Yes, I am aruging those points. But I also argued other points. You even mentioned it.



The only thing is I didn't say it was dying out. I said it was dead or coma-tose. Because outside of Buffalo and Detroit, it's dead. The ratings prove that. I wish it weren't true because I love the NHL, but Bettman is godawful in promoting the sport here in America. And seeing as he has two lockouts under his belt, you would think he would try and sell the NHL on overload here. The fact is, he and the owners are airing the sport on a channel no one can find and on NBC (The channel no one will watch). That saying, I think it can be revived.

I think one easy fix is that they need to get the sport back on ESPN/ABC. With the sport as it is right now, they could probably get 2-4 million more viewers. Another easy fix is that the NHL needs to spend money to promote the sport. The NBA does a fantastic job at promoting Kobe "The Rapist" Bryant, Shaq, Dwayne Wade, etc. The NHL has to do the same thing. Sydney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron and any other young talent could easily become household names like the previous one's I mentioned. The fact is, although they are known, no one will go out of their way to see them here.

My complaints over the gameplay are my complaints. I personally feel they just need to let the players play, mostly the defensemen, and not worry so much about the penalties unless they're blatant. If they can get people to actually watch the sport and let the players play, I think the sport can easily sell itself.

And although it may not seem like it based on prior posts, I love the NHL. When it is, it's easily the most exciting sport to watch out of the four. Now...........meh. At least there is playoff hockey coming up.

I definitely agree with you on Bettman. I generally really dislike him, and wish he were gone far, far away. But he is intelligent and well spoken, and has good business sense, so I have to put up with him.

Peace,
Mike.

From NHL.com





How did that happen? I guess it's only the tv ratings that have faltered in the last couple years.

And the attendance overall is still down 0.5% from last year.

m,an the oilers fucking sucik. Canucks and Clames are walking oall over them.

I'm winingi aon ocouple hundred odlalers in my hocky pool though. I picke doalexcander frolved like 115 ovearll, fucking moeny. Slava Kozlev 75 overall, aslo money. Durvy, Lecavlier, I'mw inning by about 20 points... hundred os bkcs in my pocket.

You know they won today, right?

Or maybe not, given your current state.

I'm curious, though, why you chose to come on here while plastered. You should revel in your drunkenness, not waste it by spending time here. Just my thoughts.

How did he spell Canucks right?

Jeez, the Penguins are already starting to look scary. I can only imagine what they'll be in 2-3 years.

Must look pretty smart keeping Jordan Stall on the team... fucker has 7 goals in 5 games.

It's hard to predict a dynasty, but yeahhhh. Pittsburgh is going to be tough to beat soon.

Well Forsberg is going to Nashville.

They realllllly didn't need him, hehe. I expect he pulls an Elias-esque run in the closing 30 games of the season now, he'll get lots of points for sure, now that he isn't surrounded by shit.

The best team in the league gets even better... crazy.

Nashville's the favourites for sure now, but I'll doubt they'll win the Cup. They haven't even won a playoff series. I still think it'll be Buffalo or Anaheim - both are legitimate contenders, and went far last year. They'll be hungry for revenge.

And the Oilers got lucky with the one point tonight, Roloson kept them in the game. One point against Buffalo would be looking better if they hadn't just been shutout by Boston. Edmonton needs to be at least .500 on this road trip to stay in the playoff picture.

Oh my lord, the Penguins are insane...

I've barely been paying attention to hockey recently. My Habs are stinking up the joint like crazy, playing like shit, and they just lost Huet to injury indefinitely, and also lost Kovalev for a few weeks, etc. Everything is just going wrong. I'm so depressed. lol. They'll be lucky to make the playoffs at this pace, so I'm expecting the worst.

Peace,
Mike.

The Oilers traded Bergeron to the Islanders for a prospect, and Lowe says that they're unlikely to do anything else to the blueline. To me, this seems like they're throwing in the towel. They've needed a top defenceman all year, and have done nothing about it. Lowe should have just traded Pronger, straight up, for another top defenceman, instead of a package. If he couldn't have gotten anyone, he should have just benched Pronger until he could. The Oilers, after that fantastic run last year, look destined not to make the playoffs this year. Very disappointing.

About the trade, though, I'm glad Bergeron is gone (he's known as the Giveaway King) but I would have liked the Oil to at least get something immediate in return. Oh well.

Now that's a trade deadline!

Sad to see Smythy go though, he was really was the face of the Oilers. It seems to me that they've given up on this year, understandably.

San Jose had the best move of the day IMO, grabbing Guerin, who's been having a great season on a bad team. At the rate they were going they were just a 'good' 5th seed-esque team, they definitley needed this boost.

A long downward spiral the Oilers have gone down. From being in game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, to losing all of their great players (Pronger, Peca, Smyth), and now probably not making the playoffs.

Peace,
Mike.

I'd hardly call Peca one of our 'great' players, his loss wasn't nearly as tough to bear as Pronger's.

This is back to the pre-lockout way, when the Oilers were unable to keep their top players for financial reasons. Way to go, NHL, you're screwing over small-market teams once again.

Mmm... My Wings got Bertuzzi...

Stanley Cup, here we come!

Oilers have not scored a goal since Smyth was traded.

Yep, reeeeal good trade Lowe.

Bruins win again, this time in New Jersey, 4-1.

With the win, the leapfrog over the Rangers for 11th place in the Eastern Conference, and are now only four points out of 8th, six out of 7th, and nine out of 6th. I'm fine with 8th though.

The Bruins are really finding their stride now (The Flyers hiccup was a day after getting two new players). With the addtion of Aaron Ward, Dennis Wideman, and goaltender Joey MacDonald (Who got the win tonight), their defense has certainly improved. If they can play like this the rest of the way, they'll be in good shape.

The schedule for them gets a little tougher though.

Tuesday at home against Colorado
Thursday at home against Minnesota
Saturday away against Philadelphia
Sunday away against Detroit

If they can survive that (Take points), they'll be in good shape.

Two more Oiler defensemen went down with injuries tonight. This is getting crazy. Right now, their injured list looks like this:

Moreau
Tjarnqvist
Stoll
Nedved
Hemsky
Roy
Gilbert
Hejda
Staois

That's just insane.

Well Edmonton's draft prospects are looking better every day. They're not going to win very many more games this season, they're completley deflated and done.

Well, they've got 15 games left. Three game road trip through California now, then a six game homestand, then a six game road trip to round off the season. I wouldn't be surprised if they go 0fer on this road trip, three games in four nights is hard. Then they've got two games against Nashville, two against Colorado, two against St. Louis, three against Minnesota, and one each against Vancouver, Chicago and Calgary. It's looking like they'll win maybe five of their remaining games, to finish the season with around 76 points, 11th or 12th in the conference. Simply terrible.

Well, I give up. The Habs are done for this season. I'll come back to them next season, when they're ready to play again.

So.... let's see.... my Western conference team to cheer for will be Calgary... and my Eastern conference team to cheer for will be... New Jersey. Perfect. I'm all set for the playoffs; let's get 'em started. Goooooo Calgary!

Peace,
Mike.

If the Rangers lose tonight, we'll all just pretend that no one in the race for 8th in the East played a game tonight.

Montreal loses
Boston loses
Toronto losing 5-1
Florida winning and tied for 12th

An all around solid night for the so called desperate teams.