The only way that I think any players union would ever go along with contraction is to demonstrate that more teams are financially insolvent than you plan to eliminate and that somehow by eliminating Pittsburgh and Edmonton, for example, you would drastically shore up the finances of say the 4 or 5 next most desperate franchises (BUF, CAL, OTT, MON). Given the recent state of the NHL I would say this scenario is not impossible but still nowhere near as likely as senseless expansion further diluting both your talent pool and fan base of the existing franchises. The other possibility is that you just blow up to forty or fifty teams, dramatically reduce your overhead and stop pretending to be a top tier sport. The Arena Football League and AFL2 have had tremendous success providing regional sports to a diehard local fan base. You would end up with one to two legitimite NHL stars, maybe half a roster of has beens and almost theres and fill out your roster with AHL talent. Not unlike the Bruins actually.
I say they'll go for the whole enchilada. They make the lines thicker, add color to the ice, make the ricks bigger, nets bigger, realign the teams, change a ton of rules, change the goalie jerseys, plus contract. Bettman wanted to contract to 22 teams: 11 on each side. Each Conference would have a North division and a South divison, and each conference would have 6 teams in the strong division and 5 teams in the weak one. They would also put the guarantee that the top two tams make the playoffs. Also, they would contract the playoffs to four teams from each side. That means only 3 teams would miss out. What's interesting is what a team that won the cup like Carolina will do now, they;re on the hit list. Anaheim was also on the list, but with the way they're playing somebody else will be put in: I think LA (no!) or SJ. Anyway, I hav a strange feeling that KC will choke and Mario's gonna go to Winnipeg. The Pens will then be in the Western Conference, I assume North division. If you're wondering, the Avs were off the list.
I'm not a big fan of contraction, but I would like to see a much more balanced schedule. yes it would mean more travel which would raise costs, but it would make for better competition and it would change things from regional competition to more a national competition. I'm a Sens fan living in Michigan. Thanks to the schedule they played Detroit so I got to watch them play once this year. VS doesn't do Canadian home games so the only way I can watch them is to get Center Ice, but for other reasons that's not an option. The NHL needs a better TV deal for more exposure. They need better PR for the nights they are on. I have no idea if VS has a set schedule where they show hockey every wednesday or something like that. They need to get on free tv for at least one set night a week and create the equivalent of Monday Night Football. Hockey Night in America. That would do more for the health of the game than realigning, contracting, expanding, or changing the rules.
somehow by eliminating Pittsburgh and Edmonton, for example, you would drastically shore up the finances of say the 4 or 5 next most desperate franchises (BUF, CAL, OTT, MON) I dont know about the other teams listed above, but living in Buffalo, I can tell you every single home Sabres game has sold out this year.
apoch: nbc will launch a game of the week broadcast with penguins-flyers on jan. 13 in the feature match plus blues-kings and bruins-rangers. LA Dude: WTF? Drop eight teams, I don't think so.
You will have to pry the Oilers from Edmonton's cold dead hands. We ain't dead yet and it's not even that cold here.
TV is the key for the NHL. Also, I didn't say contract 8 teams, I read on the site of a Canadian paper during the lockout. I do NOT want that to happen, I just read about it. That's something that, purportedly, is something that Bettman is itching to do.
I can't see how that would help the NHL regarding the TV market. If there isn't a home team to watch and root for, why would people tune in? And it would only make less people want to watch if their home team was part of the contraction. If the Wings were contracted, I probably wouldn't watch another NHL game for a long time.
