NHL 2015/16 Regular Season

[Perceptor]

Unfortunately, it's always gonna be featuring the Bruins, Flyers, Blackhawks, Red Wings, Capitals, Rangers, and Penguins. I like watching those teams, but to repeat the same rotation is silly.

Anyhow, the tanking continues tonight with the Preds in town. But, we're not really tanking - we want to build a winning culture for next season lol

[SidVish]

Quote: Originally Posted by ImTellinTim

Chicago @ St. Louis next year for the Winter Classic. Good to see plucky upstarts like Chicago get the kind of exposure they need to take that next step.

Teams that have participated in the "official" Winter Classic.
Chicago - 2009, 2015, 2017
Detroit - 2009, 2014
Boston - 2010, 2016
Pittsburgh - 2008, 2011
Philadelphia - 2010, 2012
Washington - 2011, 2015
Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, NYR, and STL each with 1.

Unfortunately they've had the chance to put some other talent out there and have chosen not to. NHL reasons I guess.

I actually would love to see other teams get a shot because I know how fun it is to attend an outdoor game.


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[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by SidVish

Teams that have participated in the "official" Winter Classic. Chicago - 2009, 2015, 2017 Detroit - 2009, 2014 Boston - 2010, 2016 Pittsburgh - 2008, 2011 Philadelphia - 2010, 2012 Washington - 2011, 2015 Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, NYR, and STL each with 1. Unfortunately they've had the chance to put some other talent out there and have chosen not to. NHL reasons I guess. I actually would love to see other teams get a shot because I know how fun it is to attend an outdoor game. Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Broken record time...

The issue is that the NHL only cares to promote teams and not players.
Why? Because it's way too dang hard to score so there's no real superstars to promote
"Come out and watch the Art Ross winner try to repeat his 87-point performance this year!!"

That and after putting all their eggs in the Crosby basket, only to see him go unprotected and hammered with a cheapshot scrambling those eggs, did they decide "lets start promoting teams, not players. We don't want to protect our superstars, so we can't guarantee they'll be alive from week to week".

'Back in my day...', you could watch any team and be guaranteed to see an offensive output by one of the stars on the ice.
It didn't matter if it was Quebec (Sakic), Hartford (Ferraro), Calgary (Fleury), Detroit (Yzerman) or the Islanders (LaFontaine), you were going to watch each teams star put on a show.
Nobody can say that now. Hence, pushing the same 6 or 7 teams down everyone's throats.

If this was 1988, Brian Little would be a 95-point star and Eichel would be on pace for 85 points. Who wouldn't want to see a rookie putting up more than a point-per-game? Maybe a fan in Arizona might want to tune into a Sabres game?
But in today's NHL, only truly generational talents like McDavid can do that.
So why bother watching any out of market games when you can pretty much bet on the score being 3-1 with 89 blocked shots, 50 belly saves and 3 rebound/deflection/screen goals.

[pietasterp]

Until the NHL has more cache, I think they gotta put their biggest "name" teams out there on essentially their only national stage. Even the NFL tends to put the same teams on their national broadcasts every year - I mean, if you are a fan of a team in the NFC East, no matter where you live in the country, there's a >50% chance you'll get to see your team almost every week. If you're a Cowboys fan, NFL Sunday Ticket has no reason to exist: I mean, how many Dallas-Philly, Dallas-NYG, Dallas-Washington games are on MNF, SNF, TNF, or the game of the week on Sundays? I think last year they did an analysis and it showed that no matter where you live in the country, the first or second most broadcast team in your home market is the Dallas Cowboys.

So the NHL is basically emulating what every other sports league does. I realize it sucks for Panthers or Coyotes fans (all 30 of them), but you're basically in the same boat as Chargers or Browns fans - good luck ever seeing your team on a national broadcast. Heck, good luck seeing your team in your home market (!).

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

'Back in my day...', you could watch any team and be guaranteed to see an offensive output by one of the stars on the ice. It didn't matter if it was Quebec (Sakic), Hartford (Ferraro), Calgary (Fleury), Detroit (Yzerman) or the Islanders (LaFontaine), you were going to watch each teams star put on a show.

Ron Francis would like a word with you.

[Kobalt]

Ugh Subban taken off on a stretcher.

[DrJones]

On December 1st, Montreal had the best record in the NHL.

[TheMatrix31]

I like promoting teams instead of players. That's (along with all the things that come with it like superstar referee treatment, fanboys, constant player ranking, etc) what helped destroy the NBA for so many people.

A great player is going to get exposure and attention regardless.