Ok, back to hockey!

I found this article on TSN: http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=244291&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl#videoyourcallarticle

I agree with the revenue sharing but not moving teams back to Canada. He states, “"I mean the Canadian fans are like no others," he continued. "They're passionate, they come out and support it, they buy the merchandise, and they're knowledgeable about the sport.”

Wow, so does that mean us American fans are not passionate and know nothing about the sport? I’ve met many people in America that are both passionate and knowledgable. I think the main problem is, the league isn’t marketing the teams/sports the best in America. Everyone I have taken to a game has fallen in love with the sport. It takes time to get them to be knowledgable but if the sport was more out there, these fans could become more knowledgable.

He also states, “You know, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, perhaps Halifax if they had an arena that could sustain an NHL team.” Am I mistaken but didn’t Winnipeg and Quebec already have hockey teams? Didn’t those teams start to lose money and were bought by Americans? Yah, so lets move the teams back and see if they do better. Initially, they may do better because it’s new but it will taper off. It did once before. Although maybe after losing their team, they have realized what they were missing out on. I say no moving of the teams and no adding new teams, especially right now with so much economic uncertainty and us taxpayers having to bail out all the irresponsible people who bought more house than they could afford.

I think the league needs to work on keeping the current teams where they are. Obviously the fans in Nashville cared enough to stop the Blackberry guy from buying their team. Their fans came out of the woodwork to protect their team. I think you would have that with other southern/southwest teams too. I know I would do whatever possible to keep the coyotes here (although, the lease with Glendale pretty much says that even if the team is sold, the new owner probably couldn’t pay the fines to move the team). Some fans are passionate but may not be able to support the team by buying tickets and merchandise. I would love to add a few more jerseys, sweatshirts and other items I’ve seen online to my collection but I’m not going to go into debt buying NHL licensed products. Some of their prices are just outrageous.

In other news, Mike York signed with Columbus Blue Jackets. This really surprised me. I was thinking York would be headed to Europe.
From the Hockey News:
York agreed to a one-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.Analysis: York is expected to add depth on the top three lines for the Blue Jackets. The 30-year-old York had six goals and eight assists in 63 gamers last season with Phoenix. During his eight seasons, he has 127 goals and 195 assists in 578 games with the New York Rangers, Edmonton, New York Islanders, Philadelphia and the Coyotes.

Top three lines? Were they watching him last year on the Coyotes? He was lucky if he made the top three lines! He also could barely crack the lineup by the end of the season. He was a healthy scratch quite a bit. I really think York’s time in the NHL is coming to an end. But then again, maybe he will have a great season with Columbus. I doubt it though.

According to Spector’s Fredrik Sjostrom has signed a one year deal with the Rangers worth 840K. The link is in Swedish, so I am trusting that Spector’s has translated this correctly. I am happy for Sjo. I always liked the guy. He is definitely not a top line guy, but he is a hard worker and a good role player/4th liner. He is good defensively and good on the PK. I think the problem in Phoenix was he was taken so high in the draft, that everyone expected him to be amazing and reach his full potential. Unfortunately, he never lived up to that potential. I liked him for what he brought to the game though and wish him all the luck in the world.

ESPN’s power rankings have been up for a few days. They are the first (and only) I’ve seen so far. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=3504426
Coyotes are ranked 11th in the Western Conference. “The Coyotes now have the big center they've been lacking in Olli Jokinen, but they still don't have enough scoring and they're going to miss Keith Ballard along the blue line and in the dressing room.”
Ever since Ballard was traded, all I’ve heard is how much he sucked and how much better off we are without him (these would be from fans). Thanks ESPN for pointing out what I have been saying all along. I would rather have Ballard on my blueline than on the opponents. Ballard did regress a little bit form the previous two seasons but this was his first season as a top line shut down pair. You have got to expect he’s not going to be the same player, especially since he’s in a new role. As far as the scoring, if the young guys can step up and produce like expected, we will have no problem scoring. Below us in the rankings are Vancouver, Colorado, St Louis and the Kings. Those teams don’t really surprise me. Although, if the Kings have solved their goalie problem, they may cause some trouble and upsets. Kings will be a team that I will keep a close eye on this year. They started to turn around and were getting better at the end of the last season.