2011 NHL Playoffs

[Don]

I think the players are split in their views on hits to the head, if you polled them. I think its just as polarizing of an issue among the players as it is around the league. Noone wants the game to become two hand touch but noone wants to take the physicality of it out. Its a fine line.

[Lee.]

They also feel the same way about playing for Winnipeg.

[Don]

Seriously who gives a what Eric Belanger thinks?! He barely made the team, noone should be asking him where the hell he wants to go. He wont be there next year anyway.

[The_Admiral]

Rule 48. And this is directly from Colin Campbell, "Rule 48 protects those who have just passed the puck, not all hits to the head. There are hits to the head that are LEGAL."

Only if they're in the designated hitting area. Is that some George Carlin crap or what. "The whole area looks pretty designated to me!"

[Lee.]

On one hand, yeah, it's Winnipeg in wintertime. On the other hand, you :censored:ers can make league minimum there and live like a goddamn king.

I guess Doan got used to living in obscurity.

[Corvus]

Some hits to the head are going to happen, somebody ducks or turns at the last minute and a clean check with elbows in, no charging or jumping becomes a "headshot" in a split second.

[NEW.ERA]

I mean yeah Winnipeg is a s*itshow in the Winter but I always loved the place in the Summer and there is more to Manitoba then just Winnipeg (Not much) but still the Lakes will be a great destination for some players that have to be back in the City come late August.

[Brendan]

Exactly Eric Belanger that said he'd rather go to Quebec for obvious reasons I also highly doubt that Bryz will resign if they do end up going to Winnipeg in the end. Don Maloney will be a very busy man this summer.

Ya, I don't think he'll like the weather.

[NEW.ERA]

Exactly Eric Belanger that said he'd rather go to Quebec for obvious reasons I also highly doubt that Bryz will resign if they do end up going to Winnipeg in the end. Don Maloney will be a very busy man this summer.

Ya, I don't think he'll like the weather.

Exact thing I was thinking about when and if he has to come north to play.

[Still MIGHTY]

Exactly Eric Belanger that said he'd rather go to Quebec for obvious reasons I also highly doubt that Bryz will resign if they do end up going to Winnipeg in the end. Don Maloney will be a very busy man this summer.

Ya, I don't think he'll like the weather.

I miss Bryz

[NJTank]

Greatly disappointed in the desert dogs.

[NEW.ERA]

For like the millionth time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdh70xdZHK0

Kinda would suck if the Yotes storm all the way back, still think they win Game 4 though.

[Sodboy13]

So much for American hockey fans' hopes of a world without Lucky Pierre and the NHL's answer to Matt Millen; a press conference at 1pm Eastern will announce the new TV deal between the NHL and NBC/Versus/ComcastUniversalOmniMedia. Gary "my league used to be on the rise" Bettman and Dick "ruiner of Olympics coverage" Ebersol will be fellating each other for the press. The excitement surrounding the prospect of another half-decade of national broadcast coverage of 7 teams, done early enough on a Sunday to not interfere with golf and/or bull riding, is barely containable.

This, unfortunately, was probably the best option for the league. NBComcast had the right to match the offer of any competitor. Turner was bidding, but they really want the NFL, anyway, and they would have stuck hockey on TruTV with "World's Wildest Bikini Car Repossessions" as the lead-in, and it would have been six years ago with OLN all over again. Landing with ESPN could have increased the NHL's presence in the national sports landscape, but it more likely would have resulted in games 1,2, 6, and 7 of the Stanley Cup Final being broadcast on ESPN2, with games 3 through 5 available through espn3.com, lest they interfere with Yankees/Marlins interleague action and the National Cheerleading Championships Presented By Noxzema. Hopefully there's a good chunk of money involved.

[Don]

So much for American hockey fans' hopes of a world without Lucky Pierre and the NHL's answer to Matt Millen; a press conference at 1pm Eastern will announce the new TV deal between the NHL and NBC/Versus/ComcastUniversalOmniMedia. Gary "my league used to be on the rise" Bettman and Dick "ruiner of Olympics coverage" Ebersol will be fellating each other for the press. The excitement surrounding the prospect of another half-decade of national broadcast coverage of 7 teams, done early enough on a Sunday to not interfere with golf and/or bull riding, is barely containable.

This, unfortunately, was probably the best option for the league. NBComcast had the right to match the offer of any competitor. Turner was bidding, but they really want the NFL, anyway, and they would have stuck hockey on TruTV with "World's Wildest Bikini Car Repossessions" as the lead-in, and it would have been six years ago with OLN all over again. Landing with ESPN could have increased the NHL's presence in the national sports landscape, but it more likely would have resulted in games 1,2, 6, and 7 of the Stanley Cup Final being broadcast on ESPN2, with games 3 through 5 available through espn3.com, lest they interfere with Yankees/Marlins interleague action and the National Cheerleading Championships Presented By Noxzema. Hopefully there's a good chunk of money involved.

Reports say 200M for 10 years. I like it. Versus has been a good partner and their coverage has improved significantly over the years. Bringing in great personalities like Jeremy Roenick, Billy Jaffe, Mike Keenan has been great TV. Pierre, unfortunately, is not just a US problem, so I think he was to stay whether ESPN got the rights or NBC did. Versus has been showing hockey pretty much every night since January which ESPN would probably never do. Hopefully they open it up and put it on other Universal networks like USA and show some other teams other than the same 5-7 teams.

Im also glad that we dont have to deal with Barry Melrose.

[CubsFanBudMan]

And you couldn't have known the salary cap was going to be quite that big of a kaboom, right?

Why not? All the numbers are public. We know how much is committed to whom for how long. It's all on Capgeek.

There were only two unexpected pile-ons to what we expected was going to be a big problem. One was having to pay Niklas Hjalmarsson about twice his market value because the Sharks offered to vastly overpay him (which Hjalmarsson followed with a horrible season). Part of this was that San Jose needed a defenseman, and part of it was that Doug Wilson is another one of those crusty old hockey men who hated the way the Blackhawks fired Tallon, so he broke the gentlemen's agreement not to disrupt restricted free agency because anyone who would fire his old buddy is no gentleman indeed. The other was this year's team being punished for Jonathan Toews's Conn Smythe, the bonus for which (only players on entry-level contracts can earn this bonus) didn't fit under last year's cap and rolled over to count against this year's. It made for an awkward scenario in which we needed Toews to be our best player, but needed someone on a standard contract to be named our best player, lest we be punished for our best player being our best player.

A belated thanks for this explanation (this thread moves fast). I'd say I was misinformed, but it's my fault, so I'll say "under-informed."

For what it's worth, whoever runs the Blackhawks' official Twitter account decided after going down 3-0 to the Canucks that it was time to remove the "Stanley Cup champions" logo from their avatar. They couldn't wait for one more loss?

Don't think that loss is coming tonight, though.

[Sodboy13]

Just to clarify, estimates have the deal at $200 million per year for the deal, not $200M for the entire length. The NHL previously pulled in about $80M/year for the Versus deal, plus whatever ad revenues it could scrape out of the NBC arrangement. So it's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of doubling TV revenue.

NBC has their digital over-the-air subchannel, Universal Sports, which specializes in Olympic sports during the 3 years and 50 weeks people aren't particularly interested in them, so perhaps they could be the go-to for Winnipeg-Florida on a Wednesday.

[Don]

Just to clarify, estimates have the deal at $200 million per year for the deal, not $200M for the entire length. The NHL previously pulled in about $80M/year for the Versus deal, plus whatever ad revenues it could scrape out of the NBC arrangement. So it's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of doubling TV revenue.

NBC has their digital over-the-air subchannel, Universal Sports, which specializes in Olympic sports during the 3 years and 50 weeks people aren't particularly interested in them, so perhaps they could be the go-to for Winnipeg-Florida on a Wednesday.

Right. Thats what I meant it just didnt come out that way. This is major for the NHL, they actually had a BIDDING WAR for their TV rights. 200M per year is huge for the league. Hmmm, think the salary cap will go up?

[Sodboy13]

Atlanta, Florida, and the Islanders are just praying this means the salary *floor* doesn't go up.

[Lee.]

perhaps they could be the go-to for Winnipeg-Florida on a Wednesday.

If only there were a team in Phoenix that people would flock to the television to watch.

[Don]

Atlanta Quebec, Florida, and the Islanders are just praying this means the salary *floor* doesn't go up.

FYP, lord forbid they have to spend some money.