I go back to the 70's with the NHL, and the attendance today, generally speaking, is miles ahead of what it used to be in those days, when you had teams in Oakland , Kansas City and other places, where they were drawing crowds of less than 6-7,000. Even markets that are, for the most part, healthy, like LA and St, Louis and Pittsburgh, went through some rough times drawing people into their buildings.
Shannon, thank you for your dedication to bringing your opinion, news, and insight to the game we love. Watching hockey became even more interesting and entertaining after I discovered you a few years ago, listening to your input helps pass by the time as well. Your commitment to the game and bringing us the facts is incredible.
Bolts also got lucky with their owner, guys buys up the restaurants and bars around the arena, buys the team expects to take a loss every year with the team, donates heavily to charity in the area through team events and makes it all back through his real estate around the arena. That helps out a ton, knowing if the product on the ice is good the people will spend spend spend around the arena when going to games.
There's a crazy amount of charity that the lightning foundation do in the area and that the players themselves do. I absolutely love how much is poured back in the community
Columbus had some of the highest single-day attendance records throughout the season, including multiple sellouts. Despite being bottom 5 almost all year, people kept coming to watch hockey. Columbus is indeed a hockey town and it hurts when others write us off. I just hope we can finally get some playoff success soon.
This. Comparable or better attendance percentage than markets with more "reason" to outdraw us, despite being in the basement this year. Better attendance than NJ Devils this year, who made the playoffs and were praised for improving their attendance immediately after us. Columbus is a hockey town, through and through, and we're just patiently, desperately waiting on a winning stretch with some legit post-season success.
We’ve got a better barn than most, too. With the Ice Haus and all the Chiller rinks in town supporting youth and adult leagues, I could see the Jackets fandom competing with the Buckeye fandom if we see some legit playoff success.
One problem for the Devils is their stadium being in Newark. That city is the stuff of nightmares. They build the arena there to keep the Nets but it didn't work. The Devils would have the best attendance in the league if the stadium was at exit 28 on route 80 in the middle of the northern end of the state instead of exit 1 right across the Hudson from Manhattan.
@@From-North-Jersey my girlfriend is from New Jersey, Im in ottawa and we kinda have the same thing. Stadiums so far from the city it’s hard to get there. My perception of New Jersey was newark and I actually think it’s the worst place on earth. Wasn’t until I visited where she is(I think Middletown) and realized it’s actually a nice place and hockey is pretty huge there
Vegas attendance: if/when the team falters in the future they will be able to fall back on fans of visiting teams coming in to see the road team. At a minimum this will supplement their regular attendance in a way that doesn’t apply to any other NHL city.
That can certainly work against the core base of the franchise if your home crowd is always against them. Don’t care how good a team is, having every game being an away game could be very detrimental if it works out like that.
@@khure711 there will be an ebb and flow based on how good the team is and supply and demand. I think this was anticipated all along given the tourism economy of the city.
@@wza223-fo3mc and you’re not understanding what I’m saying. It a fine line you draw that your market strategy becomes visit our city it’s cheap to get here and stay and have fun, take in a game on the cheap. Then all the hockey fans realize hey I can do that and time it around my team playing Vegas and watch them kick the crap out of Vegas then go play some blackjack and eat a steak on the cheap. Especially when it becomes cheaper to watch your team beat Vegas and stay for a few days then go to a regular home game in let’s say Edmonton. Next thing you know Vegas home crowd is all opposing fans.
@@wza223-fo3mc lol anger. Man you’re really delusional. Do you think everyone that disagrees with you is angry? Thought we were having an interesting civilized discussion about market strategy but apparently your neanderthal monkey brain kicked in. And this has become boring. Bye forever 😂
If the Flyers keep Torts for his contract term, I'm perfectly fine with Briere starting out here. Hiring Jones has many upset at not looking outside the organization... however, Jones is basically an on ice pro scout who's seen every team and every guy first hand for how many years now? He knows what works in the NHL and he openly admits the team is not good. Saying we don't have a #1 D man is such a breath of fresh air. I truly believe they're going to turn this ship around and in a couple years we'll be watching a really fun product on the ice that's ready to make that jump.
@@andrewptob I as well. It's been so hard the last decade. Good things on occasion but... Jones was on the Mike Missanelli Podcast on the 25th. If ya haven't, it's a decent listen. Starts at 14 min. I thought Torts was the right guy not just for the team but the town. Add a young GM who won't need to chase that spot elsewhere and Jonesy, who seems doofy but he's sharp. Players will have the same system for more than a couple years. Stability seems like a no brainer but it's why we are jaded. This however, is truly a clean slate. All three understand the franchise is in dire straits and it has to be fixed starting yesterday.
I love the Keith Jones hiring. His job is to be the bridge between the organization and the fanbase/city and I think his personality plus experience as a player, national and local media personality will really mesh well for that roll. He's not an empty suit like the other comcast execs in charge. He gets the city, he knows the history of the franchise, he knows the fanbase, etc. I was at the charity alumni game 2 years ago and the building was half empty. That never would have happened before Schneider passed away. Comcast did such a horrible job at promoting the event I was able to snag 5 seats in the 1st row behind the bench.....2 days after the game was announced lol. I was expecting 2nd level seats when I checked availability and couldnt believe those seats were still unsold. It was a memorable experience for my family. We're in the background of the team photo and I have some awesome video of Lindros, LeClaire, Browne coming off the ice and sitting right in front of us. Dave Brown was my favorite Flyer as a kid and LeClaire is my all-time favorite. Anyway I'm feeling good about the changes and the franchise should be on the upswing once again.
Thanks for the amazing content all season/year long. Being a new hockey fan (Go Kraken!) your game breakdowns and team deep dives have been a wonderful resource for learning the ins and outs/ intricacies of this great sport and it's teams!
The thing about Vegas is most of us that live here are from other parts of the country, alot from hockey hotbeds like the upper midwest and new england. So yes everybody has their old team they still route for, but this town fell in love with the Knights that first year, plus they're just doing better than all our old teams lol. People don't realize how many true hockey fans are here.
Well like you said, most of the season Panthers weren’t playing well. Last time they didn’t have a sell out was 4/6 against Ottawa, and they were less than 400 seats from that selling out.
@@andrewsick9003 not every barn is Montreal. FLA Live Arena’s capacity is 17,040. You sell out when you reach or exceed that number. Last time the Panthers didn’t do that was against Ottawa on 4/6, when they had 16,675. Less than 400 from a sell out. If you’re gonna be snarky, come correct.
@@TreySarver I will correct you. FLA Live Arena capacity is not 17, 040. It is 19,250 to 20,000. It is one of the top ten Arena in the NHL. So the 16,675 is not a sellout. But I you got the Capacity wrong, you understand Sellout.
(Pens fan here). The article on 'The Athletic' by Josh Yowe (sp) and one other portrays the Pens front office as dysfunctional. Even discounting what happened during the "dad's trip", the trades (Granlund in particular), the signings (Carter with a NMC), the negotiations (Malkin), Hextall was a disaster. (I also can't believe Burke let all this happen) You treat people a certain way. Yes, hockey is business masquerading as entertainment, (Cue North Dallas Forty), but still. FSG can't "throw money" at the Pens like they do with the other teams they own. (Salary Cap). The next GM has some serious decisions to make (Goalie), and some awful, awful contracts to shed - somehow.
The panthers arena also almost has 20,000 seats for hockey so the percentages can be a little misleading. But like you said, hopefully this run is what was needed to solidify packed buildings every night.
This. FLA live is massive. And you really see it when you actually go there. In addition to that, the arena is built on a not so ideal location that takes 40-50 minutes to get to from the major population centers in Broward and Dade county, let alone Palm Beach county where a good chunk of the fanbase is. On days where traffic is bad, it can be really tough to get to the game. If they do leave FLA Live, I wonder if they build a new place in Fort Lauderdale or somewhere like Boca Raton in order to be closer to the major cities.
@@connorbrechbill6516 I cant see us leaving FLA Live. The convenience of Sawgrass Expressway ingress/egress and low ticket price structure will build fan support up to 92% i think. Winning the ECF really has excited fans and will help youth involvement which is critical. The need better marketing too. Florida wont convince Boca to fund a new arena, they are wedded to the FtL area, the new practice facility opens in FtL soon.
I part of the “attendance issue” mantra from people who just watch games on TV is the 954 Club problem, the seats behind the benches(highlighted on TV camera angles) has access to lounge above that’s out of camera view. Those seats are “all inclusive” and you have high end food/drinks for free in the lounge where you can still watch the ice. So a high percentage aren’t in the ticketed seat. Optics are bad to the people who don’t realize this. I’ve been a STH for decades going back to the Miami Arena days, I live south of Miami and the 45 mile drive during rush hour on a weekday is almost 90 minutes.
@@doctorcane I agree - It’s definitely not in the most ideal location. But, I do think sunrise is a nice area and the arena itself I feel like is very high quality especially for being 25 years old already. Hopefully the team’s first true time having sustained success will be enough to keep the building full or near full moving forward.
@@christianwilborn7646 in so fla, they should aim for 90-92% avg on a night to night basis. Sell out a few more reg season games, and the ownership will be fine with it. Championship teams attract fans
This was a cool snapshot of the management around the league. It struck me how many of them were players when I started watching hockey in the 90s. What current players do you think would be most likely to become coaches/GMs in the future?
Great breakdown...I took the liberty of parsing some of the attendance stats. (I hope I got the figures right, because I had a hard time seeing some of them - especially in the Metro). So, Canadian teams averaged at 95.7%, US at 95.2%. The O6 teams came in at 96.2%. I broke the rest of the non-Canadian teams into three groups: West Coast (including Arizona and Colorado) - 7 teams at 94.9% (the lagging California teams dragged everybody else down); Sun Belt - 5 teams in the South, Texas, and Florida at 97.3%, and; Rust Belt (all other US teams outside the O6 - usually in the North, except for DC) at 95.2%...The one number that screams out of all this is for the so-called "NASCAR" teams, who are often derided as "non-hockey markets". Yes, one could make the argument that all of those teams are strong at the moment, and there has always been some question about the fans being fair weather fans who abandon their teams in down years. But I think that's true of any market as we can see in California, and in Buffalo at the moment...As for Florida, they have a big geography problem with that arena in Sunrise. That part of Broward County is almost irrelevant to Dade County - the biggest pop center of that SoFla market - due to distance, traffic, and tolls. They really need to be somewhere closer to Miami-Dade - maybe Miramar, Miami Gardens, or Opa Locka, but certainly no farther north than Hollywood. That is a heavy lift to secure a venue in that area, but right now for fans it's a 7 or 8 hour time investment to get from Miami proper to Sunrise (to-game commute, game itself, then home commute from Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, (cringe!) or Miami Beach - all areas with incomes sufficient to afford multiple game tickets, say nothing of being the 6th Borough of New York. Yeah, the rent may be cheap in Sunrise for the Panthers, but in the end it costs them terribly in attendance...
The attendance factor in Fl is well documented. Most Floridians are NY/NJ/NE transplants who won’t go support the Panthers unless their team is playing us. There is great core support here, the game is growing, there’s no threat with Vinny Viola owning the club that it will ever move. Ever. The lease will be worked to give Fla more of the revenue and that will be that. We can rediscuss this in 20 yrs. Go Cats.
Basically, you have to win more, team needs to market well and do community outreach in order to grow the fanbase amongst younger people, gain more support from minorities and make them interested in hockey. A lot of transplants will stay fans of their hometown teams.
"Tampa Bay" also refers to the area around the body of water, called "Tampa Bay" So Tampa Bay is all inclusive for the area. like the Panthers, we have a lot of transplants that invade our arena.
Thank you for shouting out that the Lightning have the longest sellout streak in the league. That is correct and we could fill an additional Tampa Bay with the tears of "traditional" market fans who have to acknowledge that we're better at selling our barn than their teams.
@@robbrown4621 they aren't going into rebuild mode yet. The lightning since the start of the playoff bubble to the start of the playoffs had played 52 more games than toronto, an extra half of a season plus 11 games. They also had played 26 more games than colorado in that span. Almost a complete playoffs with each series going 6 games at least. Vasilevskiy admitted he played hurt and wasn't recovering properly. They were exhausted from 3 cup finals runs in such a short span. They will go on another deep run next year I'm sure now that they are finally getting the rest they need.
@@robbrown4621 I called it in 2019 after the loss to columbus that they reminded me of the mid ti late 1990's red wings. I called it they would win the next 2 cups. They did so. I expected them to make the cup finals again. They did so. I expected an early exit this year. They did so. I expect a 2nd or 3rd round exit next year if everything goes as I expect.
San Jose was a crazy franchise to support this year. I work at the rank and surprisingly we had higher merch sales than many years prior, and throughout the whole season
And price relative to income or cost of living factors. I suspect prices in St Louis are lower than in NYC, but with lower population you have to rely on more fans attending multiple games.
Not a buffalo fan traditionally, but once you started talking about them couple months into the season, I decided to check them out. Man did they win me over. Every game, win, or lose, was exciting to watch. I think that they are on the up and up as well. I see a lot of potential there.
Honestly when I was in Vegas last Fall I was really surprised how much Vegas has taken to the Golden Knights. I’d imagine a lot is being first to the punch and the fact Vegas has always been quite good, but I absolutely could see it sticking even in bad times…I mean they’ve got the Raiders and probably A’s so when you’re the one relative winner in town…
Personally...as a Wings fan, Looking at the what was left as far as their AHL team, prospects and contracts at the end of the Holland Era, I am tickled pink with where they are now. Now I know it wasn't ALL Holland's fault, as the owner dictate making the playoffs over a retool/rebuild...but the difference in 4 years is night and day.
@@muttonmark well seeing as once holland got moved out of gm role, he instantly jumped ship and went to edmonton who is trying to win a cup now, and after 5 years is still in the same position they were before but with crappier contracts, I would say yes, it was holland.
As a Columbus guy, I need a Stanley Cup run. That is a step beyond a "playoff" run. After 20+ years, the time has come. Look at Seattle and Las Vegas. To me, the only real problem is that the top free agents do not want to come to Columbus. That would include their own free agents. Johnny Gaudreau was a step in the right direction, but not _near_ enough. And when Gaudreau decided on Columbus, everyone wondered aloud, why Columbus? How do you solve the negative reputation that keeps free agents away? I don't know.
It's called "winning", something the Jackets have never sustained I still worry that attendance is going to fall off a cliff next year the same way it did after the Jeff Carter year. Sure it will get me a better spot in the arena, but I know damn well that when everything gets resolved with Arizona, we're next
@@mikewalters3048 Yeah remember when Carolina had the "Relocanes" nickname during their 9-year playoff drought, or when Nashville couldn't establish themselves as a hockey market to start out? Now it seems ridiculous that either of them were ever considered for relocation
Vegas attendance is so good because the visiting team fans travel to see their team play in Vegas. I am from St. Louis and we travel every year to see the Blues play there, I would say at least 40% are Blues fans when we go there. Lot of "lets go Blues" chants when I have been there.
That's an urban myth....with respect The Knights org tracks opposing teams attendance at T-Mobile and the highest % I've seen was 13%(Kings), and that was the first season. The only other team with double digit numbers was the Rangers, also that first season. As far as "chants", any opposing team that tries to start a chant at T-mobile almost immediatly gets drowned out by Knights fans. Kings fans always show up at T-Mobile and always try and get a chant going, but it never works, they're just never enough to not get drowned out.
@@Bouncer-id1rh Urban myth my ass! I have watched the Blues play in Vegas 4 times now and every time I have been there the Blues fans are about 40% of the crowd. I might add that the Blues won 3 of the 4 games that I have been to and by the 3rd period when all the fair-weather Vegas fans left, the "Let's Go Blues" chants were very loud. Yeah, maybe in the 1st period the Vegas fans TRIED to drown out the Blues fans, but it was feeble at best. Let's just put it this way, when I was there I felt that I was very much among friends. The last time I was there Vegas had a rare back-to-back home games and played the Flyers the next night and the T-mobile plaza was full of Flyers fans too. We always stay at New York New York and are right in the thick of things. Whenever the schedules are released the first thing we do is see when the Blues play in Vegas and book rooms, my wife always gets free rooms at MGM casinos. We make a vacation out of it, I'm sure many other NHL fans do too! I also have season tickets to the Blues, and maybe the best opping team fans are Chicago, they might get 15 to 20%, (when they're good) but most other visiting fans are less than 5%.
@@JayRoberts244 Ok. It's B.S. Now send me the link that proves it wrong. I'm waiting. Failure to provide that link will be proof you're full of it, and we both know you have ZERO data, so go ahead!
The one thing you have to remember about Vegas, is that it’s one of the most visited tourist destinations in the country. You have people coming from all over the place to come spend money and have fun so I’m sure that even if the team was trash they would be full almost every night from visitors of other teams or just people wanting to see a hockey game.
The main move the Jets need to make is getting rid of Cheveldayoff. You just cannot be a GM of a team for 12 seasons and only have 3 playoff series wins. He is too conservative. Proper changes cannot happen for this team until they start at the top. And I believe that is why attendance is not where it once was. The honeymoon period is over. Fans aren't happy just to have a team again. They want a contender. And they don't want to pay higher ticket prices to see a mediocre product.
The Blue Jackets 3rd line next season is going to be so good. I think the blue jackets will finish in about the same place that the Penguins & Islanders did this past season.
I prefer not to have hope (my sports teams have made me a cynical fan), so I'm just gonna continue assuming we'll be injured to hell for the bajillionth season.
I tell ya being a Wild fan is hard just because it feels like this is a team that is ok with being just a tad above average. Just good enough to give us false hope and then let us down in the first round of the playoffs every year. I'm also a fan of the Lightning and the Stars which tend to even things out I guess lol. Great commentary as always!
Agreed, but once he said Coach Dean Evason was pretty good, I knew he didn't really look into it much. Dean couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag (or the 1st round) if his life depended on it.
Shannon, you're not the only one who thought adding a light only visible when a (non-retractable) seat at The Tank is unoccupied was a weird idea. During the Sharks' last few playoff years, the Sharks handed out wristbands at each playoff game -- initially single-color and later multi-colored, controllable either by code or by section. I believe during our last playoff season, they discontinued the wristbands and added the seat lights, which were visible when everyone stood during the national anthem and pre-game, when not everyone had made it to their seats. But now that the playoffs are a distant memory and regular-season attendance is way down -- 79.2% must be tickets issued; typically more than half the seats were empty at the games I attended (~16) -- they've turned into empty seat beacons. They make a much nicer light show now, but they're a constant reminder that the team is playing badly and there are more empty seats than bodies at most games.
I like your Sens take. I live in Ottawa. DJ is staying. New owners are going path of least resistance IMO. Florida is interesting. Prices will go up. Will US pay it? TBD. Nice vid. Great job.
Florida is a market that would be foolish to give up. There’s no way that they’re ever moving out of Miami. Now, people there have a lot of choices, year round, so maybe you won’t have sellout crowds every-night, maybe not for a few years until you build a culture of it but it works for many other reasons. Ottawa has bad attendance but they’re not mentioned for relocation. Florida has a fantastic owner now and front office and a very deep roster signed through next year. Lay off Canadian, they’re not coming north.
As a fan the worst thing about about the Avs is the pissing match between Kroenke(the owner) and Comcast(the major cable provider) about the majority of the city being able to watch the regular season game. Same with the Denver Nuggets, our teams are finally really good and we can't see any of them till they get to the playoffs.
Dang I can’t imagine that! A lot of my friends have to get Fubo subscriptions to watch the games but at least they’re available! I’d be so mad if there was no option at all that’s ridiculous!
Attendance can also be above 100% due to suites. A suite has a limited number of seats, but people can stand at the back and stay seated at meal tables allowing the team to sell over the capacity to accommodate a larger group (just font tell the fire marshall). Boston will always sell out even if they had to rebuild. There is no way Philly had 90% attendance even when counting the Devils and Rangers fans that filled the arena.
I hear that all the time about berube. “ he doesn’t have to worry about his job he won them a cup”, how much time does winning a cup buy for coaches? Could be an interesting video if not already done
As a Chicago fan I think ticket prices are definitely the thing that makes the stadium not filled. Yes, it's true when we are good we sell out and bad we don't, but back when my parents were kids and tickets were cheaper they went to packed hockey games at old Chicago stadium fairly regularly even though the team wasn't all that good. I personally have only ever been to the Rockford games cause it's a manageable price if you want to see hockey.
Something to consider: Many arenas use the term sell out when there are no consecutive seats unsold. So the estimates could be thrown off because of that.
Interesting video. The attendance in San Jose jumped out at me. Team has to be a bit alarmed, and it might explain why they've resisted a rebuild for a long time. Same concerns may exist in Winnipeg. I agree that if Panther's head counts don't improve after this incredible cup run they're on, the organization would have to start to wonder a bit. I'm happy to see Buffalo's situation has started to improve. It was really looking bleak not that long ago. CBJ have to start getting better, or their numbers may drop dramatically.
Im an usher in ball arena in denver and i did not see an empty seat in my section all year. More often than not we sold standing room only tickets. >100% for sure
Good on Paul Maurice, taking the Panthers to the final. What was their record last year? They were probably last place with the way people are praising him right?
skipped directly to Montréal to see what was going to be said about my team: good gm, love the coach, and people buy tickets even if the team is bad. That about sums it up. Love the content keep it up.
Hey Shannon, I am curious how you are able to determine the attendance numbers for home games for each team. I really appreciate that additional detail being added to review videos like these. If you can explain how you got those numbers I would appreciate it as I would love to be able to track this information for the Habs on a regular basis.
The Saddledome isn't bad for concerts just because of the acoustics. In April, 1987 the low ceiling was damaged by the pyrotechnics during an Iron Maiden concert, so they brought in a bunch of rules about pyro and since then the big rock acts have avoided the city. They play Edmonton, but not Calgary.
Kraken may have sold out 100%, but there are a ton of empty seats during weekday games that people can't sell online. Most people's 3 year minimum contract is up at the end of the year. I think people are going to be surprised when ticket sales drop, especially if the ticket prices don't drop significantly. I've heard the waiting list is gone for full season tickets. There is still a line for half season tickets. I know I'm not renewing my tickets. I could attend most games for half price on resale. Why would I pay full price?
I spoke to some locals in Cincinatti when I visited for my MLB stadium tour in 2021. They say Columbus doesnt really make much effort to reach them. There's a bit of a bitterness about it to some.
I love the vids especially finally getting your honest opinion on every team excited to see your options on mh rangers and the current state of your canucks and Bruins
Great breakdown! Funny you mention the talk about fan support when a team is not winning. I started following the VGK right after the SD Chargers situation leaving for LA, and I'm always have had a problem giving taxpayer funds to a private sports team's stadium for taxpayers that may or may not be a sports fan of that particular team. When people like to flaunt they always support a team even when they are losing, I just see that as corporate welfare, especially when they threaten to move the team unless the taxpayers take up billion dollar contracts to build them new stadiums. On that note, I'd love to see a breakdown of where people's money goes when they buy a ticket, jersey, etc. Examples (random guess): $100 Replica Jersey = 50% Owner, 30% player, 10% NHLPA, 10% shop.... Live Ticket = .... Keep up the great content!
It woould have been nice if you could have incluided the arena seating capacity as well, as the arenas can vary a fair amouont in actual bums in the seat just on that alone. Arizona with 100% of 5000 seats isn't generating the revenue of 90% of a 20000 seat arena. Still, excellent work Shannon. Have a great day.
Other than Arizona's current situation, the rest of the arenas in the NHL don't vary much. Winnipeg is 15k, next lowest is 16.5k, 3 are over 20k and the other 26 are between 17 and 20K.
Vegas is one of the best run organizations? Maybe i missed the criteria but didn’t they jettison players, coaches, and are consistently over the cap which forces them to jettison players and contracts. They have a winning product so therefore they are run great?
yes, thats why they are great. Buffalo will find out that cuddling overaged guys like Okposo beacause hes good In The Room, while useless on the ice, will catch up to him.
Panthers issues with attendance is a bit exaggerated. 16682 on average this regular season, where in 21/22 it was 14811, and in 18/19 season 12919. Once again, bad take because of lack of patience and inability to notice steady improvent. No, they don't need to sell out every game just so that one hockey youtuber will not bringing up idea to relocate them to Quebec.
@@jefflarson1652 they are 1,100 higher than the 27th place team and also you gain fans not by regular season success, but playoff success. Deep playoff runs are what make fans more willing to come. And ottawa, a team that was having playoff success and made it to game 7 of the eastern conference finals in 2017, couldn't sell out their arena for that game. That's awful. What is every Canadian fans excuse as to why they should have a team in quebec city, and a bunch of other small markets? That you can put a team anywhere and they will watch it? Well ottawa was 1 game away from a cup finals appearance and still couldn't sell out their arena. So how about you back off. 16,682 is still dang good attendance compared to winnipeg, new jersey and buffalo. Panthers arena holds a lot of people but is so far out of the main populace. It needs to be closer.
Those of us (well, a lot of us) that follow the Sabres closely marvel at what Kevyn Adams has done. After a decade of constant setbacks, trying to take shortcuts and just terrible mismanagement of the roster, we have a guy that realizes great teams are built, not bought. The way Granato has developed the kids on the roster, and the way Adams has stocked the farm, there is no reason the Sabres shouldn't be a cup contender in short order...and for a while. Obviously nothing is guaranteed, but finally, something is being built and developed.
It helps when your team is lousy and gets tons of high draft picks year in/year out. You're bound to end up with some talent at some point, regardless of what's being "built".
In defense of the NJ devils attendance rate . They are the newest team in an area that already had 2 teams. They are a suburban franchise, so many fans have to travel a distance to get to the game. Due to high property taxes many fans moved out of state ( you see them on the road).
I appreciate the respect for Canes fans. I grew up watching Carolina as a kid. Arturs Irbe was in the net against the Bruins for my first game on Feb 18th, 2001. I believe Carolina won. Rod scored, I remember that specifically. I played much of my youth as well. I had a 16-year competitive playing career and had been a hockey fan virtually my entire life. People still don't take me seriously as a Carolina fan. They think I am a fair-weather fan who goes to an NHL game once every 3 years. In reality, I've watched 8 out of 10 games every season. The only exception was deployments when I was in the military. I know hockey just fine.
Would love to see Columbus improve. Sports fans here are spoiled due to the Buckeyes ,but this is pro sports and unless you spend and spend well you won't win. This team , with the exception of a few years , have been largely third line players with a 1st liner or two mixed in. The best teams were the Tortorella teams but he eventually ran that talent out of town so we're back to 3rd liners, with a few promising young guys. The fans are aching for wins here.
Without a doubt, Chicago's attendance would be way better if their prices matched their product. You can't be in contention for first overall and be charging prices like it's still 2013 and you are winning cups.
I'm still down with the Yzerplan. The Wings have had horrible draft luck for years, never picking above #4. He's had to go about things differently and, overall, done a great job with his picks and looking for value with trades and signings.
Chris Drury has done well...? Come on... He got nothing for Buchnevich, Kravtsov and Lundquist. The 2 long term deals he's given out in Free Agency were terrible. If Shesterkin weren't already there NY is a bubble playoff team
I sure am pleased you gave threw away Buchnevich for a 2nd round draft pick. And Blais suddenly remembered how to put the puck in the net after he was picked up for nothing.
The Panthers actually have something in common with Tampa Bay, only I'm not talking about the Lightning, but rather, the Rays. They both have winning teams, but their respective buildings are in crappy locations.
