NHL deal reached?

[AggieDave 6]

There are rumors circulating that a deal has been reached over the NHL lockout.

At this point does anyone care anymore? If a deal has been reached do you think that the game will revive its self to what it was (in terms of revinue and popularity)? Or do you think that pro-hockey has had one pizza and beer too many, destined to simply fade to the background...eh?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[sundevil777 102]

I think it will take a while, as did baseball and football to return strong after their last strike.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[kelpdiver 2]

there's enough excess time slots on sports channels to put it back on the air, but as far as getting people to pay money for it, I think they're in for a rough stretch.

Using 18 wheelers in a game of chicken only works if someone flinches. Both of them lost a lot of money.

[skydyvr 0]

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At this point does anyone care anymore?

I forecast that the Colorado Avalanche will continue to sell out each and every game as they have for the last ten years or so.

And at the beginning of game one this October, as the stadium announcer yells "HERE COME THE AVALANCHE!!!!", everyone in the crowd will forget the past and be re-absorbed into the best game ever invented.
Even CanuckIntheUSA.

. . =(_8^(1)

[skydiver30960 0]

Tough call. My gut feeling now is that if I watch, I won't feel good about it. And if I don't watch, I won't feel good about it.

Yep, just a bundle of warm feelings about this one...

Elvisio "want to watch the hockey" Rodriguez

[IanHarrop 43]

The Maple Leafs haven't lost a game all year!

First time in a long time

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[lawrocket 3]

Will hockey fade? It's been fading.

What I think WILL happen is that within 5-6 years there will be 4-6 less teams in the NHL than there are now. This will increase the talent level of hockey and give it more of a national appeal.

Next, there will be hardcore fans like me that just want it back.

There will also be some new talent and the NHL will, probably foolishly, attempt to hawk personalities like the NBA did, leading to a gradual destruction of the game and the sport.

Finally, there will be rule changes that make the game more exciting for the general public, i.e., moving the red line, getting rid of the two-line pass, etc.

In the end you'll find there will be a more talented league, less teams, more "general public friendly" (not "fan friendly, by any means") rules. The NHL should rebound in 3 or 4 years.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

and it would be about time that some of these smaller markets lose their teams....

Eventhough I hate the Leafs...as soon as they start playing again, all their games will be sold out.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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What I think WILL happen is that within 5-6 years there will be 4-6 less teams in the NHL than there are now. This will increase the talent level of hockey and give it more of a national appeal.

This will only increase the talent level if the Europeans continue to treat the NHL as the promised land. There is a distinct possibility that a significant slice of the talent pie will stay in Europe, particularily in Russia where there is serious money being paid. If this happens the talent pool will shrink just as fast as the league.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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there will be rule changes that make the game more exciting for the general public, i.e., moving the red line, getting rid of the two-line pass, etc.

This will lead to an increase in icing calls which doesn't speed up the game.

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In the end you'll find there will be a more talented league, less teams, more "general public friendly" (not "fan friendly, by any means") rules. The NHL should rebound in 3 or 4 years.

It would be nice to see the NHL return to the type of hockey which was being played back in the 80s. Time will tell ...

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[masterrig 1]

I still feel, the problem with NHL hockey is, Gary Bettman! He is the one who wanted expansion into
'un-charted waters', in regard to hockey. Those teams lost money. He juggled numbers to plead his case. He has little knowledge of the game, he's a numbers cruncher. As well as a bit of a bully. The whole mess, became a stand-off between the League and players. Bettman held his ground and the players lost their side of things. Bettman has gotten rules changes and game changes to make the game more appealing to those 'weaker' markets. On the other hand, I believe, the players wanted too much. It came down to 'If, you wanna play... you play MY game! I'm not giving in!' In the end, the players saw a very real possibility of the game being lost forever. Bettman wins! We're just going to have to sit-back and see what happens. Teams, are gearing-up fo a 2005 - '06 season.


Chuck

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

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There are rumors circulating that a deal has been reached over the NHL lockout.

At this point does anyone care anymore? If a deal has been reached do you think that the game will revive its self to what it was (in terms of revinue and popularity)? Or do you think that pro-hockey has had one pizza and beer too many, destined to simply fade to the background...eh?

Hockey was popular?

To teach them a lesson it should be 10 years before the crowds come back - much like what happened in baseball.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[kelpdiver 2]

baseball didn't suffer for that long.

Why? No idea. I won't be watching it on Tuesday.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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This will only increase the talent level if the Europeans continue to treat the NHL as the promised land. There is a distinct possibility that a significant slice of the talent pie will stay in Europe, particularily in Russia where there is serious money being paid. If this happens the talent pool will shrink just as fast as the league.

Don't think that will happen as much as you think. Sidney Crosby, who most likely will be one of the best pro hockey players ever, just announced he will play in the NHL. Eventhough he could make 8 million dollars more if he went to Switxerland in his first year. Why? level of play, recognition, league talent, better likelihood of selection for national teams.

I agree, the game won't be as popular in much of the smaller market US areas. Probably a good thing.

[masterrig 1]

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baseball didn't suffer for that long.

Why? No idea. I won't be watching it on Tuesday.

__________________________________

I don't think, hockey will 'suffer' too much in the North. In the South? Yeah, a bit more-so.


Chuck

[Diversgodown 0]

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particularily in Russia where there is serious money being paid. If this happens the talent pool will shrink just as fast as the league.

I don't think there is that much more to be made! The US players were getting paid alot more than overseas that's why they would come here in the first place. With the salary cap they can make the same or a little more there home leagues and stay with there families. Then all they have to do is worry about the Russian mafia!!! Anywhich way I'm glad to see the NHL come back now I can watch some real Sports on TV!


Russian players feel the danger

The owner of Igor Larionov's former team joins others who ran afoul of the Russian Mafia.


By JIM KERNAGHAN -- London Free Press


The danger is never really far away for Russian hockey players and it raised its head again this week when the owner of Detroit Red Wing Igor Larionov's old team was gunned down.

The National Hockey League's oldest player, 41-year-old Igor Larionov downplays the so-called Russian Mafia involvement in the death of Andrei Trifonov this week but the facts are there. Trifonov was murdered when two shooters opened fire on his car as it stopped at the gates of his suburban Moscow home.

Trifonov owned Khimik Voskresensk, Larionov's former team. He joins a lineup of Russian hockey people who've fallen afoul of the international crime syndicate, one which got its talons into more than one NHLer in the past. Last night's parade of the Stanley Cup before an adoring Joe Louis Arena crowd and the raising of their Stanley Cup banner might have been uplifting but a behind-the-scenes darkness remains.

Five years ago, Valentin Sytch, the head of Russian hockey, went down the same way as Trifonov, in a hail of bullets as he was leaving his home. The mother of Oleg Tverdovsky was kidnapped and held for ransom. In the early 1990s, then-Toronto Maple Leaf and current Florida Panther Dimitri Yushkevich, along with his wife Oksana, were threatened in an extortion attempt.

***Glory Favors the Bold***