Comments on: Changes In NY, No Crosby for Canada, GMs New Year's Resolution,

By: chaosbc29

chaosbc29 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 21:23:56 +0000

First of all zhitnik took too many penalties. That simple. Hes not made for the new nhl. Second of all Mike York has had a horrible year for his standards. Look at the stats.

We could afford to lose zhitnik who is a dinosaur compared to "some guy" Freddy Meyer who provides a speed and offensive boost. Add the fact that he is coming off an impressive rookie season and adds youth to a team that can use it and it was a good trade. And furthermore we have good depth at defense so stay off the bandwagon and dont just hate on a team for s@$# and giggles because everyone else does.

As far as Randy Robitaille is concerned he is playing BETTER than york and is much more affordable.

These trades cleared out dead wood for the islanders and made us a quicker team. I loved Zhitty and York and i wish them luck but it seems to me that islander bashing is obviously everyones favorite thing to do.

some people wll do anything to bash the isles.....

By: prairiehab

prairiehab — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 18:12:26 +0000

The Reason Gretzky was sent to LA was to sell the game to Americans and to get them excited about hockey.
Why would Southern Ontario need that?
The NHL doesn't care if the Toronto area can support another team or else Hamilton would already have a team.
If you look at it geographicaly(spelling?), it might be better to move a team somewhere in the Northwest US. Oregon, Washinton. Then maybe Vancover can quit complaing about traveling too far to play away games, and the NHL can switch the Schedule so every team plays every team twice a year. 84 game schedule - 6games inter division, 3 inter conference, 2 cross conference. (I know it's off topic but just thought i'd get it out there).
I still think Winipeg deserves a team before Hamilton though. There is no canadian team in almost 3 provinces(sask, man & W.Ont) so a team in the middle gives them a regional team to cheer for. Sure theres more people in Southern OT, then there but still. Then after Winipeg, the maritimes should get a team.
I say Pens to Portland, Preds to Winipeg, Sharks to Maritimes and then finnaly Panthers to Hamilton.

By: LeafyMcLeaf

LeafyMcLeaf — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:47:08 +0000

If the New York area can support three teams, Toronto can support four. There are currently two in the Toronto area (Toronto and Buffalo), and I'd welcome the Penguins. Crosby in Toronto fits like Gretzky in LA.

The city would be split on the two Toronto teams, even if one is in Hamilton, why?

Traditional hockey fans are more likely to stay Leaf fans, because the Leafs are a Toronto tradition.

Then there are angry Leaf fans, who'll become Penguin fans to spite the Leafs, and younger fans, who'll be excited by Crosby and Malkin, and in a market like Toronto, they'll be milked for all they're worth.

By: Sharks06

Sharks06 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:27:50 +0000

Sharks Reassign Goaltender Dimitri Patzold To Worcester
December 20, 2006

San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the club has reassigned goaltender Dimitri Patzold to the Worcester Sharks of the AHL.

Patzold has posted a 4-2-3 record in 10 games with Worcester this season with a 3.85 goals-against average and a .872 save percentage. He was recently recalled to Worcester from Fresno of the ECHL where he posted a 2-2-0 record with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage.

The six-foot, 195-pound native of Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan was selected by San Jose in the fourth round (107th overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

well there goes that idea.

By: rojoke

rojoke — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 11:32:58 +0000

Minnesota got a team back, yes, but they didn't go to where the North Stars played. They played in Bloomington, and the population wasn't as large as it is in Minneapolis/St. Paul, where the Wild play.

I think it's at least even money that the Penguins are done, as early as next season. Mario has been more than patient in waiting for the slots license/arena decision to come down, and now that it has, it's time to make a business decision and not a sentimental one. If Balsillie had anywhere other than Kitchener in mind, Bettman wouldn't have put the kibosh on the deal. The league office has a list of three or four cities it would like to move to, among them Las Vegas and Kansas City, which is supposed to have a building either under construction right now or ready to start next year. Houston is probably still a poosibility as well. A couple of years ago, I would have said Portland as well, but I think that the interest there may have wained.

By: prairiehab

prairiehab — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:27:29 +0000

The reason Toronto has been the exception is Big Buisness. They are the economic Hub of Canada. When the rest of Canada's Economy was not to good. Toronto could still find Money. But the Economy is alot better across the country now.

By: prairiehab

prairiehab — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:21:11 +0000

I think the day of canadian Billionaires not being able to compete is in the past. I posted most of my reasons why in a post further down and so won't repeat them again. But to sum up, Candaian dollar has bounced back, plus the economy is doing alot better and is stronger. Canadian Owners can now see a hockey team as a money making investment instead of a money pit.
Basillie does want to bring the penguins into Ontario because of how good that team will be. Maybe he is a leafs fan and knows they are a long ways away from winning a cup so he wants to bring a young team that is destined to win many cups into Ontario. LOL. But that is very selfish, for the betterment of the NHL the Pens need to stay in the US, wether it be in Pitsburgh or another city, but it should stay in the US.
I'm not sold On the penguins staying in pittsburgh, the only time anyone there cares or supports the team is when they are winning. Lemieux saved the team twice, and now Malkin & Crosby have to. Does an area like that deserve a team? No matter if they won 2 cups. Every few years this team is in trouble, or maybe it never really is out of trouble just diffrent degrees of it.

Keep Penguins in the US ---> definately

When other teams come up for sale, Canadian teams should not be at the bottom of the list, but the Top. As a new team back in Canada will do better then most american teams and in the new NHL should not have any money problems.

By: leafs4ever94

leafs4ever94 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:56:07 +0000

the old Pens' owners badly mismanaged the team. One result of this was that the team asked many of its big-name players to defer their salaries; the players, including Lemieux, obliged in order to stay in Pittsburgh.

So, when the pens declared bankruptcy they owed Lemeiux a lot of money and the only way Lemiuex had any chance of getting the rest of his money was to take over the team and try to make it profitable.

By: Williams1505

Williams1505 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:23:33 +0000

If lemeiux made a mistake……..why did he buy the team????

By: TheDonkey

TheDonkey — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:59:09 +0000

Kraut gets it right that the exchange on the dollar was a major factor.

What has never made sense to me is how teams in bad hockey markets in the US have more $$ than any Canadian teams. Even good US markets for that matter. A game on TV in Edmonton would surely draw more viewers than any game on TV in any US market, New York included. Even with a radically smaller market, you have more viewers. So how can the Canadian teams have less $$. And compare to a bad US market and there should be no comparison.

I lived in L.A. for many years, including the Gretzky years. Nobody watches. It barely gets a few paragraphs on the back pages of the sports section. Nobody cares. Yet the teams had more revenues than the Canadian ones. Perhaps there is a culture of cheapness when it comes to advertising in Canada, I don't know. It just does not make sense to me.