Official 2007-08 NHL Thread

[E. Nygma]

Gagne should return sometime this month. I read that he's headed in the right direction to get back on the ice.

Forsberg won't come back. He'll retire sometime this year.

BTW, I heard Gagne would be back sometime this week. Since we play four games this week he'll return in one of them.

 

[Hush]

The Blues kill the Jackest 6-1 man my gf is lucky to be there.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Bruins went from 9th in the East to 6th in two days...not bad. Well, the season is officially half over. 41 games in. What's everyone got to say thus far? I'm pleased with Boston's turnaround. I don't see a Cup in our future yet, but I think the B's will be in the playoffs this year. It's a start. This has been a decent season so far.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

BTW, I heard Gagne would be back sometime this week. Since we play four games this week he'll return in one of them.

That's good news.

Flyers beat the Thrashers tonight 4-1. Doesn't surprise me. We always dominate Atlanta.

Anaheim seems to be making a charge up the Western Conference. Detroit is still the dominate force there though.

 

[Hush]

Well 4 one gamesin and my Blues are still holdin strong which is saying alot if anyone knew about last year outside of STL. Detroit is still the dominate force not just in the west but i would say all around the league, these guys are tough but we have seen chicago and the blues beat them up a bit, so its an interesting season for sure. We had a beautifully well done winter classic and saw real good performances out of two decent clubs. Calder trophy prospects are comming in and 2 bluenotes have been mentioned, good for me. lol Overall though I think that after this season Hockey will be back on the Map for good all over the nation.

 

[E. Nygma]

That's good news.

Flyers beat the Thrashers tonight 4-1. Doesn't surprise me. We always dominate Atlanta.

Anaheim seems to be making a charge up the Western Conference. Detroit is still the dominate force there though.

Antero Nittymaki is 7-0 against the Thrashers and i believe 4-0 against his fellow Finnish counter part Lehtonen who was not in pipes for Atlanta but has been in the past in Nitty's other dominant performances against them.

As for the Forsberg watch:
- He's going to skate this week and decided within the next 2-3 weeks if he is going to return to playing or retire.
- He's leaning towards coming back, and is also leaning towards coming back to the Flyers.
- Allegedly all it will take is a Phone call from the Forsberg to the Flyers for this to be done, thats how much they want him. If Peter says he's healthy and wants to come back, it will be done and he'll be in Philadelphia.
- Holmgren says that they have enough cap room for Forsberg to sign a deal for the remainder of the season (1-1.5 million may do the trick).

 

[Steve Rogers]

Forsberg's coming back? I would have never have guessed. If he does come back to Philly and he's as good as he has been, watch out for the Flyers.

 

[Dark Donnie]

Flyers believed to be favorites for Forsberg

There are a few others stating pretty much the same thing

 

[E. Nygma]

Forsberg's coming back? I would have never have guessed. If he does come back to Philly and he's as good as he has been, watch out for the Flyers.

Only if he's healthy

and the strong speculation is that Simon Gagne will be back tomorrow night and possibly be skating with some type of neck support/head support to protect him from another concussion.

Joffrey Lupul has a bruised spine, a LUCKY injury (could have been much worse). He's been told not to do ANYTHING for two weeks, not Hockey related anyway. So two weeks from now you figure he'd be back skating, and then getting back into the flow of things, so you're probably looking really at 3-4 weeks he'll miss.

- The pre caution on Lupul is that he also suffered his 4th career concussion. In a relatively short amount of time. Thats something you dont want to mess with a lot, so the Flyers are going to have to really evaluate him and make sure he's good to go before he plays.

 

[Shifty]

Ovechkin and some Caps on a Segway
http://withleather.com/index.phtml?t=WASHINGTON+CAPITALS

OV will be the first person to kill someone on a Segway.

 

[Shifty]

Halfway mark

"If the playoffs started today..."

OTT vs NYI
NJ vs BOS
CAR vs PHI
PIT vs MTL

DET vs STL
VAN vs ANA
SJ vs MIN
DAL vs CGY

LA, TB and WAS would try to win the draft lottery with LA most likely winning.

The Canadian media would go crazy since Crosby would be playing a Canadian team; Crosby's favourite team growing up. Flyers, Hurricanes and Bruins would be back, Maple Leafs would go 41 years without a Stanley Cup. The Blues would return to the playoffs but face the dominant Red Wings, Canucks face the defending champs and SJ would probably blow it versus the Wild.

It used to be if you were 13th or 14th your season was done by now but not anymore. 13 teams will be fighting for 7 playoff spots (DET and OTT are safe) in the West and same in the East for the last half of the season.

 

[Shifty]

An All-Star Twist
James Duthie
TSN.ca
1/9/2008

Sources tell TSN the NHL will introduce an NBA Slam-Dunk Contest style shootout at this year's All-Star Skills Competition in Atlanta.

Players will be asked to perform the craziest trick-shots they can come up with. Between the leg shots, spin-a-ramas, over the shoulder lacrosse moves, it's all fair game. A panel of celebrities, still to be announced, will judge the shooters on their originality.

The shootout will feature three players from each conference. They will be allowed to start from anywhere on the ice, even behind the net they are shooting on. The competitors will get two chances each. The judges will score the move anywhere from a 1 to a 9. If the player scores, he'll get an additional point, allowing for the possibility of a perfect 10. All six All-Star goalies will take a turn in net.

The two players with the highest scores from each conference will showdown in the final. Once again, they will get two attempts each. The single best score (ie: one 10 beats two 9's) is declared the shootout champion.

Unlike the NBA Slam-Dunk Contest, the shootout will only involve players on the All-Star teams.

The shootout will be the showcase event of a revamped skills competition.

The fastest skater event will now be a head-to-head 125-foot sprint from one goal line to just inside the opposite blueline.

The skills relay has also been altered dramatically. It will involve stick-handling, saucer passes, one-timers, and goalies having a chance to try to score by shooting the puck the length of the ice (is Ron Hextall available?)

The Youngstars Game, a disaster last year, is also being changed. It will be shortened to two 6-minute periods of 3-on-3. It will also get a more prominent placing, in the middle of the skills event. Last year, the Youngstars played an uninspired (understatement) game to a half-empty arena before the real All-Stars took to the ice in Dallas.

The all-star skills competition is slated for Saturday, January 26 in Atlanta.

Sounds great, especially the revamped Young Stars and shootout.

 

[fu manchu]

Shootout sounds cool. definately, something to watch.

 

[Dark Donnie]

Good News, the skills comp. has been lacking for many years

 

[Immortalfire]

Tickets are sky high for the all star game...right in my own backyard and I'm probably missing it

 

[Watson]

Halfway mark

"If the playoffs started today..."

OTT vs NYI
NJ vs BOS
CAR vs PHI
PIT vs MTL

DET vs STL
VAN vs ANA
SJ vs MIN
DAL vs CGY

LA, TB and WAS would try to win the draft lottery with LA most likely winning.

The Canadian media would go crazy since Crosby would be playing a Canadian team; Crosby's favourite team growing up. Flyers, Hurricanes and Bruins would be back, Maple Leafs would go 41 years without a Stanley Cup. The Blues would return to the playoffs but face the dominant Red Wings, Canucks face the defending champs and SJ would probably blow it versus the Wild.

It used to be if you were 13th or 14th your season was done by now but not anymore. 13 teams will be fighting for 7 playoff spots (DET and OTT are safe) in the West and same in the East for the last half of the season.

MTL v. PIT would be a great match-up. Since the Leafs are not going to make it anyways, I will probably root for Montreal as a back-up.

I would actually love for the Leafs to come in last and actually be able to pick up some decent picks in the draft, but I suspect they will pull the same idiotic stuff they have been doing for the last few years. It's very frustrating rooting for a team that is run like an old boys club.

 

[E. Nygma]

Tickets are sky high for the all star game...right in my own backyard and I'm probably missing it

High Ticket pricing for NHL games is a huge reason that the sport is failing to grow.

 

[Shifty]

High Ticket pricing for NHL games is a huge reason that the sport is failing to grow.

They're lower than the average NBA ticket (and NFL). There are plenty of crazy deals in the markets that can't draw. And the demand meets the high prices in the sold out markets

High price of hockey equipment for people to play in high school, minor leagues or rec leagues are a huge reason the sport is failing to grow.

$160-$70 for junior skates,
$250-$60 for senior skates
$129-$60 for 1 piece sticks (while the rarely shatter wood ones are around $30)
$60-$25 for jr. shoulder pads
$50-$90 for sr. shoulder pads
$40-$100 for sr gloves
$30-$60 for jr gloves
$60-$120 for jr helmets
$60-$140 for sr helmets
plus all the accessories, hockey jerseys, hockey bags, fees for leagues, fund raising, renting rinks, tournaments etc.

 

[Watson]

That's why there is a growing trend of upper class and wealthy hockey players being top contenders over working class players in the past. Mike Comrie, for example, is the son of the man who owns the Brick furniture chain here in Canada.

 

[E. Nygma]

They're lower than the average NBA ticket (and NFL). There are plenty of crazy deals in the markets that can't draw. And the demand meets the high prices in the sold out markets

High price of hockey equipment for people to play in high school, minor leagues or rec leagues are a huge reason the sport is failing to grow.

$160-$70 for junior skates,
$250-$60 for senior skates
$129-$60 for 1 piece sticks (while the rarely shatter wood ones are around $30)
$60-$25 for jr. shoulder pads
$50-$90 for sr. shoulder pads
$40-$100 for sr gloves
$30-$60 for jr gloves
$60-$120 for jr helmets
$60-$140 for sr helmets
plus all the accessories, hockey jerseys, hockey bags, fees for leagues, fund raising, renting rinks, tournaments etc.

As true as that is, the NHL ticket prices are far too expensive considering the lack of mass popularity of the sport in the states.

 

[Steve Rogers]

They're lower than the average NBA ticket (and NFL). There are plenty of crazy deals in the markets that can't draw. And the demand meets the high prices in the sold out markets

High price of hockey equipment for people to play in high school, minor leagues or rec leagues are a huge reason the sport is failing to grow.

$160-$70 for junior skates,
$250-$60 for senior skates
$129-$60 for 1 piece sticks (while the rarely shatter wood ones are around $30)
$60-$25 for jr. shoulder pads
$50-$90 for sr. shoulder pads
$40-$100 for sr gloves
$30-$60 for jr gloves
$60-$120 for jr helmets
$60-$140 for sr helmets
plus all the accessories, hockey jerseys, hockey bags, fees for leagues, fund raising, renting rinks, tournaments etc.

And when you play while growing up you gotta buy a lot of that stuff every year. I'm so glad I've stopped growing. No my equipment lasts a lot longer. I do need a new goalie mask though...and one day I want to get a custom painted one. I'm thinking paint it blue with a white A on the forehead and two white wings on the side

 

[Steve Rogers]

As true as that is, the NHL ticket prices are far too expensive considering the lack of mass popularity of the sport in the states.

Doesn't that drive the cost up though? Since there are fewer people out there paying for tickets, than say baseball, the league has to charge more for the tickets?

 

[E. Nygma]

Doesn't that drive the cost up though? Since there are fewer people out there paying for tickets, than say baseball, the league has to charge more for the tickets?

If teams charged baseball prices for hockey tickets i'd be pretty surprised if every team in the league didn't sell out. Instead it's 40 dollars a seat for the seats highest up from the ice at Flyers games. Granted this is a good hockey market and people are willing to pay that.

Hockey has no chance of ever bringing in minorities with the expenses of equipment and the prices of games.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Of course you are talking just NHL. There are tons of hockey leagues in North America--some of them charge about 10 bucks for tickets. Just because the NHL charges up the wazoo doesn't mean that all hockey is too expensive to at least watch.

But, yeah equipment is super expensive. Also, the facilities are expensive for towns to construct and maintain. Poor towns don't have ice rinks.

Part of the lack of appeal of hockey in US might be due to the large portion of the population that live in warm climates. The Northeast and Mid-West are the hotbeds of hockey in the US. They are also the coldest regions where kids can spend their free time on frozen ponds for free. Most pond hockey games are played with sticks and minimal padding. Ice rinks won't even let you in without all of the equipment. All this, in my opinion, makes hockey more accessible for kids of any financial bracket in colder climates. But the Northwest, the South, the Southwest--all warm environments where the only hockey is played by rich people in fancy rinks decked out with all the equipment.

 

[E. Nygma]

Of course you are talking just NHL. There are tons of hockey leagues in North America--some of them charge about 10 bucks for tickets. Just because the NHL charges up the wazoo doesn't mean that all hockey is too expensive to at least watch.

But, yeah equipment is super expensive. Also, the facilities are expensive for towns to construct and maintain. Poor towns don't have ice rinks.

Part of the lack of appeal of hockey in US might be due to the large portion of the population that live in warm climates. The Northeast and Mid-West are the hotbeds of hockey in the US. They are also the coldest regions where kids can spend their free time on frozen ponds for free. Most pond hockey games are played with sticks and minimal padding. Ice rinks won't even let you in without all of the equipment. All this, in my opinion, makes hockey more accessible for kids of any financial bracket in colder climates. But the Northwest, the South, the Southwest--all warm environments where the only hockey is played by rich people in fancy rinks decked out with all the equipment.

I agree, but before concentrating on taking hockey to warm weather climates i really think they need to find a way to urbanize the sport. I think if Hockey was able to somehow find a gem minority player who was just REALLY REALLY good an entire new wave of an NHL fan base would be born, and kids from the inner city black, white, Hispanic anyone impoverished would see that it's not impossible to make it in hockey no matter where you come from.