NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2007

You might get your wish. The Sabres are back at full strength with Connolly and Afinogenov looking like themselves again; I think they'll definitely make it to the finals. That could be an exciting goalie matchup with Roberto Luongo versus Ryan Miller in net.

Does anyone even watch hockey anymore? How does the NHL survive?

I am a diehard Rangers fan and I have a hard time following hockey post strike. I don't like this new european "soccer" style of hockey play.

Also, weird small market, fanless teams continue to own which may be good for the underdog aspect of the sport. The Devils have a hard time selling 5,000 regular season packages and the Sabres have a loyal but from a marketing standpoint hardly important following.

Speaking of the Devils what was up with firing Julien right before the playoffs started?

Still I will try and watch a few of the Rangers' games against Atlanta whom I have a hard time believing they can get past.


Vancouver-Buffalo in the Stanley Cup? Almost as exciting as Edmonton-Hurricanes

Haha Lou is getting some flack for not having Broduer in net against the Islanders from Leafs fans and some people in the media. Oh well.

The thing with Julien must have been some kind of coup.

In any case, good to see the Devils take the division title again and hope to see them in the cup final.

Go

+1000!!

The salary cap ensures more of the same, I am afraid. I also don't believe that the league's move toward a more free-flowing product was designed for its current fans, but rather a misguided attempt to attract the casual fan. The NHL needs to get over itself and accept that it will never really break out of its regional strongholds.

Oh, and don't count out your Rangers just yet -- a hot goalie can make or break any playoff series.

The NHL needs to be 16 teams. Too many teams and the product only appeals to people who have watched the game since early on. Especially at the Garden where the fans are separated into those who care about the game and those who just want to be seen.

I can follow the puck but so few others can.

Some of the younger rangers overall are getting a chance and causing a spark but from a superstitious pov I have to pretend not to care so the hockey gods don't strike me down.

NHL hockey doesnt look anything like it did pr strike. Getting rid of the red line trap was fine but too many penalties now and there is no sense of team.

The Thrashers are nother frustrated team since they had a wonderful line up a few years back just before Heatly had that accident.


I still don't get how the NHL doesn't go bust.

Do you think the rabid Canadian fanbase might be a factor? It's only six teams, but they follow the sport with more fervor than the other teams combined.

Canada is quite underpopulated though. Somewhere I remember hearing or reading that Canadian TV rights and spending on hockey was trivial. I believe their passion is authentic and enormous, I am not slurring Canadians but somehow they can't float their national pastime. They lost a lot a lot of good teams up there like the nordiques and the Jets.

In any case, I think things would be so much btter for hockey if they had say 16 teams, think of the intensity due to the rematches and the talent packed into fewer teams.

You are right, but the NHL Board of Governors got greedy -- it was all about the fees they collected from new franchises. Very short-sighted, however. But you need look no further than the fact that there is only one NHL team in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for evidence of folly and self-serving decisions on the part of NHL owners.

I don't think the NHL will disappear, but it probably will shrink. Ultimately it is a gate-driven league, as your point about the paucity of real money for broadcast rights is bang-on. You may yet get your wish.

Oh, and about this:


Don't kid yourself that this isn't also the case in the holy of holies (well, now that the Maple Leaf Gardens is no more) that is the "Air Canada Centre" -- lots of seats owned by the chardonnay set that are more concerned about the quality of the sushi than the quality of play! It's sad in a way, but MLSE is raking it in, regardless of the state of the Leafs, especially now that the salary cap prevents them from blowing big money annually in the rent-a-geriatric-skater-at-the-trade-deadline sweepstakes that they showed such a propensity for since Ballard died. More and more the young and multicultural/hip are turning to the Raptors and leaving the Leafs to the "Waspy" cotton-tops.

Anyway, hope your Rangers do better than last year because they killed me in the pool, and I am probably going to pick some again tonight!

Me too!! Even though I live in Toronto now, I will always hate the leafs. Having the Islanders break the heart of all the loser leaf fans was my only consolation after they won that crazy game against my beloved Montreal Canadians on Sat. night, who should be the ones in the playoffs.

The question is how? Wouldnt they have to buy back the franchise? Can you retire one after youve charged how many hundreds of millions for it?

Hockey should be a small, elite sport but it did suffer from the idea in the last 15 years that a city defines itself by having a stadium for every important pro sport. So you had cities demanding they should not be denied franchises even if they were in Tampa and leagues wanting to give them to them both for money and to prove they were a metropolis defining sport!


I know, I know. Bunch of suit wearing, imperialist piggies.



Never underestimate the Rangers' ability to lay an egg. That team is so hampered by bad management it makes Enron look like a model of efficiency.

And I think the Rangers wrote the book on importing ageing veterans, were like the NHL's retirement plan. Cap or no cap, the Rangers havent developed a farm team superstar since...Richter?

On an aside, I would take Julien as coach in a heartbeat, he did so much for the Habs.

Could be worse -- could be the Knicks ...

ouch, that's my other team. I thnik that disaster vs. the Bulls on Tuesday pretty much sealed their fate. Good thing we have Isiah for another 50 years.


Ottowa crushed the Penguins last night. I am sure glad they arent our first round.

A lot of overtime game slast night. The Vancouver game was an excercise in concentration.

Islanders/Sabres should be interesting and the Devils/Lightning

But Ill probably put myself through the Rangers game or the tail end of it.