I belieeeeeve!

X-posted to THTM.


As well as talking about the Danny Syvret/Ryan Potulny trade-o-rama that really only affects AHL followers, this article at Canoe.ca is the first I've seen of a Canadian news source backing my newest cocakmamie scheme. Says John Short:

My guess would be that Seattle - having lost the NBA Sonics - is a better potential location for the NHL than many of the southern markets now in place.

If it mattered, you could say the same about Winnipeg and Quebec City. Arena upgrades are necessary, but they're not impossible.

Well thought out on the surface level, Mr. Short, but I believe that the Supersonics are leaving because of issues with Key Arena, meaning you probably wouldn't be able to drop an NHL team in there and have them not whine about it as well. Driving the nail in that coffin is also the fact that the Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) are running from Key Arena to somewhere in Kent for the next season as well, implying that hockey isn't flourishing there either.





Know where hockey WOULD flourish in the Pacific Northwest however? I've told you this before.... and since Seattle just got the MLS team, it seems fair that someone would throw Portland another major league team as well, as we've only got the one. I mean think about it, sure they'd share the building with the Blazers, but the Wizards and the Capitals share Verizon and it... mostly works. If Portland's denied the MLS team and the MLB team they've been coveting, wouldn't people grudgingly accept an NHL team? People in Seattle would have the option of going to Portland OR Vancouver to watch hockey, and it'd give someone local to the poor Canucks to play, instead of leaving them stuck up there in Vancouverville all alone. Just think, you could have the I-5 Ice War or something.....

So Dearest Bettman, (although I only call you that when I want something,)please give us the struggling Thrashers. I'm sure we can slot Army and Crush into the insanity that is the general MO of Portland, and it'd give the poor Canadians a chance to see snow once in a while again.

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Bettman's Latest Bad Bargain.

It seems to me that this has been the Half-Season of the Hockey Shootout, and I, for one, have had it just about up to here with that.

Now, I don't claim to be a statistician or an analyst or even someone who usually cares about the numbers outside of PIM and goals/assists, but take a look at just the stats for the Penguins. As of their game against Boston, 12/20/07, they had been in SEVEN shootouts out of 34 games. That's close to 1/4 of their games that have ended in a glorified rookie training game.

The way I see it, going to shootout is almost a punishment for being too evenly matched with your opponent. Seriously, why is that a punishment? Isn't the NHL looking for a series of non-lopsided really good hard hockey games with all of their teams working as hard as they can? Sure they are, because that's what fans want to see. So why then, do they penalize them by forcing them into the shootout at the end?

As a fan, I detest the shootout with a burning passion usually reserved only for people who talk at the movies and take up more than one parking space with their giant gas-guzzling cars. If I wanted to see guys shoot one after another, I'd go watch a practice. The entire idea of a shootout really defeats the concept of enjoying hockey as a team sport. Instead of emphasizing the skill of the team as a whole, it breaks it down to being "player X" won the game. I don't care how big a fan you are of Player X, there was an entire team behind him, and there's no reason he should be the do-or-die of the entire game.

Also, the poor already-slightly-neurotic-goalies. The guys have already faced 60 minutes of action and stuff flying at them from all over, and now they're expected to pull out all the stops against the top three shooters on each team without any backup? Even though it may not look it, I'm sure those goalies rely on every single one of their teammates to keep the puck away at any given moment, and I'm sure there's still at least a minor feeling of dread when faced with a shootout. If Player X can win a a game for the entire team, Goalie Q will almost undoubtedly shoulder a good amount of the blame if his team loses.

Honestly, the shootout has got to go. I don't care if we replace it with playoff-esque continual periods until someone scores, I don't care if we just let them tie, hell, I'd be okay with some sort of skills competition that took into account the whole team, but if I came to see my entire team play, goddammit, I want my entire team to win together, not on the basis of how skilled one guy is at deking, faking, and finding the five hole. That's not a hockey game, that's training camp.

Also at Talk Hockey To Me

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Currently, the Penguins have all most of their frat boys signed and back for next season. Except for Colby Armstrong. Because Army is the only one that pushes me into near-puckbunnyism, I'm a little displeased with him. I was even more displeased when I heard he had filed for arbitration.

Now, I understand that these are (supposedly) THE BEST HOCKEY PLAYERS EVAR who make it into the NHL, but there's no reason Army couldn't continue to live on his paltry $817000 a year. Now granted, he's three years older than I am, so should obviously be making significantly more than I do, but I think making $787000 more than I do I might, (if I get hired) when I have a college degree that, may I say, cost only slightly less than what he makes in a year, MIGHT JUST invalidate his request for more money, (at least in my mind.)

Just for comparison:

League minimum payment for a player in the NHL is $450,000
League minimum payment for a player in the MLB is $380,000
League minimum payment for a player in the NFL is $285,000 (with NO EXPERIENCE)
League minimum payment for a player in the NBA is $427,163 (with NO EXPERIENCE)

Only the MLS people have their heads on straight. Starting salary for an MLS player? $24,000. Yes, friends, that is an accurate starting salary for ANY entry level job. Regardless of how brilliant you are at whatever it is you do.

When I rule the NHL, that's what the fresh draftees will make as well, because no high schooler needs to be suddenly handed enough money to be that stupid. Besides, everyone needs to experience the 'living off ramen' phenomenon for at least a year.

Colby Armstrong, see what you started?

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