monkeypower Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Well it is Calgary, so it might not be the best example to show support for new Canadian NHL teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerslionspistonshabs Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Still, it's a team that's really accomplished nothing other than a SCF appearance in 25 years, yet they're still top 10, sometimes top 5, year in and year out. Point being that the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes or your new Las Vegas franchise could be perennial Cup contenders, and they'd still draw 9,000 a game.I realize it's all about DOLLA DOLLA BILLZ YA'LL, but personally, I think there's Canadian markets that are teeming with opportunity. Quebec City obviously is the first priority. Then, as much as I don't like the idea, a second team in the GTA. And then, even Montreal. I realize 99% of the population are Habs fans, but if you put a team in the suburbs, for example Laval, maybe the re-incarnated Montreal Maroons, they'd still sell out every game. You can't go see a game at the Bell Centre or ACC. Sold out. Every game. Boston Bruins or Arizona Coyotes. I know there's politics involved and the Habs would never allow it, but just for argument's sake. Hell, I'd put a team in Halifax or Saskatoon before Vegas. 16,000 people every night in a city of 400,000 is better than 8,000 a night in a city of 2 million. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 To say the Flames accomplished nothing is awfully reductive. They were a model franchise up through the mid-1990s, when the Canadian dollar plummeted and made it almost impossible for them to do business in an uncapped NHL. In an interesting parallel to the second Winnipeg Jets, they arrived from Atlanta charging the highest ticket prices in the league for a too-small arena in a too-small city (Calgary played second fiddle to Edmonton then) and made it work. Most of all, they managed to thrive at a time when the best player in history was just up the road -- something the Jets couldn't do as they ran headlong into Gretzky (and the Flames) year after year and put the whole city in a state of learned helplessness. Quote ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerslionspistonshabs Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I said in the past 25 years, since their 1989 Stanley Cup win. On the ice, they've been the model of mediocrity, at best. No playoffs in 5 seasons, and before that it was 4 straight first round exits and a SCF run. No playoffs for the 7 years before that. Yet the fans still come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeypower Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Second times the charm I guess. Try the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL with the sellout crowd. Not even the Flames. I'm not sure why the Flames got lumped into your post.Albeit, it's the biggest game on the Hitmen schedule though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerslionspistonshabs Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 I was saying usually, and obviously, the minor team plays second fiddle and/or nobody cares as much or at all. But Calgarians love their NHL team and their WHL team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerslionspistonshabs Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Yeah I know he's a Detroiter- I used to love the Jr. Red Wings/Whalers. Never really read into the guy but heard some shady stuff about the Hartford move. Never heard about the Auburn Hills thing, but it probably would've been more successful than Carolina. TONS of money in Oakland County. Plus the Palace is a great hockey venue. Used to go to Vipers games at least 10 times a year. Funny that we were just talking about this. Karmanos is looking at relocating the Whalers to Chatham, ON. Not a bad move. I'm very surprised Chatham doesn't have an OHL team by now. Same with Brantford. https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/jrhockey-buzzing-the-net/-hopefully--chatham---peter-karmanos-stirs-up-plymouth-whalers-relocation-rumours-034200053.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Boy, you've gotta be some kind of idiot to screw up hockey in Michigan. I don't know the first thing about Chatham, but I know I don't wish Peter Karmanos on whoever they are. Quote ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCap Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Chatham's a nice medium-small town halfway between Windsor and London. I don't mind it. Quote PotD 26/2/12 1/7/15 2020 BASS Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal Regular Season Champion 2021 BASS NFL Pick'em Regular Season Champion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sportstar1212 Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Does Chatham even have an arena that can handle OHL? That's the only roadblock I see here.But as Admiral said, how do you screw up hockey in Michigan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sodboy13 Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Ask the UHL. They've got loads of experience on the subject! Quote On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said: For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA. PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerslionspistonshabs Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Not sure really. They've got a good product. Haven't missed the playoffs since 1990-91 when they were the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors. Have gone deep in the playoffs the majority of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 Chatham's a nice medium-small town halfway between Windsor and London. I don't mind it.I want to see a team in Stratford, with the old-timiest hockey barn that ever old-time hockey barned. As for the Plymouth Whalers' failure, as best I can tell, the National Development Program bought the arena and now Karmanos doesn't want to use it anymore, even though they want the Whalers to fill dates. And you know what, parking the Whalers name in a suburban Detroit office park almost annoys me more than if he had renamed them the Hurricanes. Bear in mind that Karmanos has his Fort Myers ECHL team wearing navy, green, and silver, too, and the Hurricanes are using the Whale's old God-fart of a goal horn. It's as if he wants to do everything to promote the Hartford Whalers except own the Hartford Whalers. Like I said: Karmanos = crapdick. 1 Quote ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCap Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Chatham's a nice medium-small town halfway between Windsor and London. I don't mind it.I want to see a team in Stratford, with the old-timiest hockey barn that ever old-time hockey barned.Stratford Thespians. Let's make it happen. Mike Smith has a career as a goaltending coach if nothing else. 1 Quote PotD 26/2/12 1/7/15 2020 BASS Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal Regular Season Champion 2021 BASS NFL Pick'em Regular Season Champion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerslionspistonshabs Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Stratford Biebers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorinK92 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Looks like the Senators are finally starting to realize that having their arena out on a distant edge of a separate city might not be a good idea and... Whoops! Looks like we had a 20 hectare area of empty land just sitting smack downtown for the past 50 yearshttp://ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/nhl/1210-sens-lebreton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sodboy13 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Well, Eugene Melnyk's still broke, so have fun building that, taxpayers! Quote On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said: For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA. PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted December 11, 2014 Author Share Posted December 11, 2014 Ottawa does seem like the kind of town where a big parcel of downtown land could sit undeveloped for fifty years. "Hey, can we put some condos here?" "Condos? Oh, I don't know if we're ready to think that big." I remember when Eugene Melnyk bought the Senators and was hailed as a big bag of money with hands and feet. Did his money go down the same black hole as Jim Balsillie's? Quote ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still MIGHTY Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Then what the hell happens to the Scotiabank Tire Palladium? It's not like its old or out of date. And Ottawa doesn't exactly seem like a two arena town. Quote | ANA | LAA | LAR | LAL | ASU | CSULB | USMNT | USWNT | LAFC | OCSC | MAN UTD | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorinK92 Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Then what the hell happens to the Scotiabank Tire Palladium? It's not like its old or out of date. And Ottawa doesn't exactly seem like a two arena town.This is Ottawa we're talking about here, by the time this would be in full spring the Palladium would be at least 40 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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