The No Hitting League is getting worse and worse....Bettman ruined it. How about a new league that only has Canadian & American players and not only allows but encourages hitting (and maybe allows a bit more fighting). Also one that's based in cold-winter climates.
2007-06-25 13:43:45 · 18 answers · asked by foleycat 3 in Sports ➔ Hockey
it wouldnt solve anything, because it would dilute the talent and instead of having 1 elite league, we would have 2 okay leagues...which wouldnt help the NHL or the new league
2007-06-25 14:11:06 · answer #1 · answered by Sens Enforcer 4 · 7⤊ 0⤋
Gary Bettman is a complete dolt. And the main reason why the NHL isn't even on the map anymore. Detroit is in the western conference yet Ottawa is west of Detroit but in the east conference.(duuuuh) He wants to make rivals by having teams play each other 20 times a year.(duuuuh) Yet the NHL allready has rivals as its been played here for over 80 years.(duuuuuuuh) NOW, some of those teams play each other only once a year if at all.(duuuuh) I belive the NHL has to be realigned. I belive there should be an original 6 division. Then spread out the league according to geography. And tell me why Florida has two teams when a place like Winnepeg or Hamilton has none? I do like the no interfearance rules but the refs are calling ticky tack penaltys and not being consistent. Now they want to make goalie gloves and equipment smaller and the nets bigger. Its a damn joke. And yes God help your soul if you smak a guy in the mouth for highsticking you in the face. Gary Bettman has never had skates on his feet nor has he ever played a single game. He has no idea what hockey is and what it means and what is best for the sport. Making another league would be an even bigger mistake.
2007-06-26 02:38:51 · answer #2 · answered by MrNothing 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Short answer: no. New leagues only start when there is a strong demand for new cities in a particular sport, and the established league doesn't expand quickly enough. That's how the AFL got going in football, for example. I don't see that demand in hockey.
As for the other parts of your idea, why would you discriminate against someone just by birthplace if you want a great league? Doesn't Peter Forsberg hit people? And don't only blame Gary Bettman for the state of the league. Bettman generally follows the marching orders of his bosses, the owners. The NHL is trying to find the right combination of rules to attract new fans without driving away the purists, and that's not an easy task.
2007-06-26 01:35:40 · answer #3 · answered by wdx2bb 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Football is much more popular than hockey and they tried to make another league for that... so that there was more football in more months than only the fall. So in addition to the NFL, they added that arena league... there's some people that watch it, but it's not really popular. And even with that, a lot of the NFL players can play the arena league too... with hockey that wouldn't be possible. Hockey only has one season it can be played. I live in a pretty cold weather area, but in the summer it gets hot. I'm as far north as you can go in the continental US for my area. We couldn't keep ice during the summer... it gets over 100 degrees at times and it would be too difficult to keep the arena cold. So that restricts this new league either to upper Canada and Alaska or to the same season as the NHL. Besides, even if they did create some teams and start the league, people aren't going to go... they already have their favorite NHL team that they're watching. Even the AHL isn't doing very well... they exist only so that the NHL teams have some farming program for new talent. We have an AHL team and people don't go see them. And kids would still want to go into the NHL... even if they knew of the new league and they liked the different rules... wouldn't you want to be in the same league with the greats? A new league just wouldn't work out.
2007-06-26 00:23:54 · answer #4 · answered by kmnmiamisax 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It wouldn't work. It didn't work with the WHA. There are enough teams struggling right now, having more would just mean more teams unable to sell tickets. The answer is to get rid of Bettman and fix the league now. Some of the teams in the south do well enough so limiting to cold winter climates isn't necessary. Limiting to Canadian/American players wouldn't matter. Just weed out the garbage (starting with Gary Bettman).
2007-06-26 00:23:39 · answer #5 · answered by Ice Queen 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Heck why not only allow Canadian players and then have Cherry as the Commissioner. There is NOTHING wrong with European players. They CAN hit, if they have to. They were able to survive in the league BEFORE the lock-out and could survive just fine in a hitting league. BTW ever hear of Darius Kaspiritus? If not he was an ugly dude but his big thing was FIGHTING.
2007-06-26 08:21:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It wont happen. There aren't enough good players to fill the NHL rosters already. Competing for players, coaches, and quality management would further drive up the costs. Minor league hockey is already struggling too.
Remember in the 90's the IHL tried to move up and come closer to competing with the NHL. It destroyed the league because the costs became so high they teams couldn't afford it even in large market cities.
2007-06-26 08:55:30 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why are we excluding non US and Canuck players, now? I don't get it.
I can't imagine the league without Sundin or Lidstrom, or Bure.
I don't think I'd want to.
And as others have said, the fan base is small enough and hard enough to grab onto without diluting it.
And while I'm all for a fight now and then, I actually enjoy the game of hockey and would like to watch hockey, not a bunch of talentless brawling.
2007-06-26 07:20:00 · answer #8 · answered by lotusice 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I feel your pain but like Bob said it wouldn't go far. It was tried several years back with the WHA and they had trouble selling tickets or getting TV time. We're stuck with this but perhaps if we put the pressure on we can get the owners to see the light and send Bettman packing. Wasn't the last work stoppage the final straw really.
2007-06-25 21:57:58 · answer #9 · answered by PuckDat 7 · 6⤊ 0⤋
There are already gladiator leagues out there, and they have their following. The Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey is the most notable (and probably roughest) gladiator league out there, but there are others. Brashear and some other notable tough guys played in the LNAH during the lock out.
2007-06-25 21:02:52 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋