NHL 12 Hi-Res Render of Steven Stamkos

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

Perfectly stated. If I'm not mistaken they slowly introduced 60 FPS in NHL 08 and completely had it in NHL 09. Those games were several years ago so they have had the visuals down IMO since day one because NHL 07 was absolutely beautiful compared to any other game on the market at the time.

Completely agree, To this day, visually I still think 07 was beautiful.

[ether]

Quote: Originally Posted by misterbroom12

Can't wait until this weekend when the Lightning can't match other teams offers for Stamkos

They have over $21m in cap space, pretty sure they can match any offer. Rumor on the web now has him re-signing before the weekend, anyway.

[ericromain]

I hate to nitpick, but I thought stamkos wears the Bauer 4500 helmet? The cover athlete doesn't get his authentic equipment?

[bwiggy33]

Quote: Originally Posted by ether

They have over $21m in cap space, pretty sure they can match any offer. Rumor on the web now has him re-signing before the weekend, anyway.

Ya they can most likely match any offer, but you have to remember that the owner makes the call on how much he wants to spend. He doesn't have to use any of that 21 mill if he doesn't want to, just enough to be over league minimum which I'm pretty sure they are. He's the one paying the bills. As an owner you really have to weigh the positives and negatives and it's tough in a non traditional hockey city. Not to offend any Tampa fans but they don't have a huge fan base. This means the owner has to figure out if he will make money by signing Stamkos, or lose money because the fan base isn't all that big. I mean if Tampa has a losing season next year I doubt that they will fill 3/4 of the building each game no matter if they have Stamkos or not. Tampa fans want to watch a winning team, not just Stamkos. If it were Stamkos and a struggling team playing in Toronto they would sell out or come close to it. On another note I'm pretty sure ticket prices aren't all that high either so they pretty much need 3/4-sellout in order to make money. There are Tampa fans on this forum though so maybe they can add in a little insight. I'm just going off knowledge that I have heard.

It's a tough call as an owner becuause you get a bad rep from not signing superstars. Just look at Peter Pocklington when he chose to trade Gretzky instead of resigning him. In all honesty he made the right choice, but the fans don't always understand the business aspect.

All in all I do believe that they will sign Stamkos. I believe the main reason is because Steve Yzerman is the GM. I think if someone not as popular or as decorated as Stevy Y was GM we could see Stamkos signing with someone else. Yzerman has done an incredible job in just one year at TB.

[bradleyhutchison]

An offer sheet may actually be a good thing for Tampa, since all they would have to do is match. It would help them out if negotiations with Stamkos are going slowly. They just match the offer and have their player.

It would be tricky, however, if a team offered Stamkos a one year deal for max salary. Then, even if Tampa matches, Stamkos becomes a UFA at the end of next season.

[WSU151]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

Ya they can most likely match any offer, but you have to remember that the owner makes the call on how much he wants to spend. He doesn't have to use any of that 21 mill if he doesn't want to, just enough to be over league minimum which I'm pretty sure they are. He's the one paying the bills. As an owner you really have to weigh the positives and negatives and it's tough in a non traditional hockey city. Not to offend any Tampa fans but they don't have a huge fan base. This means the owner has to figure out if he will make money by signing Stamkos, or lose money because the fan base isn't all that big. I mean if Tampa has a losing season next year I doubt that they will fill 3/4 of the building each game no matter if they have Stamkos or not. Tampa fans want to watch a winning team, not just Stamkos. If it were Stamkos and a struggling team playing in Toronto they would sell out or come close to it. On another note I'm pretty sure ticket prices aren't all that high either so they pretty much need 3/4-sellout in order to make money. There are Tampa fans on this forum though so maybe they can add in a little insight. I'm just going off knowledge that I have heard.

I do believe the minimum is 48.4 mil, so the Lightning aren't quite above the floor. Here's the salary cap breakdown as of today for the Lightning:

http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Te...ary_cap_thou=3

Here's the figures for attendance (you can scroll thru the last 10 years to better determine Tampa's fan base).

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance

Here's average ticket price since 1994, with the Lightning on the lower side of prices compared to the league. With that said, it doesn't mean they're having trouble making money, as revenue from other sources could make up for low ticket prices:

http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/inde...95/119-2008-09

[bwiggy33]

Quote: Originally Posted by WSU151

I do believe the minimum is 48.4 mil, so the Lightning aren't quite above the floor. Here's the salary cap breakdown as of today for the Lightning: http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Te...ary_cap_thou=3 Here's the figures for attendance (you can scroll thru the last 10 years to better determine Tampa's fan base). http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance Here's average ticket price since 1994, with the Lightning on the lower side of prices compared to the league. With that said, it doesn't mean they're having trouble making money, as revenue from other sources could make up for low ticket prices: http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/inde...95/119-2008-09

Thank you for those figures. I was pretty much correct on most of the stuff I said then. I'm actually really surprised on how well they do with attendance. I consider their 87% pretty darn good. It's better than quite a few other teams. You bring up a good point with the money from outside sources. I would actually love to see what they get for outside money. Tampa must make some decent money because if they were losing money then I think the owner would have tried to sell the team by now.