know it'd be nice for those who live there, but it's not realistic at this time.

[AceofHarts]

i just keep hoping and praying that Detroit gets moved to the East, that would make every Detroit fan as happy as a pig in shit.

[ketzil]

All I can say is.....



Bring back the team with the greatest logo of all time!

[conscript]

Yo that Whalers logo is tight and all, but
http://www.sportslogos.net/logo.php?id=7320
is the greatest logo of all time.

Edit: Fail posting job is fail.

[ketzil]

HA! Nantucket (Island off Cape Cod,MA) High School's team name is the Whalers and they used to use that as an alternate logo for their lacrosse team. My school's team went over there senior year saw it for the first time and pretty much taunted them the whole game for it.

[Asera]

Is the metro center the one that the cwg was in?

The bigger games yes. Some of them were held in the Dartmouth Sportsplex, which doesn't seat very many people.

That is extremely doubtful. The Metro Centre only seats 10,595 for hockey. Even with all the shenanigans teams pull with attendance figures Halifax would still be in the bottom three or four. Even with the strength of the Canadian dollar, the NHL wouldn't touch a stadium that small with a 20 foot pole. If they were to build a new stadium like rumored they would be as viable as any major Canadian city.

I wasn't trying to make a point that the metro centre is "big enough", I know the problems that exist with a stadium that puny (like someone said, obscene ticket prices for player salary). Point I was trying to make was a full 10.5k seat Metro Centre would be better than a 18-20k seat stadium that's barely 1/3 full. The market sucks, but at least it wouldn't lose 70million annually like the teams in high pop cities with no one that likes hockey.

Or to be more specific, If the NHL is smart enough to weigh the market in Halifax and realize the biggest issue with it would be attendance, then why were they stupid enough to put teams in places that would rarely ever fill up the arena with the exception of teams like Montreal or Boston playing there? Tampa Bay has one of the better markets, and even when I was there in March, the arena was over half red shirts in the stands plus twice as loud when the Habs scored.

I believe Halifax has just over 250k people?

HRM has ~400k people.

[phazedin]

That hartford whalers logo could easily slide in as a canucks logo with a slight alteration and no one would be the wiser...even the colours are the same.

[ketzil]

....but it has a big W and H

[phazedin]

I'm not on the computer that has my graphics programs, but that H could very quickly become a V, which could create a sideways C on the bottom...couple that with the whale fin (orca in the canucks logo)...oh yeah..it works.

the colours and the whale fin were what really set me off to start.


On another note, what's the thoughts on names for the new winnipeg team? I haven't heard any good names that I like better than the jets.

[Epuration]

I'm not on the computer that has my graphics programs, but that H could very quickly become a V, which could create a sideways C on the bottom...couple that with the whale fin (orca in the canucks logo)...oh yeah..it works.

the colours and the whale fin were what really set me off to start.


On another note, what's the thoughts on names for the new winnipeg team? I haven't heard any good names that I like better than the jets.

the travelers

[Zoma]

[conscript]

Less awful mishmash Green Lantern/Stanley Cup commercials, more hockey! So excited, omg, omg omg.

Also, Vancouver looks like it would be a sweet place to live. I should just move to Washington. All the Pac Northwest awesomeness of Vancouver, none of the Canadian-ness.