The NHL is crying

[gingi79]

As of right now, 7 of the 8 teams headed to the second round of the playoffs have never won a Stanley Cup. I think this is great for parity. However...

This includes the worst Western Conference foursome in history. A team so devoid of fans, the NHL owns them (Phoenix Coyotes) , a team that will see it's top 5 players leave at seasons end for actual money (Nashville Predators), a team whose thug fans are gifted tickets in exchange for staying away from Lakers games they cannot afford (LA Kings), and a long suffering fan base in St Louis. But at least they will play a team in the Canadian capital with no marketable players and no one outside the Providence roots for (Ottawa Senators), a thug ridden bandwagon fan base who raped the Cup from an actual team last season (Boston Bruins), a drunk half ass Pavel Bure wanna-be no one likes playing with exactly zero players any hockey fan can name (Washington Capitals), a team forcefully placed by Buttman in a southern US market whose 14 year long attendance figures rival only a Little League game (Florida Panthers) and the Philadelphia Flyers. Gary Bettman is now going to spend the rest of the postseason cursing the fact no one gives a damn who wins. I expect the TV shares for every series from here on to rival a re-run of Dobby Gillis

[kudu]

LA vs Boston/Philly would probably bring in some good ratings for a Final series.

[gingi79]

Kudu, I agree the bandwagon fans in Boston will pretend to care and Philly fans always do. LA isn't relevant are they? Don't Gretzky and Robitaille play for them? They did the last time anyone in the town known for being fake rooted for the home town team in that market.

I am hoping for Phoenix, Nashville or St Louis out of the West to beat Florida. The Yotes have a group of real die hard fans and winning the Cup allows for my favorite event in sports : Watching the second class redheaded stepchild whoop some booty. Nashville is about to endure another decade of being the East Coast Coyotes unless they win as every top tier player will sign elsewhere. And The Blues? Those loyal fans have been screwed for at least a decade and deserve to be rewarded.

As far as the East? The Flyers would be the best team left and I could play goal for them. Ottawa would be a gimmick to help return the Cup to Canada, they shouldn't have even qualified for the playoffs. Washington was there to insure the Bruins don't pretend to have fans as their elimination leaves the 35 year old bandwagon empty again and the Panthers validate Bettman's mistake of Southern Expansion.

[trsent]

As of right now, 7 of the 8 teams headed to the second round of the playoffs have never won a Stanley Cup. I think this is great for parity. However...

This includes the worst Western Conference foursome in history. A team so devoid of fans, the NHL owns them (Phoenix Coyotes) , a team that will see it's top 5 players leave at seasons end for actual money (Nashville Predators), a team whose thug fans are gifted tickets in exchange for staying away from Lakers games they cannot afford (LA Kings), and a long suffering fan base in St Louis. But at least they will play a team in the Canadian capital with no marketable players and no one outside the Providence roots for (Ottawa Senators), a thug ridden bandwagon fan base who raped the Cup from an actual team last season (Boston Bruins), a drunk half ass Pavel Bure wanna-be no one likes playing with exactly zero players any hockey fan can name (Washington Capitals), a team forcefully placed by Buttman in a southern US market whose 14 year long attendance figures rival only a Little League game (Florida Panthers) and the Philadelphia Flyers. Gary Bettman is now going to spend the rest of the postseason cursing the fact no one gives a damn who wins. I expect the TV shares for every series from here on to rival a re-run of Dobby Gillis

Phoenix hasn't won anything yet!

Nashville and St. Louis were top teams for a reason and as a Blackhawks fan, I was hoping to avoid both of them in the first round and we did but now they need to win two in a row against Phoenix to advance to Nashville.

Fun facts from Chicago-Phoenix series: The first five games went to overtime. Only the second time in history (and first time in around 60 years) this has happened. Game Six goes to overtime, it is a stand-alone record. The Blackhawks have had their last 7 playoff games go to overtime, also a NHL record.

Three of the five games, the Blackhawks pulled their goalie down a goal with less than two minutes left and they scored all three times. Amazing feat, as teams seldom score, let alone give up an empty netter, with their goalie pulled.

The Phoenix Coyotes have never won a playoff series, and their former home, Winnipeg, won their last playoff series in around 1986 if memory serves me right.

As a Blackhawks season ticket holder, I have been saying with Detroit out, San Jose out and now Vancouver out - The Blackhawks have nothing to be ashamed of if they don't advance.

[trsent]

Kudu, I agree the bandwagon fans in Boston will pretend to care and Philly fans always do. LA isn't relevant are they? Don't Gretzky and Robitaille play for them? They did the last time anyone in the town known for being fake rooted for the home town team in that market.

I am hoping for Phoenix, Nashville or St Louis out of the West to beat Florida. The Yotes have a group of real die hard fans and winning the Cup allows for my favorite event in sports : Watching the second class redheaded stepchild whoop some booty. Nashville is about to endure another decade of being the East Coast Coyotes unless they win as every top tier player will sign elsewhere. And The Blues? Those loyal fans have been screwed for at least a decade and deserve to be rewarded.

As far as the East? The Flyers would be the best team left and I could play goal for them. Ottawa would be a gimmick to help return the Cup to Canada, they shouldn't have even qualified for the playoffs. Washington was there to insure the Bruins don't pretend to have fans as their elimination leaves the 35 year old bandwagon empty again and the Panthers validate Bettman's mistake of Southern Expansion.

How about Florida/Chicago finals? There are almost as many Stanley Cup Champions from the Blackhawks team that won two years ago as there is on the current Blackhawks team! (I believe it 8 current to 4 on Florida)

How ironic would it be to see Tomas Kopecky, Brian Campbell, John Madden and Kris Versteeg carrying The Cup around the United Center Ice? Jack Skille would be there also, a reserve on the 2010 Cup team.

[Birdbats]

As one of those long-suffering Blues fans, I don't care about TV ratings. I'm just happy my team is in the second round -- and thrilled that we won't have to meet Detroit or Vancouver if we get past the Kings. Also don't really want to see Chicago, but what a Western Conference final that would be. Blues and Hawks would be crazy. It's possible nobody outside of Missouri or Illinois would care about that match up, but in these parts, it would be equal to Yankees/Red Sox in the northeast.

[Preston]

As a Preds fan I am PUMPED...absolutely stoked!

I (obviously) hope we win it all...would be incredible for Nashville for sure!

LOVE some parody!!!!

[Skizzick]

Broad Street Bullies bringin' the pain! The cup is ours as long as we continue to score 15 goals a game to make up for our crap goaltending.

[GameUsedGR61]

I have been a Devils fan my whole life and won't be surprised if they lose in the first round. Out of all the teams left, I wouldn't mind seeing Nashville win. They seem to have a pretty good fan base and a talented team

[OaklandAsFan]

Being one of the few (but proud) die hard Coyotes fans I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am right now!!!!!!!