2023/2024 NHL/WILD Offseason-Season-Postseason Thread

tswoboda wrote:

Yeah The Yotes are a dumpster fire, but not sure I’d use Winnipeg as a poster child for small markets right now. Mind you this is happening while they’re leading the entire Western conference

and keep in mind the 4,600 Mullet arena number is full/max capacity, who knows what actual number they “could” sell is?

It just seems like bad decisions were always made with previous AZ teams (arena location, owners, etc) but the NHL will ride that train indefinitely because the potential is so huge if they can figure out the formula to make that market work… I don’t see another expansion Canada team ever happening, but they could get a relocation team…The big issue will be what the Owners decide because they get zero $ when a team relocates, but they get $20 million each when an expansion team joins the league…

tswoboda wrote:

Yeah The Yotes are a dumpster fire, but not sure I’d use Winnipeg as a poster child for small markets right now.

Winnipeg is a good example because they are from an absolutely microscopic market size, having only 750k in population and no greater surrounding metro area. The fact that they beat any other team in revenue at all, is astonishing. And looking at the whole chart, it shows that using population as a predictor of franchise revenue is a total lie. The proof is in the Atlanta pudding, no other city has lost 2 NHL franchises and if Atlanta is so damn great, then why not move the Coyotes there and just let the money roll in? It would be interesting to see what appetite Atlanta has for building a brand-spankin-new arena for the city’s 3rd swing at an NHL franchise? I’m guessing support would be lukewarm at best.

Back to the Wild, it must be getting a little lonely down in Iowa these days. Is it 5 or 6 players who have been called up to St. Paula and then they have injuries besides. Where does a minor league team go for reinforcements or is this not even possible?

Iowa Wild gets players from the Iowa Highlanders their ECHL affiliate, Pavel Novak is a player from that team likely to get called upto the Iowa Wild right now…

Back to Atlanta and their failed NHL franchises…They tried with the Atlanta Flames in the 1970’s, this was slapshot hockey at its best…there was just 2 NHL teams in “warm climates” ie not typical hockey fanbases at the time (Kings and Flames) and the Flames were the southern most located team. The game and the league just weren’t ready…. Gretzky traded to the Kings would change warm weather hockey forever…Hockey was also terrible to watch on TV at the time with black and white screens unable to properly show & follow the puck, so it alienated fans who couldn’t attend games in person…

I already went into detail on the issues with the Thrashers…The NHL has finally figured out the secret sauce to expansion success, give the fans a competitive team right from game 1…

Fans of existing team cry foul when good players they watched develop get plucked off their teams in the xpac draft, owners are happy cashing in their expansion fee share check…

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Winnipeg is a good example because they are from an absolutely microscopic market size, having only 750k in population and no greater surrounding metro area. The fact that they beat any other team in revenue at all, is astonishing.

So why put a franchise in such a small market that 2nd to last place, even in the best of times, is “astonishing”?

Atlanta is already building a new arena. Maybe Gary moves the Jets there

tswoboda wrote:

Atlanta is already building a new arena

They are full speed ahead in the early development stages, but not 100% guaranteed yet…

https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/atl-hockey-nhl-franchise-expansion-forsyth-county-arena

So they’re about 2 years ahead of the Yotes

The Hartman highstick really blew up with SN Panel discussing it during intermission of the Leafs game last night. Some thoughts that I haven’t seen much:
*A stick to the face is a lot different than a cross-check to the ribs. Intentional stickwork above the shoulder is crossing a line we don’t see crossed often
*Even if it was accidental, Hartman still would have told Perfetti it was on purpose just to fuk with him. I really want to hear that audio
*Perfetti is a moron for running to the press with this… Put a target on his own back

USA about to take on Finland to see who meets Sweden in the finals…Gabe Perrault really making the Wild’s passing on him for Stramel look like a colossal mistake… in Judd we trust right? right?

tswoboda wrote:

So they’re about 2 years ahead of the Yotes

The Hartman highstick really blew up with SN Panel discussing it during intermission of the Leafs game last night. Some thoughts that I haven’t seen much…
*A stick to the face is a lot different than a cross-check to the ribs. Intentional stickwork above the shoulder is crossing a line we don’t see crossed often
*Even if it was accidental, Hartman still would have told Perfetti it was on purpose just to fuk with him. I really want to hear that audio
*Perfetti is a moron for running to the press with this… Put a target on his own back

Was that the same segment where Cassie Botterill was crying about it being cheap and that revenge is wrong, but the other 2 guys were saying paybacks are fine, just don’t target the young kid?

Jen Botterill, but yeah. She used the “what if it was your son” excuse lol. Got a lot of attention after that.

Imagine the roles reversed though and that was Mason Appleton sticking Marco Rossi in the face. Wild fans would be flying up I29 to burn that city down right now

tswoboda wrote:

So why put a franchise in such a small market that 2nd to last place, even in the best of times, is “astonishing”?

Because the reception that NHL hockey had received in Atlanta was so bad that moving the team to Winnipeg–a market with 4 million fewer people–perversely, was considered to be the best available option to make the team successful. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Atlanta’s booming hockey culture, then.

tswoboda wrote:

So they’re about 2 years ahead of the Yotes

The Hartman highstick really blew up with SN Panel discussing it during intermission of the Leafs game last night. Some thoughts that I haven’t seen much:
*A stick to the face is a lot different than a cross-check to the ribs. Intentional stickwork above the shoulder is crossing a line we don’t see crossed often
*Even if it was accidental, Hartman still would have told Perfetti it was on purpose just to fuk with him. I really want to hear that audio
*Perfetti is a moron for running to the press with this… Put a target on his own back

Perfetti had a mic that night so it was going to come out anyway.

good lord can Jimmy Snuggerrud ever shoot the puck!

Boy does Finland ever clog up the center of the D zone. US cannot get anything through.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

good lord can Jimmy Snuggerrud ever shoot the puck!

NHL shot for sure, but that was a wild knucklepuck LOL

Half of Men in Black (Will Smith) just scored to tie it.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
good lord can Jimmy Snuggerrud ever shoot the puck!

NHL shot for sure, but that was a wild knucklepuck LOL

a 100mph knucklepuck…Judd Brackett said he would have drafted Jimmy if the Blues didn’t right before us…his right shot would be awesome on the Wild right now…

USA vs Sweden and the Wild’s Liam Ohgren tomorrow afternoon for the Gold…

Great game vs the Fins….

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Great game vs the Fins….

US should have destroyed them. The Fins are not very good. They are big, but not real skilled. These two always play close however.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Great game vs the Fins….

US should have destroyed them. The Fins are not very good. They are big, but not real skilled. These two always play close however.

tell that to Canada… hockey has grown so much around the world that yes while Canada and USA will be favorites, they both can be beaten by any of the other top 6 countries…

Fins played the exact type of game they needed to in order to hang with the USA powerhouse forwards… almost pulled it off…. Love the WJC, can’t wait for 2026!

This is painful to watch… Just put Merrill at forward at this point…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

This is painful to watch… Just put Merrill at forward at this point…

So painful

Jeannot is taking runs at everybody, who will fight him before Rossi or Boldy gets run over??

basseyes wrote:

So painful

X3

Can we get someone off a beer league to replace Merrell?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

tell that to Canada…

Canada had one of their worst teams in years, the critics were really talking about it. Their loss was payback for not including Heidt.

Man, this could get ugly quick. 4 losses in a row, injuries piling up, now 5 points behind the final playoff spot. A couple teams have leap frogged them in the standings too.

Gotta think that the Oilers will continue to ascend into the playoff picture.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

hockey has grown so much around the world that yes while Canada and USA will be favorites, they both can be beaten by any of the other top 6 countries…

Pretty interesting graphic that illustrates this

tswoboda wrote:

Pretty interesting graphic that illustrates this

That is interesting. Would you say that the primary reason is that more players are coming from college hockey? Most college hockey players are of the older, more experienced brand unless they’re a high draft pick. Maybe that’s the type of player that’s more pro-ready because the majority of college players are American born.

There are a lot of European born players coming over and playing college hockey now. I believe BSU has multiple and they are very good too. I think they were playing in this tournament, but not 100% sure. USA really started to ascend when they did a complete revamp of the NTDP in like the 90’s or thereabouts. Canada will always dominate because its their national sport and their players arent distracted by other more popular sports like BB or Football, heck even baseball. Canadians are born with skates on. That is why losing out before the medal round is such big news. In the US, or any other country for that matter, it would be a disappointment, but in Canada there might be riots.

gimruis wrote:

Would you say that the primary reason is that more players are coming from college hockey?

It’s from Bettman and Gretzky forcing hockey in California, the desert, Florida, and Atlanta, right Grouse

Seriously though I think USA hockey membership has skyrocketed in that time frame, so to me that really is the driving force. More participation = more elite athletes playing hockey = more elite hockey players. I think the NTDP is also a big reason why USA is producing more superstars like Kane, Matthews, Hughes, etc. Also part of why Minnesota is producing virtually no stars, relative to all the NHLers we produce anyway.