[DennisGreen]

The game is exciting now, a hell of a lot better than the trap years. Gary Bettman is slowly killing the league though with his inability to realize when to give up on a location. He needs to move a good 5 teams up to Canada and the league will be better off, but he has a hard on with keeping teams losing millions in the US. He has to realize hockey is always going to be #5 at best behind NFL, MLB, CFF/CBB and NBA. Hell even Nascar is probably more popular down south

[Ulver86]

you need about 5-6 fewer teams to generate more buzz

having marginal teams in towns no one cares about is not good for the league



make the NHL have like 10 canadian teams and 10 american teams

conferences of Canada vs US

you don't think that would create a buzz?

dont talk to me about practicality either, we're talking about making hockey relevant again

[OB 2138]

Poor people don't like sports that can't afford.. Anyone can afford Ball or steal one and find a basket...

was just about to say pretty much the same thing, hockey is a rich persons sport, do you guys have any clue how much a season of travel hockey costs? its near 5 grand. Ice hockey that is..you can go play basketball, baseball or football outside whenever you want all you need is a ball.

[20Four7]

Players play no defense anymore

And the teams that played defence..... AKA the Trap.... got touted as boring. You can't win here JJ. Hockey has so diluted the talent that no games until the playoffs are worth anything. If I could figure out hockey capping like others I know have I'd be a zillionaire..

[Bigmikesm]

it seems to be making a comeback with teams like the Penguins, Bruins, Red Wings, Blackhawks, etc., having solid teams in big market areas. I read somewhere that last years Stanley Cup was one of the highest rated finals in recent years.

[jjgold]

Look at last nights results and you wonder why no one is interested??

Fukkin bull shit

[JBC77]

Ask a group of 10 year olds to name one pro hockey player. They won't be able to do it. Ask the same group to name 5 NFL and 5 NBA players and they'll give you a dozen.

Hockey is and has been dead for almost a decade now.

[jjgold]

I know one player and that is it.

[Hybris]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004%E2...05_NHL_lockout

[konck]

We need more kids like the one in my avatar watching hockey

[CaneDawg]

jj must have had the under in the Philly game

[Al Masters]

but ask 10 kids from boston or white kids from detroit, or pittsburgh and they will name you 3 easily.. depends where in america..

Nicky, if your from detroit, doesnt matter if your black or white all kids know Deuce the all-star for the Red Wings.

[element1286]

Ask a group of 10 year olds to name one pro hockey player. They won't be able to do it. Ask the same group to name 5 NFL and 5 NBA players and they'll give you a dozen.

Hockey is and has been dead for almost a decade now.

Right, because marketing is targeting at the opinion of 10 year olds.

[xxxvince]

nfl, nba, mlb, then hockey.. get in line.... nhl was never famous to begin with. its more known for being *red neck* sport

[reno cool]

ridiculous. hockey players posses more skill than anybody. Sometimes, the game in the NHL gets bogged down into a grind. That's unfortunate and rules need to be changed to force a more free flowing game. Like the one we see on occasion.
Those who think a good hockey game entails a defensive grind, fighting and very few scoring chances don't know anything about the game. There's enough skilled players out there to add 50 more teams.
If a bunch of Rednecks and tv execs don't get it, that's fine. To each his own. But, we don't need to bastardize the game to appeal to these pricks.

[element1286]

nfl, nba, mlb, then hockey.. get in line.... nhl was never famous to begin with. its more known for being *red neck* sport

Since when was the NBA more popular than MLB?

[bombCanada]

Absence of black players is what killed hockey. All major sports have blacks dominating.

So this explains the popularity of curling and synchronized swimming? Contract bridge?

[keyboarding]

The NHL should use Olympic sized rinks. Give talented players some space to work without running into 3 other players.

[onlooker]

I wouldn't count teams in Arizona and Cali as south teams. I like the "bit south" reference.

They changed some rules to help scoring increase.

[element1286]

The rule changes have sucked a lot of the physicality and hitting out of the game. The instigator rule is the WORST RULE IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS. Some of the changes were for the good, but many of them have sucked some life out of the game.


No. I'm not sure you ever watched hockey in the 80's and 90's.

A high scoring game does not always equal "exciting." I'd rather see a hard fought, physical 3-2 game than a 5-4 penalty fest.

I watched the Rangers/Devils Monday night. Almost unwatchable. an amazing 18 minor penalties called! the game had no flow.

the sport of hockey is trying to cater to the soccer mom, family crowd by throwing stuff like the shootout in there, and making rules to cut down on the physical play. this is isolating the old time hockey fan, like myself.

Now, I'm not saying I enjoyed the "clutch and grab" era, but I hate seeing a hook called where meaningless contact is made. Kills the flow of the game and gives the refs too much power. and don't even get me started on the 2 ref system...

So you would rather watch a game where a hook or a hold occurs every time someone tries to carry the puck, taking any sort of creativity out of the game, gotcha.

[jjgold]

The high scores are just shoot outs with teams taking stupid chances, ect. I do not see many 5-4 games that are hard fought.

It is called relaxed hockey and I do not like it

Hockey is not intense like it use to be

[keyboarding]

So you would rather watch a game where a hook or a hold occurs every time someone tries to carry the puck, taking any sort of creativity out of the game, gotcha.

It really is the lesser of two evils. The clutching and grabbing that plagued the fluidity of the game are gone. Now the penalties for those same infractions are killing the fluidity. Catch 22, I guess.

It is called relaxed hockey and I do not like it

Hockey is not intense like it use to be

You either don't watch a lot of hockey or have no idea what you are talking about. Could be both.

[xxxvince]

So this explains the popularity of curling and synchronized swimming? Contract bridge?

man u gotta watch nfl, not some gay games

[Carson05]

the deep south ^

[RabidDog]

Here's the #1 reason why Hockey struggles, it's not a good TV sport!!! Unlike Football, Baseball and Basketball..
If you have a competive hockey game there's no better live sport..

[flyingillini]

overs off to a decent start, but don't let that fool you.. just like every year, you just wait till a weekend in Jan or Feb when on a sat, the unders go 12-2 and the grand salami goes 27 goals under the total with all 2-1, 1-0 and 3-1 games across. then you'll be the late sat night game over thinking it's due and that game ends 2-1 in a shoot out..

then the next day on SUN you bet every over thinking they are due to explod with goals and guess what, unders go 6-0.. and the unders continue to clean up the next 4 days going 18-6 and now your great start of overs are down the drain..

this happens every year, like clockwork. ever since i started betting hockey way back then, it never changes...there's always that 1 to 2 week period where no one scores in the NHL and unders go on a 74-24 run.. NO JOKE..

don't get too excited yet about this decent overs start.. The NHL will go through a very under period.. when, i don't know.. but expect it..

This is so true, happens every year!