2013 NHL Hockey!!

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Coaches have a loosing record they get fired, players do not play as expected after a season or two they are gone and yet Bettman cannot negotiate a new CBA before a work stoppage on three separate occasions including loosing an entire season and he keeps his job somehow. I am missing something .

Under Bettman the NHL has missed more games due to work stoppage than the three other major NA sports leagues combined, it is insane.

Just thinking about it irritates me, especially when I think of all the people who work at the arenas and the surrounding business who really got screwed.

I am just about done with the NHL, they are getting one more chance.  My wife and I were avid fans of the NHL. She is a Vancouver Canucks fan, and I an Ottawa Senators fan.  Both born and raised in Central Valley of California, go figure.  I used to get the NHL center ice package, wouldn't miss an Ottawa game if I could help it. Even used to play fantasy hockey.

The 2004-05 lockout/season cancellation all but killed the NHL for me and my wife.  It used to be on ESPN a lot and when the lockout happened, ESPN figured out it was making more money showing college basketball than showing NHL.  After the lockout it was more difficult to see games on TV, unless I wanted to keep paying for center ice package,  except for the occasional national TV game or watching the Sharks on Comcast which is cool. I think the NHL was finally starting to get back on track from that lockout.

I would have thought that the NHL and players would do whatever it took to not have another work stoppage after seeing what happened the last time.  I had no clue that games had started until I saw this thread.  I hope that this will be the last work stoppage for awhile and the NHL can figure out a way to get their product back onto TV they way it used to.  For me, hockey is the most exciting sport to watch.

This, to me, is the key.  I had so little interest in hockey (correction, the NHL ... I love hockey, and I was playing it at the time) when it came back solely because they "weren't trying" to keep me interested.  The idea that I could only see games on the freaking Versus network - which I'm pretty sure I didn't even have yet, but can't remember - was the kicker.  Same thing now ... call me a fair weather fan if you wish (you'd be right) but if they got a new deal with ESPN and were showing games a couple of nights a week, I'd be right back in it.

It's still a blast to go to (Ducks) games when I get the chance, and now that the kids are a little older, they'll probably like it too.  Hopefully they'll be giving out good prices on tickets this year. :)

ESPN might not have had a major contract but they showed at least 2-3 games a week on ESPN or ESPN2, which was great for my area because we were able to watch teams from around the country.  After the lockout they started showing 0 games per week, so for me it was either watch 1-2 Sharks games per week or be forced into buying the Center Ice package.

The region you live in is probably a huge hockey market, im guessing.  So it would stand to reason that you would still have good coverage.  Being in California, that's just not the case.  We couldn't even get the versus channel when it first came out.  I watch it on NBC from time to time but they don't usually show the Canucks or Senators very much.  IMO it is a money issue.  The Bruins, Rangers, Red Wings, and some of those famous teams will draw more ratings than say Coyotes  - Senators.

I thought the strike would devastate the hockey community.  After seeing Hockey Town respond after the whipping from St. Louis, I concede hockey is more important in Detroit than most of the other sports.

I don't see the Red Wings winning anything but they may make the playoffs.   There is some talent but after seeing St. Louis, they played like minor league players.

IMO Bettman is responsible to the fans first and above all else as the commissioner of the league since without them the NHL ceases to exist. I have a hard time accepting that a commissioner of a league which has a work stoppage every 7-8 years is doing a good job. I have never understood the math that leads to nobody playing means more for the sport? The NFL figured this out and got a deal done, the NHL is unable to do so.

To your point though I think one of the main problems with the NHL and the revenue sharing is that there are way too many teams. Florida has as many teams as Ontario and California has more teams than any of the provinces. I am not sure that all of the southern markets are viable in the current economy.

I love when Canadian hockey fans bring this up.  It really burns you guys that southern American states have hockey teams, doesnt it? LOL  Dont forget that theres also Canadian hockey teams who are struggling too.  The Oilers, for example.

The owners create the problems then expect the Commissioner to fix them during CBA negotiations, it happens in every professional sport.  Bettman is just the scape goat of the owners.

I forget who wrote it but there was an article that basically said that Pro sports should be hobbies (not businesses) for rich guys. Let the rich superfans buy teams and have fun but the only profit they should expect is when they unload the team on the greater fool.

Not at all, I just think the NHL has too many teams from a revenue standpoint but that doesn't mean I want to go back to the original six. I never said Canadian teams did not struggle, hence why the Nordiques are now the Avalanche, the Ottawa Senators took a 70 year break from the league and the Jets left winnipeg for two decades. The Canadian markets are much stronger on average than a lot of the America markets regardless of whether the team is successful or not which is not true in a lot of the southern U.S. markets especially when you consider the population differences. For example, the Leafs which haven't won a cup since 1967 are considered the most profitable team in North American sports in spite of the fact that they quite frankly are not very good. Many of the teams in the southern U.S. (not all of them) rely on success to drive fan support.

I do not believe the Oilers are in financial trouble, and if they are it is because of mismanagement not lack of fan support.

Unfortunately a lot of peoples jobs depend on these rich guys hobbies and they are the ones I feel for most.  The owners and professional sports could easily fix this with a hard cap that's severely penalized if a team exceeds it  The unions are just as much to blame in this area because they don't want a hard cap either.  As a result the fans and little guys (small businesses) all have to pay the price every 7-8 years when these lockouts occur.

NHL Game Center might be the single best/worst thing that has ever happened to me.  I have watched way more games then is healthy so far this year but I am loving it!!

Go Flyers! Off to a slow start but if they can pick up the W tonight they should be in good shape going forward.

I loved all 60 minutes of that game. For some reason... more so than others Lets go Blues