If You Could Change One Thing.........

[scottflyers88]

well if it was on espn then they would obviously talk about it more and probably bring back nhl tonight or whatever it was called.

 

[scottflyers88]

vs is so cheap they can not even sign their own announcer. they just use announcers of other teams so i have to hear the ovechkin love fest with benenatti. or bias from whatever other announcers they get.

 

[scottflyers88]

Are bars and businesses usually surveyed in the Nielsen ratings? A couple of years ago they were looking into ways to measure that, but I dont know if they did or not. If not that would have no effect on ratings.

Some fans do not get Versus, but its not nearly as far behind in homes as it used to be to ESPN2 at least. Even so, 73 million houses get Versus and the games shown in the first round had an average of 685,000 watching them. So how much difference really would another 10 million households mean?

Plus Versus coverage is so much better than ESPNs.

i am not sure about the bar thing although i know this is true. espn has a huge effect on the sports community. it is by far the number 1 sports news station. i would not even consider vs a sports channel. if espn got the nhl then they would talk about it more and have a show for it. just like they have show for baseball, football, college football, nascar, and the nba. this would get more people interested. that and the fact that when most people watch tv they just scan through certain channels and for sports fans espn comes up a lot. i doubt they even know what channel vs is on.

 

[TOX1]

Make all teams play without a goalie. Basically, make the teams win the same way the Flyers have been trying to win for the past 20 years.

True

 

[scottflyers88]

cmonnnnnnnnnn mason, bernier, price, schneider, or quick.

 

[Comeds]

vs is so cheap they can not even sign their own announcer. they just use announcers of other teams so i have to hear the ovechkin love fest with benenatti. or bias from whatever other announcers they get.

For the games that ESPN didnt broadcast themselves, which were numerous, they never even showed. Would you prefer one game a night or would you prefer 2 games with the second being a CBC or local feed? I'll choose the option with 2 games.

 

[Comeds]

i am not sure about the bar thing although i know this is true. espn has a huge effect on the sports community. it is by far the number 1 sports news station. i would not even consider vs a sports channel. if espn got the nhl then they would talk about it more and have a show for it. just like they have show for baseball, football, college football, nascar, and the nba. this would get more people interested. that and the fact that when most people watch tv they just scan through certain channels and for sports fans espn comes up a lot. i doubt they even know what channel vs is on.

ESPN canceled NHL2Night before their contract was up and after moving it around for years. Why would you think they would have an NHL show now? And do you think a show on at 2:30 am would really help anything? Even when on ESPN beyond the game broadcasts themselves they rarely covered the NHL anywhere else on the network. Unless of course something bad happened like Bertuzzi/Moore or McSorely/Brashear, then ESPN would be all over it.

If as you say, some fans do not even know where Versus is, what makes you think they would watch NHL games on ESPN? I'd rather be on a smaller network that covered the games better, had pre and post game coverage, and actually talked about the game during the intermission reports (anyone else remember Melrose doing NBA and MLB highlights?). I remember playoff games where ESPN cut away before most players could even get to the goalie to congratulate him on a win. Thanksforwatchinbye! Ive watched a lot of post game interviews and press conferences on Versus.

Despite repeating the phrase 'worldwide leader in sports' over and over ESPN is and has been crap for years. The major separation between it and other cable networks is the NFL. Remove that and all ESPN is is another TBS.

If the NHL signed a deal with another cable network, I would actually prefer it to sign with TNT or similar to ESPN.

Its just my opinion that ESPN is crap and treated the NHL like crap (Jack Edwards formerly of ESPN wrote a great article about why he doesnt want the league to go back) and Versus while far from perfect does better.

Beyond my opinions I see nothing to lead me to believe that being on ESPN would benefit the league more than being on Versus. Would 5 highlights 55 minutes into Sportscenter really matter?

 

[Destroydacre]

ESPN canceled NHL2Night before their contract was up and after moving it around for years. Why would you think they would have an NHL show now? And do you think a show on at 2:30 am would really help anything? Even when on ESPN beyond the game broadcasts themselves they rarely covered the NHL anywhere else on the network. Unless of course something bad happened like Bertuzzi/Moore or McSorely/Brashear, then ESPN would be all over it.

If as you say, some fans do not even know where Versus is, what makes you think they would watch NHL games on ESPN? I'd rather be on a smaller network that covered the games better, had pre and post game coverage, and actually talked about the game during the intermission reports (anyone else remember Melrose doing NBA and MLB highlights?). I remember playoff games where ESPN cut away before most players could even get to the goalie to congratulate him on a win. Thanksforwatchinbye! Ive watched a lot of post game interviews and press conferences on Versus.

Despite repeating the phrase 'worldwide leader in sports' over and over ESPN is and has been crap for years. The major separation between it and other cable networks is the NFL. Remove that and all ESPN is is another TBS.

If the NHL signed a deal with another cable network, I would actually prefer it to sign with TNT or similar to ESPN.

Its just my opinion that ESPN is crap and treated the NHL like crap (Jack Edwards formerly of ESPN wrote a great article about why he doesnt want the league to go back) and Versus while far from perfect does better.

Beyond my opinions I see nothing to lead me to believe that being on ESPN would benefit the league more than being on Versus. Would 5 highlights 55 minutes into Sportscenter really matter?

You sir get a rep point for this post. I couldn't have said it better.

 

[BostonAJ]

And for Cherry's sake, remove the hard shell on elbow and shoulder pads.

Good call. Agree with the goalie pads, too.

I have a wacky hockey idea. What if teams were allowed to make their rinks slightly different sizes? Clubs that wanted to make their teams about speed and finesse could keep a larger rink, while teams that wanted big hits and tighter play could go with smaller rinks. The Bruins used to have a smaller than average rink and I don't remember anyone complaining about it. It would certainly add to home ice advantage.

Then again I've been drinking...

 

[BostonAJ]

ESPN canceled NHL2Night before their contract was up and after moving it around for years...

I enjoyed ESPN's coverage when it was at its peak. I got to see more games, Barry Melrose's hair, and NHL2Night wasn't bad. It was far better than VS IMO, and I would be happier going back to that than what we have now. Just about every night they had a game on, and often two.

But again, I'm drinking tonight.

 

[scottflyers88]

i think the fact that you stated that you agree with jack edwards cheapens your arguement.


the guy is a moron.

however, i do agree with you somewhat about espn. i think they have fantastic baseball coverage though. i actually only really watch it for baseball tonight. i doubt that if they got espn they would treat it the way they did before. they got rid of hockey when its viewership was going down. what else were they supposed to do? if they have nascar highlights and a nascar show then i bet they would show nhl2nite.

 

[forty_three]

I would make it so teams scoring shorthanded get their player back.

 

[davnlaguna]

I would make the players wear softer pads. So when a shoulder does hit a guy it is not hard plastic hitting his head. It might also stop players from being human seeking missiles. Encourage more hip checks and less shoulder checks.

 

[scottflyers88]

i would change penalty shot rules.

if a player gets a penalty shot the coach decides whether or not he wants the shot or if he wants to go to the powerplay.

 

[pixburgher66]

bag the delay of game (or at least make it the discretion of the ref, though that's tough), get rid of the trapezoid (can't believe i'm agreeing with pee-air here), and get the game on the national scene consistantly.

 

[The Croz Man Cometh]

Every penalty lasts the full length. There is a goal scored on the powerplay, then you stay in the box until your time is up.

If a player gets suspended, then your team plays a man short until the suspension is over.

 

[Comeds]

Good call. Agree with the goalie pads, too.

I have a wacky hockey idea. What if teams were allowed to make their rinks slightly different sizes? Clubs that wanted to make their teams about speed and finesse could keep a larger rink, while teams that wanted big hits and tighter play could go with smaller rinks. The Bruins used to have a smaller than average rink and I don't remember anyone complaining about it. It would certainly add to home ice advantage.

Then again I've been drinking...

LOL, I thought about posting that. Didnt the Sabres have a slightly different sized ice surface about 15 years ago?

 

[Comeds]

I am not a huge Jack Edwards fan, but he worked at ESPN when they had the NHL and knew firsthand how it was treated and covered and he knows how it is treated and covered now. So I thought his take was an informed and interesting one.

When I first started following hockey I really enjoyed ESPN's coverage. To me it got worse each year and the respect they paid to the game got less each year. The last couple of season on ESPN I feel they treated the NHL like a red headed step child so that affects my opinion of them to this day.

That and I really do think Versus has better coverage now than the last 5 years at ESPN.

 

[Gooch1034]

I would change the rule for flipping the puck over the glass.

It should be the same as an icing. Face-off deep, with no line-change for the offending team. It's the same basic offense (firing the puck out of the zone to relieve pressure), and should have the same consequence. I would give the referee the option of calling a delay of game if the shot out of the rink is blatant.

I 2nd that! I say get rid of the weak sticks that break every 3 mins and go back to 2 point games. I dont mind a tie.Also, when a team changes their logo, make it mandatory for 10 years before they can change it again. Buffalo fans will agree with me on this!

 

[esls79]

Go back to one ref, two linesmen and make the glass on the half boards short enough for the linesmen to do pull-ups on again.