My new hockey league, after the death of the NHL

[hmsmark]

As that the NHL has killed itself, I've come up with the structure of a new league to be joined by the teams that survive. I just hope the NHL doesn't try to struggle on with this idiot commisioner and a new round of expansion to more Southern cities and a couple of teams for Greenland. I'd like to see the Original Six at least, survive.

North American Hockey League (subject to change)

Conference One
Division 1

NY Rangers
Montreal Canadiens
Phila Flyers
NY Islanders (to be honest, I'd rather see Buffalo here, but that's tough given their financial status)
Boston Bruins

Division 2

Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
Ottawa Senators (or a new team if the Sens go belly up)
Chicago Blackhawks (they're orig. 6, but their market's soft, mainly because their teams have been crap for decades. If they don't survive, there could be room for a new team, or one of the others like Buffalo or Pittsburgh)
St Louis Blues

Conference Two
Division 3

Colorodo Avalanche
Winnepeg expansion or relocated team
Edmonton Oilers
Calgary Flames
Minnesota Wild (or expansion if they don't make it)

Division 4

LA Kings
Vancouver Canucks (Just get rid of the stupid Shark!)
Dallas Stars
Seattle expansion or relocated team.
Wild Card (This team could be a western city, or could be a Qubec, Halifax, or second Toronto or Hamilton team that would knock St Louis into the Western Conference.)

You could bring back the old names for the Conferences and Divisions (Patrick, Norris, Smythe, etc.) That doesn't much matter, but you need to focus on your core hockey audience. Put in a salary cap that lets the league live within its means, don't spread the talent base, and don't try and hook the South's NASCAR crowd. That means very limited or no expansion. You would need 95% league approval for expansion. In a league of 20 that's 19 Yeas.

Well, that's my theory. I have it typed up and show it to friends at the bar. Feel free to call me stupid or whatever. Basically, it's just the way the NHL should have went starting about 15 years ago. Or, we could get rid of ice, play on hardwood floors, and put the nets on a ten foot pole. We could call it... basketpuck. Well, we should get rid of the puck, being that its not on ice... maybe a ball.....

 

[HOCK]

:arrow: Like the set up but why not put the original six in one Conference :?: :?: :arrow: Also lets bring back some of the old rules, smaller behind the net, delayed offside, no touch icing and I wasn't a fan of no centre ice but I'm starting to see the benefits. :lol: Also for the standings, we can have our Conference winners but when bunched together for playoffs, they go into the mix, not 1, 2, 3 because they were first in their Conference. So to set up for the playoffs, the 16 best records get in, might make the teams play harder to be in the top 16.
I can see the arguements from both sides but the owner's are at fault as much as the players - giving out those multi million dollar contracts, no one deserves that kind of money :arrow: "to play the game they love", not even one million. Maybe they can work something out to pay a player on what they actually do throughout the year.
:hello1: So, lower the salaries and maybe the ticket prices will come down so the average Joe and family can go to see a game and not spend a couple of weeks pay!!!

 

[tibear]

I'd be all for this, (just please spell Winnipeg correctly).

However, if the NHL did decide to use replacement players, I'm convinced that the Canadian fans would return very quickly if their team had a chance to win the Stanley Cup. After a couple of years, the younger players would mature and they would be the best league in the world and the NHL would be exactly where they were before the lock-out.

The lockout will hurt American teams but then the american cities don't care.

From a Winnipeg perspective, the best thing that could happen is that the NHL burn, burn, burn. That the whole league come down. They would have to start over from scratch and perhaps then an NFL system would allow Winnipeg to have a chance of existence in the new league. We definately have the fans for NHL hockey, we simply don't have the corporate support that other cities have. It's a sad situation when a city the size of Winnipeg, probably has just as many hockey fans as say the city of Calgary, Edmonton or Ottawa but just because the corporate environment isn't the same the fans here suffer.

The NHL and NHLPA claim they want to do whats best for the game. If thats the case, then put the game in locations that have fans of the game. Make the economics work so that markets with hockey fans can have a viable chance of having their own team.

 

[hmsmark]

Sorry about the Winnipeg thing.

An NFL type system sounds good, since that's what allows Green Bay, with only 100,000 population, to keep the Packers. I think you could get Halifax a team, or maybe a team that caters to all of the Maritimes located a bit outside Halifax like the New England Patriots do in football.

I don't mind players making good money, since they are the product we are going to see. I just have a problem with them making so much cash that it bankrupts the league, makes the games too expensive for the average family to see, and makes them whore out teams to cities that have a population that cares less for hockey than arena football. I could see the next round of NHL cities to include such hockey temples include Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Havana, Cuba if the current system continues.[/i]

 

[hollaback]

I totally agree. Eastern Canada has a huge hockey fan base...lets face it we were part of the beginnings of hockey. Halifax has a junior team, the Halifax Mooseheads, and the fans are insane, I like to think the best in the QMJHL.
My only problem is that you are forgetting some teams...like the Flyers, the Devils and Tampa Bay. I know, Florida!, but after winning the cup the people are so proud of their team. Hell I am proud of the team and would hate to see it gone. Whether that will last with no hockey, I am not sure. I like those teams, and as a kid I was a huge fan of the Flyers. Too many fans have attachments to these teams, and it is going to be hard to day who stays and who doesn't.
I do think that we need a new League, with fewer teams, and a salary cap though. Hockey needs to go back to the days when players played for the game first, not the cash!

 

[HOCK]

:idea: We go to replacement players....the level of the game may be good but they wouldn't be professionals. The owners would probably pay replacement players next to "ZERO" so they would be the big bread winners (when and if the fans return)
:salute: It is a shame that some of the premier players may never put on the skates again because of this strike.....
:wav: The players have been paid too much for too long - salary caps is working in other sports..... I heard that figure skating and NASCAR has a much bigger fan base in the US???

 

[tibear]

The quality of the game may go down initially if the NHL uses replacement players but I guarantee you that if the new "Maple Leafs" are in the hunt for the Stanley Cup come March 06, nobody in Toronto is going to care that Eddie Belfour is not the goalie.

In two or three years the young "scab" players will have matured and the league will again have the best players in the world.

It is true and some players may never play again, but if the NHL is up and running for 4 to six months you'll see the players start to cross the line and leave Mr Goodenow standing on the sideline with his "No Salary Cap" picket all by himself.

 

[NickFun]

RE: My new hockey league,

I live in Boston. I guess there are no die hard hockey fanatics here anymore. There has been very little outcry over the loss of the hocky season.

 

[Bostock]

I live in boston and i Remember when The players played for the name on the front of the shirt instead of the one on the back.Everybodys money hungry lets be real 4 million dollars for one year its getting out of control profesional sports players are out for themseleves to bad for the fans. Let these guy drive a txi cab and make that kind of money They should play for the game but those days are long gone its not about the team anymore its about the individual player and the money let them starve

 

[tibear]

From the players perspective, they take a look at say how much Toronto, New York, Detroit, Chicago or Philly makes each year and says to themselves, "Do we think its fair that each year the players make say $600,000 each year and the owner makes $50 Million? Instead the owner deserves a portion of the profit but we believe we should get a bigger slice. So $2 Million each for us and about 10-15 Million for the owner."

I can see their point but the problem is the average fan can't afford to attend a game and nobody cares.

One of my pet peeves has always been the business writeoffs. I say that every building must reserve section of different quality seats at reduced prices for average fans for which no tax writeoffs would be allowed.(If I was czar there would be NO tax-writeoffs of any kind.)

I just don't think it fair that corporations can buy the same $200 seat in the ACC as a hard working fan and then the fan has to subsidize the corporation through a tax writeoff for the seat.