Expansion

[OregonDucks]

If the NBA locks out next season and people fall in love with the NHL in the NBA's absence, I think it would be very wise to expand. Get while the getting's good, so to speak.

THIS! I am expecting no NBA next year and already enjoyed the Olympic hockey games and then this Stanley Cup finals series. I plan on watching and following hockey this year because of the absence of the NBA. I am excited to follow it.

 

[Darkstone42]

The NHL just had 1 team fail. The Coyotes are still in Glendale because the city counsel feels it can't afford to have one of their two arenas empty & are willing to give the NHL 25 million per year to cover the teams losses & people think the League should expand? I find it RIDICULOUS.

The NHL just isn't in all the right markets. It make sense to expand if you expand to the right markets. That means getting the Panthers out of Florida and the Coyotes out of Phoenix, and then putting teams in Quebec, Kansas City, Portland/Seattle, and Milwaukee.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

The NHL just isn't in all the right markets. It make sense to expand if you expand to the right markets. That means getting the Panthers out of Florida and the Coyotes out of Phoenix, and then putting teams in Quebec, Kansas City, Portland/Seattle, and Milwaukee.

Florida has a relatively new arena. They aren't going anywhere. Bettman has fought tooth & nail to keep the Yotes in Phoenix. He's not about to give up anytime soon. I feel the talent is watered down a bit as it is. I don't want it to get any worse.

 

[OregonDucks]

I don't understand the logic behind thinking a hockey team would be successful in a market like Phoenix. And why keep putting money into a franchise that isn't even barely hanging on anymore, sounds like the Coyotes are a lost cause.

 

[TiLoBrown]

The Devils are doing fine, no they dont sell out the arena every game, but the cheap seats (real fans) are filled every night you just cant see it on TV. The only reason I can afford to to sit where I do at games is because both my brother and sister work for Prudential so I get 50% discounts on games I go to.

 

[Comeds]

Florida has a relatively new arena. They aren't going anywhere. Bettman has fought tooth & nail to keep the Yotes in Phoenix. He's not about to give up anytime soon. I feel the talent is watered down a bit as it is. I don't want it to get any worse.

I honestly think that the overall talent level in the NHL is higher than its ever been. And I think that is why to some people the games are not as exciting as they were in the 80s.

Particularly I think the average defensemen and goalies are better now than the average one 25 years ago when a lot of people thought the league was at its prime. Even the ones that are not so much better are often a lot bigger so they are harder to go around or to score on.

I think that if the number of teams shrank to 25 that the games would be lower scoring than they are now. And I think if they league had 35 teams I think the scoring would go up a good amount. Not that I think they should add teams for that reason. I don't, its just my opinion.

 

[juliansteed]

Florida has a relatively new arena. They aren't going anywhere. Bettman has fought tooth & nail to keep the Yotes in Phoenix. He's not about to give up anytime soon. I feel the talent is watered down a bit as it is. I don't want it to get any worse.

I see where you are coming from but whether or not the NHL insists on keeping those teams there or not, is a problem on its own. Its going to continue to exist or eventually fix itself whether the league decides to expand to new markets or not. If they decide to move then great. Find them better markets to move to and then find similar markets to expand to. If they keep them there, well going forward try to avoid putting teams in those types of markets. Whether or not the NHL has a team in a place like Milwaukee isn't going to make Phoenix any worse of a market than it already is.

As for the talent pool thing, well that doesn't worry me too much but that is my own opinion. As long as the decline in talent is gradual and spread relatively evenly throughout the league then I don't see the problem. Its not like after the top 600 players in the world there is this huge drop off to the 601st player. And of course there will always be teams that are stronger than others but after the 1st few expansion seasons the decline in talent will be spread around reasonably. The least watered down game of the year is the NHL All-Star game. Does that make it the best?

Also if they expand into the correct new markets it will eventually increase the talent pool from which the NHL can draw. I haven't really looked at the players drafted this year but it seems like each year there are more kids from states like California and Texas being drafted and/or on the World Junior Team. I don't think too many would argue that putting teams in San Jose, Anaheim, Dallas etc. contributes to this fact. I realize Dallas wasn't an expansion team but a new market is a new market so for the purposes of this particular point, they are no different than an expansion team, nor is Colorado.

I don't see any real need to expand but don't see any harm in it either if done properly, which it hasn't always been in the past. I'd have no problem with the current 6x5 format but it appears the NHL wants to goto 4 divisions. I they want to do that then I think they should be even. Chances are that talk about switching to 4 divisions is a result of the league thinking about expansion as opposed to a reason the NHL should be thinking about expansion.

 

[juliansteed]

Well that just opens up a whole new can of worms for me. The two leagues should play under the same rules, and those should be NL rules. The DH is a joke. Then interleague play all of a sudden becomes easier.

I agree that the 2 leagues should use the same set of rules for sure. The difference is I don't really care which set of rules those happen to be as long as they are the same. I don't have strong feelings 1 way or the other about the DH. Had I grown up with no DH and then they all of a sudden introduced it, I'm sure I would feel differently about it.

 

[Darkstone42]

I agree that the 2 leagues should use the same set of rules for sure. The difference is I don't really care which set of rules those happen to be as long as they are the same. I don't have strong feelings 1 way or the other about the DH. Had I grown up with no DH and then they all of a sudden introduced it, I'm sure I would feel differently about it.

I'm only 22, so it's always been around for me, but I still hate it. I hated when we used it on my high school team, and I was the DH. I hated it because the DH is like a half-player. I hate it because it takes the strategy of small ball, pinch hitting, and double switches out of the game. It detracts from the mental half of baseball, and that's my favorite part.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

I'm only 22, so it's always been around for me, but I still hate it. I hated when we used it on my high school team, and I was the DH. I hated it because the DH is like a half-player. I hate it because it takes the strategy of small ball, pinch hitting, and double switches out of the game. It detracts from the mental half of baseball, and that's my favorite part. [/QUOTE

I agree. The DH is half a player. I hate it. It bothers me that Terry Francona complains about it because David Ortiz can't play the field. As far as I'm concerned if you can't play the field you shouldn't be in the game.

 

[juliansteed]

I'm only 22, so it's always been around for me, but I still hate it. I hated when we used it on my high school team, and I was the DH. I hated it because the DH is like a half-player. I hate it because it takes the strategy of small ball, pinch hitting, and double switches out of the game. It detracts from the mental half of baseball, and that's my favorite part.

Haha yeah I assumed you grew up with it too. I should have worded that better to make that more clear as I figured you were a bit younger than myself. But you probably follow the NL more than you do the AL since you're from Pittsburgh. My favorite team growing up was an NL team as well, the Expos. But it was the AL's Blue Jays who were mainly featured on TV where I live, with another AL team, the Red Sox, getting about as much coverage as the Expos. But yeah, it does seem rather silly. I guess I've just become immune to its silliness over the years. And I agree that its only half a player, and it also makes the AL pitchers only half a player, devalues the role of a pinch-hitter.