NHL Season: Do you care?

Jonzard · 02-16-2005, 01:47 PM

The season has been cancelled. Do you care?

PotatoPeeler · 02-16-2005, 01:51 PM

At this point... no. I'd rather have them cancel the season than play some stupid 20-odd game season and then a full playoff. Why a mediator wasn't brought in months ago is beyond me. Effin' pathetic. Both sides should be ashamed of themselves.

reds1 · 02-16-2005, 01:52 PM

The season has been cancelled, eh? My feelings -

The No Hockey League can shivel up and die for all I care.

spleen1015 · 02-16-2005, 01:53 PM

It is nice not having Hockey on ESPN.

Le Grande Orange · 02-16-2005, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

At this point... no. I'd rather have them cancel the season than play some stupid 20-odd game season and then a full playoff. Why a mediator wasn't brought in months ago is beyond me.

Probably because the NHL is attempting to take a page out of the NFL's 1987 playbook, and wants to use replacement players to break the union and impose a settlement.

The NHL couldn't do that this year, there is a legal process which must be followed, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the 2005/06 season start with all teams fielding replacement players.

Jonzard · 02-16-2005, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

I'd rather have them cancel the season than play some stupid 20-odd game season and then a full playoff.

I think it could be interesting. Make this season like the NFL. Could you imagine how great those games would be if there were 16 regular season games!?

Green & Gold Heart · 02-16-2005, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleen1015

It is nice not having Hockey on ESPN.

I love not having to sit through hockey highlights on SportsCenter!

TheRockCT · 02-16-2005, 02:09 PM

I am not a hockey fan, but I enjoyed playoff hockey - as long as the games were close and the scoring opportunities were plentiful. My favorite kind of hockey games are goalie dominating ones in which things actually start getting suspenseful when there are shots on goal.

With that said, the hockey/NBA season never thrills me, and I can't say that the NHL is overwhelmingly missed. Everyone working in that organization and all the players need to get a clue that their fanbase was not exactly top-notch prior to this, so it's all downhill from here.

gmo · 02-16-2005, 02:11 PM

I'm a hockey fan, and I do care. I can be angry, especially when at the very last minute both sides seemed to get semi-serious but ultimately refused to bridge the gap, but still not turn around in a huff and say "screw 'em all."

A few years back when baseball got to the brink during the season I just knew they were not dumb enough to shut down the game again. I figured hockey would not be so "smart", though I held out a glimmer of hope to the end that some sort of season would happen.

I had been inclined to believe that this situation would be ended around the middle of next season with an agreement that could have been reached even before now. It seemed like maybe they were going to go ahead and pull it out today, but apparently not. Having gotten close, logic would seem to dictate that an agreement would come at some point relatively soon, but I figure that in reality now that this season is gone the sides are farther apart than ever. Maybe the NHL will try to start the season with replacements like baseball tried to in 1995. I hadn't really thought about that much. I don't care to think about that stuff right now though. But again, as a hockey fan I do care that this season was simply thrown away.

GoCubsAndJays · 02-16-2005, 02:17 PM

I stopped caring once the NBA season started.

spleen1015 · 02-16-2005, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

I love not having to sit through hockey highlights on SportsCenter!

That's another really good point!

Cuss · 02-16-2005, 02:23 PM

woody5254 · 02-16-2005, 02:25 PM

I feel bad for those that love the game, but personally I don't really care that it is cancelled. I think the owners and players put in a pathetic effort to get things resolved.

boilermaker · 02-16-2005, 02:39 PM

I don't b/c I have the ECHL and baseball's coming up.

But...I expected this season to be lost from lockout day 1 and even thought next year might be shortened, and so I'm actually surprised how upset I am right now. Maybe it's just the finality, with all this promise that the season could be salvaged, and such. I'm in a pretty bad mood.

Tiger Fan · 02-16-2005, 02:39 PM

I love hockey but I am so sick of listening to both sides in this ridiculous dispute that I am glad that it is cancelled simply because I wont have to listen to Goodenow, Bettman or any of the idiots on either side for quite some time.

I have sided with the owners throughout the entire dispute despite the fact that I feel Bettman has done nothing but run the NHL into the ground. The owners have done nothing but shoot themselves in the foot over the past decade with ploys like using far too easy to achieve incentives to circumvent the rookie salary scale, throwing obsence amounts of money at role players like Martin Lapointe and Bill Guerin and doing nothing to make the game more appealing to it's fans.

Just one look at the present tv contract with NBC makes it a no-brainer to figure the NHL can not handle 600-700% increases in team payrolls over the course of a decade. The NBA has enjoyed great prosperity with a salary cap. With a salary cap NFL fans in virtually every city (well, maybe excluding Detroit and Arizona) know that their teams can make a legitimate run at a Super Bowl. If it works in those leagues, with huge tv dollars and other revenue sources why can the NHL players association not accept 55-58% of the revenue and an average salary of $1.5 million?

I have no respect for Gary Bettman. I have no respect for Bob Goodenow. But the problem is neither of them have any respect for each other and right from the beginning this was nothing less than a power struggle between these two to see who could win when it should have been how can we both work together to ensure the game is successful and both the players and owners benefit.

We won't see a solution next September unless the players association cracks and they come grovelling back or the NHL gets its way and begins play with replacement players. If that happens you can bet the players will whine and complain about how these 'scabs' are taking thier jobs yet they have no regard for the players in Europe, and the minors who's jobs they so quickly decided to take.

A guy like Chris Chelios is a perfect example why I have no respect for the players in this stupid dispute. He will bad mouth the league and Bettman every chance he gets. He will say no way will he play in an NHL with a salary cap yet he is perfectly willing to join a minor league that has - you guessed it - a salary cap, and take someone's job in the process.

The only group I can respect in all of this crap is the officials. The referees and linesman deserve huge props for not taking jobs away from minor league and amateur officials. I have huge respect for them as a union agreeing to stick together and not treat their minor league counterparts the way a huge number of players have treated theirs.

Blow the whole thing up and start a new National Hockey Association with 12-20 teams in cities that will support a team....screw this Florida and Carolina and Atlanta crap. Get back to Winnipeg and Quebec City. Get a new commissioner to run this league...a Paul Beeston or AHL boss Dave Andrews and start anew. Eliminate the clutch and grab play, add a shoot out for regular season ties and make the game more exciting. Build around Sidney Crosby and open the league to anyone who wants to try out and tell the rest of them to hit the road.

Of course that wont happen. The NHL will try to use replacement players and finally either a settlement will be reached or the union will collapse and we will finally have NHL hockey again in January, 2006 or thereabouts. Of course by then you will likely still have 30 million Canadians interested after a cooling off period but the diehard group of American fans who will still support the game will likely be into single digits.

rangers85 · 02-16-2005, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

I love not having to sit through hockey highlights on SportsCenter!

I wish I iddn't have to sit through basketball highlights on SportsCenter. Definitely worst of the big 4.

Erik W. · 02-16-2005, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rangers85

I wish I iddn't have to sit through basketball highlights on SportsCenter. Definitely worst of the big 4.

Amen. As long as you're talking about NBA and not college, anyway.

spleen1015 · 02-16-2005, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rangers85

I wish I iddn't have to sit through basketball highlights on SportsCenter. Definitely worst of the big 4.

It's a really good thing that a majority of folks disagree with that!

edm · 02-16-2005, 02:45 PM

I don't want to care, but I do. I was really starting to get my hopes up yesterday and was looking forward to seeing some hockey before the baseball season. Especially the playoff rounds, which is one of the best shows in all of sports.

SoxWin · 02-16-2005, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

At this point... no. I'd rather have them cancel the season than play some stupid 20-odd game season and then a full playoff. Why a mediator wasn't brought in months ago is beyond me. Effin' pathetic. Both sides should be ashamed of themselves.

A mediator was brought in last month. He gave up as they were getting nowhere.

View Poll Results: NHL Season has been cancelled. Do you care?
Yes	38	35.51%
No	69	64.49%
Voters: 107. You may not vote on this poll

02-16-2005, 01:47 PM	#1
Jonzard Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,647	NHL Season: Do you care? The season has been cancelled. Do you care? __________________ For a scientist must indeed be freely imaginative and yet skeptical, creative and yet a critic. There is a sense in which he must be free, but another in which his thought must be very precisely regimented; there is poetry in science, but also a lot of bookkeeping. — Sir Peter B. Medawar FTB

02-16-2005, 01:51 PM	#2
PotatoPeeler Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Rapid City, SD Posts: 3,639	At this point... no. I'd rather have them cancel the season than play some stupid 20-odd game season and then a full playoff. Why a mediator wasn't brought in months ago is beyond me. Effin' pathetic. Both sides should be ashamed of themselves. __________________ 培傑西 I have never taken a lesson on how to talk on TV in my life. - Tim McCarver Guns have only two enemies; rust and liberals. The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel.

02-16-2005, 01:52 PM	#3
reds1 Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Location: Winnipeg Posts: 3,985	The season has been cancelled, eh? My feelings - The No Hockey League can shivel up and die for all I care. __________________ United Leagues of Braeland

02-16-2005, 02:09 PM	#8
TheRockCT All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: TN Posts: 1,083	I am not a hockey fan, but I enjoyed playoff hockey - as long as the games were close and the scoring opportunities were plentiful. My favorite kind of hockey games are goalie dominating ones in which things actually start getting suspenseful when there are shots on goal. With that said, the hockey/NBA season never thrills me, and I can't say that the NHL is overwhelmingly missed. Everyone working in that organization and all the players need to get a clue that their fanbase was not exactly top-notch prior to this, so it's all downhill from here. __________________ GM, Vermont Emperor Penguins - POTD POTD Champions: 2011, 2012, 2013 GM, Monterrey Aztecs* - NABA *NABA Champions: 2013

02-16-2005, 01:53 PM	#4
spleen1015 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 6,008	It is nice not having Hockey on ESPN.

02-16-2005, 02:11 PM	#9
gmo Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Location: Longmont, CO Posts: 3,439	I'm a hockey fan, and I do care. I can be angry, especially when at the very last minute both sides seemed to get semi-serious but ultimately refused to bridge the gap, but still not turn around in a huff and say "screw 'em all." A few years back when baseball got to the brink during the season I just knew they were not dumb enough to shut down the game again. I figured hockey would not be so "smart", though I held out a glimmer of hope to the end that some sort of season would happen. I had been inclined to believe that this situation would be ended around the middle of next season with an agreement that could have been reached even before now. It seemed like maybe they were going to go ahead and pull it out today, but apparently not. Having gotten close, logic would seem to dictate that an agreement would come at some point relatively soon, but I figure that in reality now that this season is gone the sides are farther apart than ever. Maybe the NHL will try to start the season with replacements like baseball tried to in 1995. I hadn't really thought about that much. I don't care to think about that stuff right now though. But again, as a hockey fan I do care that this season was simply thrown away.

02-16-2005, 02:17 PM	#10
GoCubsAndJays All Star Reserve Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 839	I stopped caring once the NBA season started.

02-16-2005, 02:23 PM	#12
Cuss Major Leagues Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: BC Canada Posts: 464	__________________

02-16-2005, 02:25 PM	#13
woody5254 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Hector, NY Posts: 6,130	I feel bad for those that love the game, but personally I don't really care that it is cancelled. I think the owners and players put in a pathetic effort to get things resolved. __________________ Check out: You Pick Tourney Version 2.0 Standings Thread You Pick The Teams Tourney: Main Thread The Colossal 20th Century Tourney:Main Thread Chicago White Sox(Original Owner:2001-) Baseball Maelstrom -2001,2011,2013 World Series Champions -2002,2010 Maelstrom Tourney Champs Arizona Diamondbacks(2003-) NAHHBL Indianapolis Racers(Expansion Team:1993-)ABC

02-16-2005, 02:39 PM	#14
boilermaker All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,956	I don't b/c I have the ECHL and baseball's coming up. But...I expected this season to be lost from lockout day 1 and even thought next year might be shortened, and so I'm actually surprised how upset I am right now. Maybe it's just the finality, with all this promise that the season could be salvaged, and such. I'm in a pretty bad mood.

02-16-2005, 02:39 PM	#15
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	I love hockey but I am so sick of listening to both sides in this ridiculous dispute that I am glad that it is cancelled simply because I wont have to listen to Goodenow, Bettman or any of the idiots on either side for quite some time. I have sided with the owners throughout the entire dispute despite the fact that I feel Bettman has done nothing but run the NHL into the ground. The owners have done nothing but shoot themselves in the foot over the past decade with ploys like using far too easy to achieve incentives to circumvent the rookie salary scale, throwing obsence amounts of money at role players like Martin Lapointe and Bill Guerin and doing nothing to make the game more appealing to it's fans. Just one look at the present tv contract with NBC makes it a no-brainer to figure the NHL can not handle 600-700% increases in team payrolls over the course of a decade. The NBA has enjoyed great prosperity with a salary cap. With a salary cap NFL fans in virtually every city (well, maybe excluding Detroit and Arizona) know that their teams can make a legitimate run at a Super Bowl. If it works in those leagues, with huge tv dollars and other revenue sources why can the NHL players association not accept 55-58% of the revenue and an average salary of $1.5 million? I have no respect for Gary Bettman. I have no respect for Bob Goodenow. But the problem is neither of them have any respect for each other and right from the beginning this was nothing less than a power struggle between these two to see who could win when it should have been how can we both work together to ensure the game is successful and both the players and owners benefit. We won't see a solution next September unless the players association cracks and they come grovelling back or the NHL gets its way and begins play with replacement players. If that happens you can bet the players will whine and complain about how these 'scabs' are taking thier jobs yet they have no regard for the players in Europe, and the minors who's jobs they so quickly decided to take. A guy like Chris Chelios is a perfect example why I have no respect for the players in this stupid dispute. He will bad mouth the league and Bettman every chance he gets. He will say no way will he play in an NHL with a salary cap yet he is perfectly willing to join a minor league that has - you guessed it - a salary cap, and take someone's job in the process. The only group I can respect in all of this crap is the officials. The referees and linesman deserve huge props for not taking jobs away from minor league and amateur officials. I have huge respect for them as a union agreeing to stick together and not treat their minor league counterparts the way a huge number of players have treated theirs. Blow the whole thing up and start a new National Hockey Association with 12-20 teams in cities that will support a team....screw this Florida and Carolina and Atlanta crap. Get back to Winnipeg and Quebec City. Get a new commissioner to run this league...a Paul Beeston or AHL boss Dave Andrews and start anew. Eliminate the clutch and grab play, add a shoot out for regular season ties and make the game more exciting. Build around Sidney Crosby and open the league to anyone who wants to try out and tell the rest of them to hit the road. Of course that wont happen. The NHL will try to use replacement players and finally either a settlement will be reached or the union will collapse and we will finally have NHL hockey again in January, 2006 or thereabouts. Of course by then you will likely still have 30 million Canadians interested after a cooling off period but the diehard group of American fans who will still support the game will likely be into single digits. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles Last edited by Tiger Fan; 02-16-2005 at 02:53 PM.

02-16-2005, 02:45 PM	#19
edm All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,999	I don't want to care, but I do. I was really starting to get my hopes up yesterday and was looking forward to seeing some hockey before the baseball season. Especially the playoff rounds, which is one of the best shows in all of sports.