Post by scottie65 on Oct 1, 2009 23:28:22 GMT -5
Several NHL teams operating on thin ice
NHL teams in states such as Florida, Arizona and Georgia are not failing because of the weather. They're failing because the teams are bad.
BY DAVID J. NEAL
DNEAL@MIAMIHERALD.COM
This season starts in Finland for tortured Panthers fans. The homeland of Teemu Selanne and Jari Kurri sends us cellphones and vodka, we send them the Panthers vs. Chicago. Maybe somewhere in all the Helsinki hell raising someone will learn how to say ``trade deficit'' in Finnish.
We've been left with black humor by the local professional sports team that throws everything (sponsored by everybody) at us except enough wins. As the Panthers open their 16th season, they're in play on the sale market and have assistant general manager Randy Sexton playing general manager. That set of circumstances normally doesn't qualify as a precursor to ``playoffs,'' one of the P-words associated with the Panthers by its absence since 2000.
Prospects for the current year once again predict pain, another P-word known to the Panthers. The Hockey News recently ranked the NHL's top-20 players at each position. Panthers appeared only on the lists for right wings (David Booth, No. 17) and goalies (Tomas Vokoun, No. 12). THN's team projection put the Panthers at 12th in the 15-team Eastern Conference. That's not the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, but it's sadly logical.
They had to trade their best player, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, days before losing him for nothing in unrestricted free agency. They got back Jordan Leopold, a nice offensive defenseman who never became as dynamic as hoped. Their biggest upgrade was to their Coral Springs' practice facility. The ownership situation hampered free agent hunting, at which the Panthers rarely excel anyway.
It's a situation similar to that of Phoenix, another P-word often mentioned a syllable or two after ``Panthers.''
Both began play in cramped arenas built for NBA teams and without access to all the revenue streams standard for modern sports franchises (at least Miami Arena didn't have 2,000 obstructed view seats). Both moved to bulky, new very suburban arenas that required effort to reach, too much effort when the team specializes in failure.
That's why it's a mistake to dismiss last season's healthy houses during the ultimately heartbreaking playoff race. Unless you live nearby, there's nothing free about using free tickets to the BankAtlantic Center. After schlepping the herd out there, parking, eating and drinking, there's a significant time and energy cost, plus more than a few bucks. Remember Seinfeld's George totaling up the flights and hotels necessary to use the free Super Bowl tickets Jerry offered him, then telling Jerry, ``So what you're giving me is a bill for $1,500?'' Same principle.
The Panthers worked out a better arena deal with Broward County than the Coyotes did. That's why their economic losses have been muted.
More similarities: the Coyotes haven't won a playoff series since 1987 when they were the Winnipeg Jets. That's only a journeyman's career removed from the franchise's World Hockey Association glory days, but a European rookie's lifetime from the present. The Panthers haven't won a playoff series since 1996 and haven't made the playoffs since 2000, such an embarrassing run their retro third jerseys should resemble the California Golden Seals.
NORTHERN BIAS
Northerners, rooted and transplanted, sniff at the travails of Phoenix, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and the Panthers as proof that hockey should remain the province of cities that have snow days. It doesn't fit their prejudices to note that each of those four franchises has a history of ineptitude that few markets would support these days. You don't, for example, hear much griping about a team in San Jose. And the last time a lake froze in St. Louis, a glacier covered Chicago.
Even excitement over Tampa Bay's Stanley Cup win, just two seasons after a six-year run of missing the playoffs by an average of 27 points per season, got high-sticked. The lockout killed the next season.
Fans of a team rebuilding a fan base can't enjoy the championship the following season because of a money move by management -- attendance springs back instantly from that within a year or two, right, Marlins?
Besides, warm weather doesn't cause bad decisions. Rick Dudley's office needing air conditioning in January isn't why he traded up one spot to draft Petr Taticek ninth overall in 2002, leaving division rival Washington to take Alexander Semin three spots later.
It's also not why, with the No. 1 overall pick in 2003, Dudley traded down to No. 3 and chose Nathan Horton. Horton's a good player who hasn't lived up to being the No. 3 overall pick in one of the best drafts ever. Dudley could have taken center Eric Staal, a great, clutch player who Carolina snapped up at No. 2 and followed to the Stanley Cup three years later.
CARTOON NETWORK
Two different decisions and the Panthers would be discussed as Washington South instead of Phoenix East.
The Coyotes, a name I've always loved for its cartoon reference (for 29 seasons before the Coyotes arrived in 1996, in various leagues, a ``Phoenix Roadrunners'' hockey team existed), are wanted in Hamilton, Ontario. Hamilton's 45 minutes from Toronto. Toronto's the only NHL city where people plunk down major bucks to harrumph at a team that last reached a Stanley Cup Final when I was that bulbous gut on my mother.
Hockey hasn't failed in these places. The NHL team has failed these places.
But in the case of the Panthers, I'd rather them be here giving locals hope than doing it in another city. Love hurts, sometimes. Even when it's only of a game.
www.miamiherald.com/sports/hockey/story/1262289.html
NHL teams in states such as Florida, Arizona and Georgia are not failing because of the weather. They're failing because the teams are bad.
BY DAVID J. NEAL
DNEAL@MIAMIHERALD.COM
This season starts in Finland for tortured Panthers fans. The homeland of Teemu Selanne and Jari Kurri sends us cellphones and vodka, we send them the Panthers vs. Chicago. Maybe somewhere in all the Helsinki hell raising someone will learn how to say ``trade deficit'' in Finnish.
We've been left with black humor by the local professional sports team that throws everything (sponsored by everybody) at us except enough wins. As the Panthers open their 16th season, they're in play on the sale market and have assistant general manager Randy Sexton playing general manager. That set of circumstances normally doesn't qualify as a precursor to ``playoffs,'' one of the P-words associated with the Panthers by its absence since 2000.
Prospects for the current year once again predict pain, another P-word known to the Panthers. The Hockey News recently ranked the NHL's top-20 players at each position. Panthers appeared only on the lists for right wings (David Booth, No. 17) and goalies (Tomas Vokoun, No. 12). THN's team projection put the Panthers at 12th in the 15-team Eastern Conference. That's not the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, but it's sadly logical.
They had to trade their best player, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, days before losing him for nothing in unrestricted free agency. They got back Jordan Leopold, a nice offensive defenseman who never became as dynamic as hoped. Their biggest upgrade was to their Coral Springs' practice facility. The ownership situation hampered free agent hunting, at which the Panthers rarely excel anyway.
It's a situation similar to that of Phoenix, another P-word often mentioned a syllable or two after ``Panthers.''
Both began play in cramped arenas built for NBA teams and without access to all the revenue streams standard for modern sports franchises (at least Miami Arena didn't have 2,000 obstructed view seats). Both moved to bulky, new very suburban arenas that required effort to reach, too much effort when the team specializes in failure.
That's why it's a mistake to dismiss last season's healthy houses during the ultimately heartbreaking playoff race. Unless you live nearby, there's nothing free about using free tickets to the BankAtlantic Center. After schlepping the herd out there, parking, eating and drinking, there's a significant time and energy cost, plus more than a few bucks. Remember Seinfeld's George totaling up the flights and hotels necessary to use the free Super Bowl tickets Jerry offered him, then telling Jerry, ``So what you're giving me is a bill for $1,500?'' Same principle.
The Panthers worked out a better arena deal with Broward County than the Coyotes did. That's why their economic losses have been muted.
More similarities: the Coyotes haven't won a playoff series since 1987 when they were the Winnipeg Jets. That's only a journeyman's career removed from the franchise's World Hockey Association glory days, but a European rookie's lifetime from the present. The Panthers haven't won a playoff series since 1996 and haven't made the playoffs since 2000, such an embarrassing run their retro third jerseys should resemble the California Golden Seals.
NORTHERN BIAS
Northerners, rooted and transplanted, sniff at the travails of Phoenix, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and the Panthers as proof that hockey should remain the province of cities that have snow days. It doesn't fit their prejudices to note that each of those four franchises has a history of ineptitude that few markets would support these days. You don't, for example, hear much griping about a team in San Jose. And the last time a lake froze in St. Louis, a glacier covered Chicago.
Even excitement over Tampa Bay's Stanley Cup win, just two seasons after a six-year run of missing the playoffs by an average of 27 points per season, got high-sticked. The lockout killed the next season.
Fans of a team rebuilding a fan base can't enjoy the championship the following season because of a money move by management -- attendance springs back instantly from that within a year or two, right, Marlins?
Besides, warm weather doesn't cause bad decisions. Rick Dudley's office needing air conditioning in January isn't why he traded up one spot to draft Petr Taticek ninth overall in 2002, leaving division rival Washington to take Alexander Semin three spots later.
It's also not why, with the No. 1 overall pick in 2003, Dudley traded down to No. 3 and chose Nathan Horton. Horton's a good player who hasn't lived up to being the No. 3 overall pick in one of the best drafts ever. Dudley could have taken center Eric Staal, a great, clutch player who Carolina snapped up at No. 2 and followed to the Stanley Cup three years later.
CARTOON NETWORK
Two different decisions and the Panthers would be discussed as Washington South instead of Phoenix East.
The Coyotes, a name I've always loved for its cartoon reference (for 29 seasons before the Coyotes arrived in 1996, in various leagues, a ``Phoenix Roadrunners'' hockey team existed), are wanted in Hamilton, Ontario. Hamilton's 45 minutes from Toronto. Toronto's the only NHL city where people plunk down major bucks to harrumph at a team that last reached a Stanley Cup Final when I was that bulbous gut on my mother.
Hockey hasn't failed in these places. The NHL team has failed these places.
But in the case of the Panthers, I'd rather them be here giving locals hope than doing it in another city. Love hurts, sometimes. Even when it's only of a game.
www.miamiherald.com/sports/hockey/story/1262289.html