lol, yeah only 10k for a minor league game for a minor league affiliate less than 90 minutes away.

i don't think the khl would've cared about ticket sales. the idea is exposure. the game was scheduled 2 months hence and they cancel it because of poor sales? sure. there are also lots of russians in brooklyn.

Slick Nick

Games featuring two Russian teams from Russia's two biggest cities with two of Russias three biggest stars, held in a borough with the largest population of Russians outside of actual Russia, held in a brand new arena with a Russian owner, is not going to draw well?

Are you high?

In a later interview he said he wanted a number in the sixties, but the team already assigned him 99 with the league. Says he is going to change it next game.

There are also a lot of Americans that live in a lot of American cities that don't go to AHL games.

yeah i caught the highlights from one of Backstrom's first games, and some random dude on the other team was wearing #99 too, lol

those Russians i tell ya!

FYI, after I win my rec league's scoring title, I will change my number to 99.

Before sylar hits enter I want it on the record that my last post was my trolling debut.

Edit - dammit I wanted a sylar rant

The bold is why the owners cannot accept the PA's offer of 50/50 down the road. The players offer is contingent upon growth which isn't going to happen.


Ask any person what is fair a 50/50 spilt or a 56/44 split.

The players need to cave, they are the greedy ones.

Why is 50/50 fair? Who decided that?

What I think would get a deal done is, leave free agency alone, maybe make ELCs 2 years, pay current contracts in full but evaluate them for a 50/50 split cap at 50/57 = 87.7%

Most contracts will expire before the CBA does.

Then the owners can try to take more next time.

This must be why so many players signed before the lockout.

Except that the lockout is cited as the reason why they DID cancel. Without the lockout then the teams don't have those stars when the event rolls around. So I don't know Wtf they're talking about. They expected people to come to the games WITHOUT the stars? Seems to me the lockout would have been the only reason to hold such an event in the first place.

Note that locked out players would not be allowed to play in NHL arenas (as far as I understand it). And Barclay's just became an official NHL arena. Fairly significant issue there I suspect.

Markov's injury is to his ribs!

All is well with the world.

You and me should start as staking business. We both put our names on a piece of paper when we incorporate. I'll answer the phone and maybe send encouragement pm's to our horses. You'll put up the cash for the stake. Since we're two I think sharing the profits 50-50 sounds fair.

Yes, I am sure it was a sticky point for NHL/KHL whether ovechkin/Kovalchuk would have been available/allowed to play. But the khl cancelled the games due to overwhelming negative response in Russia. Fans wanted premier games in Russia. And it's so late in the season, the players all spoke to losing a week to recovery and that it was unfair. Read the interviews.

I would have liked games in Brooklyn, but this is a case of someone couldn't come to an agreement and the league decided to listen to fans/players rather than pursue it further.

That's tinfoily, although perhaps possible. it's not an NHL arena until 2015, the owner isnt a part of the nhl at all. Also, Cody Hodgson was playing at the arena in Buffalo. He is not locked out by the slimmest of margins.

How about I put up the money and pay the hotel bills, and you take projectiles to the teeth all day? 50/50 still ok I presume.

lol, i'm pretty sure AHL players are an exception there, lol again

idk if the other thing is too tinfoily or not. no idea what clubs were supposed to come over, and what NHL players they have (bc i don't really care enough to look it up), but i imagine they're 2 of the better ones, with a few good NHL players (e.g. Ovenchicken, Malkin, Kovy, etc) that would be draws? and without them, the interest level probably drops dramatically. i'm sure the novelty of seeing KHL players is about nil.

So AHL players are allowed to play but KHL players are not? Even if it didn't concern guys with active NHL contracts. What about a guy like Tarasenko?

God the CBAs are such ****. ELC players haven't earned the right to be locked out yet. L. O. L.

As to your second point, perhaps you don't realize how big hockey is in russia. Approx half of Brooklyn is from Moscow/SPb.

Kabanov has emergency surgery for a sliced hand during a game. Out indefinitely. Sorry etats.

And you know this because? The NHL got burned by wildly underestimating growth last time around.

This is completely idiotic. a 50/50 split is not fair in any sport. The players aren't employees, they're the product. They should be getting 60% at least, if that's how it's going to be split.

Imagine if all the owners decided to walk away from the NHL - does the NHL go away? Of course not - new owners would spring up in their place. Now imagine all the players walked away - then what happens? The NHL would have a hell of a time becoming popular again.

Yes how dare they ask for the contracts that they signed to be honored. What a bunch of greedy dicks.

KHL players with NHL contracts, probably not, no

i assume AHL players are fine seeing as how the NHL has consented to them being assigned to the AHL.

yeah pretty much, but i guess if your contract says you're AHL eligible then that's where you're playing (unless the NHL allows you to play in Europe). now that i think about it, i guess they're compelled to play in the AHL, otherwise we might have heard something about solidarity strikes or something by now? i know a few guys aren't playing, Skinner is one, might be another but i forget, but permission from the Canes was needed there.

i know hockey is big in Russia, i wasn't aware there are a lot of Russians in Brooklyn. but if you have an event like that, it's more than just selling out the game. it's intended to be a big event like the Winter Classic or something, i just don't feel like the public at large would really care, especially if there are no big NHL stars playing.

run hotter, Isles. first de Haan, now Kabby, gg!

i think his point was the same as yours - 50/50 splits aren't always equitable. i don't think he's equating the players to the guy who's running errands.

72off: I don't think the games were canceled because of lack of publicity in the states, full stop. you forget that KHL tickets in Russia are going to be way cheaper than in the US. Would the games sell out? Maybe, maybe not, but there are a lot of Russians in Brooklyn who'd probably love to see a game, Ovechkin or no.

i'm saying that the game would almost certainly sell out, but that's not the point. i don't think they're flying a couple teams over for a one-off game to sell out a rink, they want it to be a ZOMG BIG DEAL event on national TV and such. without NHL stars that has little to no chance of happening.

anyway, about this Brooklyn move for the Islanders, i meant to ask the ppl who live in this area to speak to that a bit. i gather it isn't necessarily that far from where they were, but with traffic and such it is a bit of a commute. do we expect them to lose a lot of their existing fan base as far as going to games? anyone go to the old rink lately for games, if so what was that like, just some old dump? think the team will prosper in Brooklyn?

also i heard some talk that they could be let out of their lease early and move sooner than was announced the other day, anyone heard much about that and can say one way or the other if that's likely?

How do you come up with an arbitrary number like "60% at least" anyways?

If this were truly the case, the Coyotes mess would've been dealt with long ago. The league more or less fellated Reinsdorf and he still said no.

Or perhaps this would be true in a vacuum, except we don't live in a vacuum. RIM's share prices when Balsillie made makeitseven.ca were just a little higher than they are now.

Pro sports franchise ownership, for the most part, is not a profitable venture; you know this. Men of wealth - not an unlimited reserve - don't typically attain their status by sinking money into bad business; you also know this. I think you're severely overestimating the pool of potential owners, especially for this product in particular.