mcj882000

2 minutes ago, the admiral said:

It would have been difficult, of course, to be the team of--if not necessarily separatist, certainly stalwart--French Canadians while also having a little English colony to the east, but good enough hockey might have done it. It's not like the Leafs or Bruins were any closer.

And they certainly weren't gonna cheer for the Canadiens. In fact, thinking about it now, I wonder how many diehard Nordiques fans, rather than change allegiances post-relocation and cheer for the hated Habs, instead opted like southern wrestling fans post-WCW did 6 years later and just checked out of the sport (or at least the professional level of it) for good?

8 hours ago, IceCap said:

The Thrashers only got to move to Winnipeg because they were bought by a guy who could lock them out of every financial institution in English Canada if they crossed him, and even then Gary Bettman threatened to relocate the new Jets at the press conference announcing the move.

Hey, speaking of which - and to try and move the thread topic away from the kind of "your fanbase is worse than mine" dick-measuring contest that I generally dislike (hot take: all fanbases are trash, my own included; the bigger the trashier, don't try to act like yours is any better/worse) - here we go again!

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/quebecs-premier-will-meet-with-gary-bettman-about-the-return-of-the-nordiques/

In all seriousness I'm not too surprised by this, nor am I expecting anything to come of it at this time. We all know Quebec City still wants an NHL team, just as we know the NHL wants to avoid Quebec City like death himself. Same as it ever was. Still, as someone noted pages ago, the Coyotes are essentially playing in a contract year, and I think it's safe to say they are not selling themselves very well right now. With all that in mind, if, say, Tempe balks at forking over arena money, and other American cities already with arenas and/or owners like Houston or Kansas City aren't interested in  housing these jobbers either, I confess I would find it a little satisfying if the NHL returned to Quebec City, basically, against their will.

Just for the record, and to maybe try and get this back onto some semblance of a rational discussion, I'm a Jets fan but I want Cheveldayoff gone. No ifs, ands, or buts. I don't care that he built the team from literally nothing into what they are, I don't trust him running things there anymore.

1 minute ago, the admiral said:

Nope, can't see it. It would not be the same -- the volume would be a 10/10 for anyone else, and it's at 11 for the Hawks. This is comeuppance for winning, for the Kane story, for the logo, for everything. I know how people think. I am people. 

You're terminally online, projecting your own views onto everyone else, and need to log off, that's what you are.

Just now, the admiral said:

I've been clear for a long time that Stan Bowman should be gone. Search it. I can still point out that fans of other teams are specifically taking joy in the suffering of the Blackhawks. It's all grist for the mill, including sexual assault.

"Oh woe is me, my team's being unfairly treated by internet randos because they covered up someone's crime for a decade!"

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

The difference is that the Blackhawks ran roughshod over the league for about five or six years and made everyone else not like them, so now everyone can post about it and get their revenge. Graham James never did anything to reddit.

With all due respect, what the  is wrong with you, man? This isn't about "revenge" or any other juvenile internet BS, a man was sexually assaulted! If the Blackhawks were my team I'd want their heads too!

2 hours ago, AFirestormToPurify said:

It won't be a dead horse until the jerseys are replaced.

8 hours ago, spartacat_12 said:

If it was the actual team logo it would be fine, but the fact that it's a grayscale has me a bit concerned. I'm worried this could mean they're planning on introducing some sort of black & grey 'stealth' alternate like Tampa.

I hope not. Devils, this is not that hard; all you need to do for a black alternate is use your old NHL '94 away jersey:

1 hour ago, CreamSoda said:

Blue numbers confirmed for the Avs!

 

 

I know it's a common refrain around here to wait until a new look hits the ice to form an opinion about it, and in a lot of cases said new looks turn out to look better in the context of an actual game; but honestly in this case? I think the blue numbers look worse on the ice than they did at the original unveiling. Why is that blue so bright?

Speaking of Flames-owned teams, the Stockton Heat haven't announced any new logos or jerseys, have they? So I assume they're still gonna be wearing the Flames' crappy old Edge/Adizero templates even as the parent club finally moves totally away from them once and for all? Gee, I wonder where the perception that the Flames don't care about their farm team comes from...

16 minutes ago, Kevin W. said:

There are so many other aspects to the game than the aesthetics.

And yet the aesthetics of the game are incredibly important, often to an underappreciated level. I mean, that's why we're here, right? All of us have to cheer for a team that plays like garbage some/most of the time, but how many of us want to cheer for a team that looks like garbage - or in this case, walking billboards?

13 minutes ago, EddieJ1984 said:

Sorry but if you've stopped watching MLB because of a Nike swoosh on the jersey (Oh no how DARE I say the name of the company!) you weren't a real fan of the sport to begin with.

Honestly I don't really care if I don't meet your criteria of what makes a "real fan". If "real fans" are supposed to just stay in line and uncritically accept distracting exercises of corporate greed then no, I guess I never was one. Oh well. 

I genuinely dislike how much advertising creeps into literally everything anymore. Frankly I envy y'all who say this isn't a big deal, because I've found uniform ads in the NBA and NHL so distracting that I have to turn the games off after a while; they just steal my focus that much. It sucks and I hate it.

4 hours ago, CreamSoda said:

Colorado is switching to blue numbers on the aways.  And changing the name to burgundy.  Finally ditched the unnecessary black on the uniform!

 

 

I guess mine's the unpopular opinion but I think they look worse now. The jersey itself needs more blue on it, not the numbers! Now IMO the numbers look as out of place as the pants did last season.

Reviving this thread because last week I watched... 
Damn Yankees! (1958) - A disgruntled, middle-aged Washington Senators fan sells his soul to the devil so he can become their star slugger.


(Incidentally I really liked this sweater design before I knew it was also what they wore in this film.)

If you actually believed the "helmet ads are only for one year" stuff, you're now officially a sucker.  

Just pull a 1983 Blues - fold the team outright and reestablish it under a new owner, giving them all of the old team's players and IP in the process

I haven't seen anyone mention this at all anywhere, but NHL 21 came out at the end of last week and they have what appear to be the new uniforms of the Henderson Silver Knights, Vegas' new farm team going forward: 

...Assuming these are the real deal and not just some mockups EA made to hold off until the real jerseys come out, I honestly don't know what I expected.

16 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

If that group decides they want an NHL team, I'm not exactly sure the NHL would laugh them out of the building, especially since it's pretty much an open secret that they'd love a second team in the Golden Horseshoe.

Since when?

To my knowledge Teemu Selanne played precisely one game in the Jets' classic 80s uniforms (which they switched from in 1990, two full years before his Jets debut), and it was at the 2016 Heritage Classic Alumni Game. Ordinarly I probably wouldn't even consider a post-retirement exhibition game to count for something like this, except... 

...A shot of him from that of all games is what wound up on the cover of his 2019 biography, My Life.

I left a comment on the Bucs' thread, but it seems to've been eaten? It doesn't show up in the thread (it's supposed to be the final comment on page 116, but instead the first comment on page 117 is there as well) and clicking on it in my profile just brings me to the top of page 116.

EDIT: Fixed now, thanks

I'm late to this, but

On 2/28/2020 at 2:18 PM, Ridleylash said:

Abbotsford didn't work for the Flames for an entirely different reason; because it was a place filled to the brim with Canucks fans who were never going to support a team directly affiliated with one of their most bitter rivals. There was a direct and heated NHL rivalry there, there isn't in Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan also has a fair amount of Flames fans, from my (admittedly hazy and second-hand) recollection, so a Flames affiliate in Saskatoon or Regina would do a lot better then it did in Abbotsford due to that pre-existing fanbase.

On 2/28/2020 at 2:30 PM, rams80 said:

Counterargument, the Flames just flat out suck at running minor league orgs and will kill even the most fertile markets by showing up there.

I see no reason why you can't both be right.

Oh hey, an update already: It's not happening in 2021 either! 

EDIT: wait a minute, something just occurred to me about this:
 

Quote

The proposed tournament would have taken place in February 2021, with the league taking a break in order to stage the event.

In February, interrupting the NHL season, aka the other big reason why the NHL pulled out of the Olympics 

This -ing league, man

On 5/10/2017 at 11:24 PM, mcj882000 said:

Reopening the NHL CBA could mean no 2020 World Cup of Hockey

To prevent what happened in 2004, where the World Cup was immediately followed by a lockout, the NHL said the other day they won't hold it in 2020 if either side opts out of the CBA, which they can do that year.

Basically, the league pulled out of the Olympics to promote their own tournament... which now has a non-insignificant chance of not happening at all.  And if that's not Peak NHL, I don't know what is.

I'm revisiting this because I stumbled upon a news story today from January that seems to've passed with nary a mention; but amidst the news today that Russia was given a 4-year ban on all international sporting events, I went to see if they would also be prevented from participating in the upcoming, NHL-run World Cup of Hockey... only to find out that there won't be a 2020 World Cup of Hockey; they cancelled it this past January due to the CBA dispute. (You know, the CBA that was extended 7 months later?) They're apparently going to try for 2021, but we'll see how that holds up.

So yes, they pulled out of the Olympics so they could host their own international tournament, which then proceeded to be cancelled due to labour disputes. Good job as usual, NHL.

So back in NHL '98 EA didn't bother replicating the unique diagonally-bent numbers that the St. Louis Blues wore at the time, and I think they even spaced the hem down a bit to compensate for it. 
 
 I bring this up now because they added the Blues' 90s retro alternate into NHL 20 this weekend via a patch; with the advancements in technology over the past 22 years, were EA finally able make it so? 

...uh, no 

(not that I'm complaining, they look far better like that lol)