ClumsyMonkey.net

I've posted about Kovalev some pages back here, just got the confirmation yesterday, he's staying with the habs for 4 years so far

Can't believe Roenick left for La. I am more then surprised.

Gimme_Shelter wrote:Hockey just doesnt belong some places.

*cough*Nashville*cough*

With the expection of like Dallas we shouldn't have hockey below the mason-dixy line

What Bettman has been trying to do with all of these southern teams is get kids interested in hockey. If kids get interested then their parents will become interested and eventually when those kids grow up they'll have kids who are interested. It's the same type of phenomenon that the 1980 US olympic team spawned. The fact that the USA had a lot of talent in the 90's is a direct result of that.

Furthermore hockey is growing substantially in these cities. Minor hockey is becoming more and more popular and if you go to an arena in southern ontario during the summer months you'll find a lot of hockey camps that are filled with kids from Florida, Texas and California. It'll take time to get it to work. That's the problem. Everyone wants success now now now.

i've never heard of thorton being unhappy in boston.

Yes but you can't just create all these news teams in new cities and expect to be competitive everywhere. There simply isn't eough talent to fill all the voids.

6.2 Billion people live on this earth.
We can find enough talent

This just in (As I sit around waiting for the washer repair guy)
Khabi to Chicago for 4 years, $27 million

I'm glad the Wings didn't pick him up.
Otherwise we wouldn't have the cash left to pick up Datsuyk and Zetterberg.

Osgood is looking like the front runner here, rumours about Marc Dennis as well.

Kicker774 wrote:Yes but you can't just create all these news teams in new cities and expect to be competitive everywhere. There simply isn't eough talent to fill all the voids.

You could say that this has ben the case since the expansion in the late 60's when the league doubled in size.

There is no way every team can compete for the stanley cup but this CBA will help put these new teams on an equal playing field. Look at the NFL where they have the same amount of teams as the NHL and a new teams are in the super bowl every year. Salary caps also allow for teams with smart coaches/management to create dynasties much like the Patriots. Look at a team like the Red Wings or the Avs who have been able to buy their way deep into the playoffs. I think from here on forward we'll see the league level out. Just look at the recent signings to see how all these small teams are now putting themselves on an even playing field.

Yes but perhaps they expanded too quickly,
I'm not claiming to know it all but if you expand somewhere there isn't a market, then there's less ticket revenue, less ticket revenue = less money to attract the stars and that team lags behind.

Yes in time that team may develop a following, draft a few outstanding players and become a strong team.

But maybe there were too many of these lack-luster teams and they went crying to the teacher so to speak.

Kind of like what happened to CART. Some of the lackluster and poorly funded teams couldn't hold up to the teams that had worked hard over the years to design, test and race a better product.

So thsoe lackluster teams complained and now the series is all but bankrupt and void of much talent.

So back to the NHL we could possibly see themselves compeating with Russian and European teams for talent. Datsuyk may end up staying in Russia b/c he'll be paid more there.

See what I'm getting at?

And what's wrong with that? Take soccer for example. It is without a doubt the most saturated sport in the world and you have maybe half a dozen leagues who could easily make the claim that they have the best players. You don't hear people in Spain complaining that Thierry Henry plays in England. And there isn't a country that suffers because of another country's ability to draw good players as well.

Also, let's take England for example where they have a large tiered system consisting of over 20 leagues. There is rarely if ever a team that folds because of lack of money or fan support. London itself has 6 teams that play in the Premiership alone. Throw in the 20+ London based teams that play in lower divisions and people in North America would think that was nuts.

There is no reason why NHL teams cannot under the new CBA draw enough fans to the arena to pay the bills. The problem before was that teams were forced to over-spend in order to compete. Now they don't have to. They can spend a comfortable amount and feel satisfied that their salary budget is no different than New York's or Toronto's.

Personally, I don't think they expanded too quickly. There are still a number of cities/regions that could have a team such as Houston. I would like to see how the game will change this season in terms of the new rules. This itself could dictate the future success of the league.

MageMaida wrote:I've posted about Kovalev some pages back here, just got the confirmation yesterday, he's staying with the habs for 4 years so far

Can't believe Roenick left for La. I am more then surprised.

Keeping Kovalev is huge for the Habs. He gives them another legit scoring threat with Koivu. Plus, I've been told that they are pushing hard for either Kariya or Selanne.

As for Roenick, he's going to love the LA spotlight. You can't blame Clarke for trading him though. If you get a chance to sign Peter Forsberg you gotta take it.

Kariya signs two-year deal with Predators
Maple Leafs sign Jason Allison

Canucks lose Brad May to the MOFO Avs.

Boy, good thing we didn't sign Kariya... 4.5 mil a year... that's ridiculous! Doesn't Domi seem over paid now considering Allison and O'Neil signed for about the same price?

AVs SUCK!!!

I hope we still go for Selanne...
It's going to be nice to see Allison in a Leafs jersey, btw he may make as much as 4.5 with bonus'.

goleafsgo wrote:Boy, good thing we didn't sign Kariya... 4.5 mil a year... that's ridiculous! Doesn't Domi seem over paid now considering Allison and O'Neil signed for about the same price?

Kariya at 4.5 is a lot. That being said, Nashville had a ton of cap room and really needed a top line forward. So, it make sense for them. Lookout for Nashville this year, they're a big sleeper in my mind.

And yes, Domi is overpaid. You can't be paying 1.25/year for a fighter (who doesn't even fight that much anymore). The Leafs need to be spending that money elsewhere. Mind you, I can't stand Tie Domi.... so that may have to do with it!

As for Allison, that should be an interesting experiment. The guy was a top 10 forward in the league before all the neck/concussion problems happened. That base salary is pretty high, but if he can return to form he'll be a steal at that 4.5 million level. The guy was awesome before he got hurt.... it's just a big risk at that base salary (especially with the Leafs cap situation).

Whatever though, it's good to be talking hockey again. If only we could drop the puck tomorrow.... Still 2 more months till opening day!

I still wish the Leafs would bone up on their defence, it would make me feel a lot more comfortable leading into the season. We have a very tight defensive rival in Philly, and a very competitive team in Ottawa and Boston. It should be interesting to see how our division plays out this season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2125800

thats a (for the most part) really interesting article about the effects of the cap on the league and i agree with a lot of it (including montreal in that list with the teams he has however is misplaced heh)

for the record claire agrees with me on that and she loves the leafs so yeah.. the habs are not a small market team heh... the only thing that seperated them from the leafs and other big spenders in the league, is the fact that the habs pay the highest taxes (property, etc) in the league.. in fact, i dunno how true this is, but i read somewhere (im not gonna cite it because it was awhile ago) that they pay more in property taxes then the 24 american teams combined.

Anyways... i digress.. they'll be a team in contention given the only losses theyve suffered so far, (brisebois, jason ward and jim dowd) arent really guys worth losing sleep over given theyve pretty well replaced breezy with dandenault at a fraction of the cost and have 2 young kids ready to step in with mike komisarek and ron hainsey... further, at last years draft they added radek bonk to give them more overall team depth down the middle

They pay more than Vancouver???
Weird. I only say that because isn't Vancouver the most expensive place to live in Canada, city wise? B.C. is for sure.