(2014)-2015 NHL Thread

[Shawn Lutz]

Everyone'sEveryone's playoff stats on the Rangers roster suck except Lundquist's. The trade...no problem, I would say thatTB actually won the trade...but it was the Olympic team spot that was the nail and the snub. St Louis CARRIED the Lightning that season after Stamkos got hurt. How quickly TB fans forget. Yzerman knows what he's doing? A monkey could have won the gold that year picking Canadians.

...and Shawn, don't ask me what you mean in that last line about Calgary, Winnipeg and Quebec - seems like a doobieous statement (deliberately misspelled, like one would have to be high to make it). Calgary folded? About 20,000 people turned out for a salute when they finished second. Winnipeg? That was Bettman all the way. The 'save the Jets' drive raised way more money than they were told that they would need but the papers were already signed. Phoenix now? Yep...put it in Hamilton. TB was GIVING AWAY tickets to their games when they won in 2004. Joke.

Those 3 cities did lose franchises in markets that can support teams so where the game is played isn't as important as the product you put on the ice. I liked seeing Winnipeg get a team...would love to see Ontario get another team, Hamilton would be nice. My point is business failures in the hockey country of the globe (Canada). You put crap on the ice in any city other than Toronto or Montreal the fans will turn eventually...same in Canada or US (and not just NE US)

[goodwood]

The fans never turned on Winnipeg and they didn't turn on the Nordiques either. It wasn't that they were business failures, it was that Bettman wanted it done. If it was about business failures, the Coyotes would have been moved, the Lighning may have been moved before they even won in 2004 and Pittsburgh might not even have a team right now because it would have been in Hamilton (there was a $10 million nonrefundable deposit put on the team - Bettman put a "can't be moved for 10 years" clause in the terms so the sale did not proceed). It wasn't about business...it was about 'advancing' the sport in the USA.