NHL Going to Uniformed Websites

[STL FANATIC]

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=7018

The NHL will copy major league baseball and have basically uniformed websites. Teams are preparing for the change to where every individual site looks the same.

This really bums me out. I really like the Blues site, and many of the NHL sites in general.

No doubt all we're going to get now is super busy, flashed-out templated sites.

Everytime I want to say the NHL is moving in the right direction, they do something little, but overall stupid.

[SabreGuy]

Wow, that IS a major bummer. I really despise what MLB did with their team websites. Now not only does MLB.com suck, but EVERY team's site sucks the same way. Rollover menus, annoying pop-up video clips, rotating flash navigation, terrible over-saturation of information and ads on the main page... they're nightmares that get repeated over and over for every team.

I suppose there's hope that the NHL sites will be a GOOD, workable template... but I don't hold out TOO much hope for that, after seeing what MLB did.

Of course, I'm not going to bemoan the death of the horrible travesty that is sabres.com (and was the same way before the logo re-design, so that's not even what I'm talking about) as long as it's replaced by something better.

[CC97]

Is this the same guy that said white uniforms at home next year?

[albanian]

Baseball F'n sucks!!! Why would our sport want to copy anything those jackasses have done? I hope this is simply just a rumor

[STL FANATIC]

Is this the same guy that said white uniforms at home next year?

It is.

Every reporter has their fair share of wrongs, and actually, at this point, haven't there been a lot of reports saying that about whites at home? I was under the impression that we still don't really know how it's gonna be.

We'll wait and see obviously, but Strickland is generally right and gives great insight, at least when it's specific to the Blues (which this obviously isn't).

Either way, I thought it was worth mentioning.

[RollWolfpack]

yea, if you check out the Carolina Hurricanes web site that's the template for all the sites.

The 'canes media guy announced this about 2-3 months ago in one of his blogs he does on the site.

[Davey]

This is coming from Hockey Buzz. Where pretty much every rumor from that site is all bull lol.

I cant seem them doing that after all the work some ppl put into those sites.

[Snazel]

My immediate concern is the Canadiens web site which offers a bilingual site, with slightly different content in each language. It's a really cool feature, and I wonder if it can be preserved if everything is moved to just a template.

For the most part though, I have to say I like MLB.COM. It has great photos, it has a great play-by-play viewer during the games (and its free) and it has a fairly good stat-browser (and includes some relatively obscure SABR stats).

I agree it's sad that all the team sites look the same, but for the most part the content on MLB.COM is miles ahead of where it was a few years back.

ESPN.COM however, is becoming more and more of a drag and I find myself pretty thirsty for a generic sports web site, that has solid content. If someone knows of a good sports related portal site, that's high on data, content, stats and information and low on ads, op-eds screaming at me, and videos that immediately cut to bad deodorant commercials, I'd like to know of it.

[STL FANATIC]

This is coming from Hockey Buzz. Where pretty much every rumor from that site is all bull lol.

I cant seem them doing that after all the work some ppl put into those sites.

I get tired of hearing that. A lot of rumors don't come true, that's true, but that depends on the blogger.

And that site isn't soley for rumors. A lot of great hockey discussion goes on there.

I can't speak on many of the bloggers because I don't read all of them. I do read Strickland, the Blues blogger. And he's generally very reliable. But again, that's usually on things regarding the Blues, and this is the whole league, so I don't know.

[Puck]

MLB's templated sites are horrible, but I do like the psuedo uniformity that the NBA has.

Although, this is still sad because it kills great sites. I have always been a fan of Minnesota's, and the aspect of multimedia that the Kings have had as of late.

[jkrdevil]

This is coming from Hockey Buzz. Where pretty much every rumor from that site is all bull lol.

I cant seem them doing that after all the work some ppl put into those sites.

I get tired of hearing that. A lot of rumors don't come true, that's true, but that depends on the blogger.

And that site isn't soley for rumors. A lot of great hockey discussion goes on there.

I can't speak on many of the bloggers because I don't read all of them. I do read Strickland, the Blues blogger. And he's generally very reliable. But again, that's usually on things regarding the Blues, and this is the whole league, so I don't know.

That is just how life works. When the main person who writes at the site makes up bull the rest of the sites credibility gets called into question. If someone doesn't want their credibility questioned then they shouldn't associate themselves with Eklund.

[Gothamite]

Every reporter has their fair share of wrongs, and actually, at this point, haven't there been a lot of reports saying that about whites at home?

How many of those reports were picked up from his initial (and erroneous) report?

Such is the nature of the Internet - one person posts it, it gets picked up and run on dozens of other sites. Misinformation can spread quickly.

I was under the impression that we still don't really know how it's gonna be.

I was under the impression that it had been thoroughly debunked.

[walkdesign]

I completely hate the idea of templated league sites. I LOVE the Rangers sites. But in the long run, I understand why they would do it. You can generate a lot more money as a league that way and promote the league stores and promotions better if the league controls the information.

I hope it is not true, but considering the financial issues the league has to deal with, it would make business sense.

[oddball]

Let me be the first one to say WOO HOO! No, I'm serious! I hate the LA Kings website and I was wondering how long I had to suffer with their crappy site before it changed! Oh and have you ever visited the Dallas Stars where the actual link is like like 5 inches to the left of where it should be? Dreamweaver, it works, trust me people!

[Draft Dodger]

Let me be the first one to say WOO HOO! No, I'm serious! I hate the LA Kings website and I was wondering how long I had to suffer with their crappy site before it changed! Oh and have you ever visited the Dallas Stars where the actual link is like like 5 inches to the left of where it should be? Dreamweaver, it works, trust me people!

The Kings' site was the first thing I thought of - that thing is an absolute mess.

I can live with this - the MLB site isn't the greatest, but there are a lot of things to like about the uniformity between teams. I seem to recall there was some controversy about individual team forums when the the consolidation happened, but can't remember the details.

My immediate concern is the Canadiens web site which offers a bilingual site, with slightly different content in each language. It's a really cool feature, and I wonder if it can be preserved if everything is moved to just a template.

For the most part though, I have to say I like MLB.COM. It has great photos, it has a great play-by-play viewer during the games (and its free) and it has a fairly good stat-browser (and includes some relatively obscure SABR stats).

I agree it's sad that all the team sites look the same, but for the most part the content on MLB.COM is miles ahead of where it was a few years back.

ESPN.COM however, is becoming more and more of a drag and I find myself pretty thirsty for a generic sports web site, that has solid content. If someone knows of a good sports related portal site, that's high on data, content, stats and information and low on ads, op-eds screaming at me, and videos that immediately cut to bad deodorant commercials, I'd like to know of it.

MLB had a french and english section for the Expos, and I would hope the NHL would be smart enough to be able to implement something similar. Although I'm probably giving the NHL too much credit.

ESPN is horrible. I do most of my sports browsing at TSN.CA. Most of my interest is in hockey, so it works ok, but they do a decent job at covering the "American" sports as well.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The Sabres site is terrible. It's nice to know that there will soon be a change.

[FlyersHockey1967]

The Sabres site is terrible. It's nice to know that there will soon be a change.

I think it's better than the Flyers website, design-wise. I like the content on Philly's site with all the videos, post game stuff, blogs, history, etc., but when it comes down to it, I want an easy way to find everything I want without all this flash stuff and pop-ups and crap slowing down my computer.

[IceCap]

Let me be the first one to say WOO HOO! No, I'm serious! I hate the LA Kings website and I was wondering how long I had to suffer with their crappy site before it changed!

The Kings' site was the first thing I thought of - that thing is an absolute mess.

You're all happy now, until you realize that the Kings site is the basis for what the rest of the league will look like

All though given Bettman's track record it wouldn't shock me.

[Don]

the Caps website was voted the best in sports a year ago, they cant make them change if this is even true.

[whalersjets]

yea, if you check out the Carolina Hurricanes web site that's the template for all the sites.

The 'canes media guy announced this about 2-3 months ago in one of his blogs he does on the site.

Thats not bad, kinda bland.