So, What Teams Got their Butt Kissed By the NHL?
Posted 3:11 PM ET | Comments 29
I am just curious to know what are the number of back to back games your teams are sentenced to play next year? The Sabres get to play 20 back to back games. Just under a quarter of their schedule. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess the Leafs, Senators and Canadians were protected in this way. I guess this is the way the NHL gets back at certain teams for their previous years indiscretions. Lindy shouldn't say Run'em next year if a team aims to knock a Sabres player's block off. Tom Golisano shouldn't write a public letter about the problems that head hunting brings to the league. Bettman and his boys will always get the last word.
There is a league wide conspiracy to keep the Sabres down, obviously ;)
This is the kind of crap that gives decent Sabres fans a bad rep. Quit with the conspiracy theory garbage...or at the very least take it to a Ted Nolan blog.Incidentally, just for comparison - the Leafs play 22 back to back
the leafs start the season with a back to back against ottawa. one of 15 back to backs...it ain't 20, but stop drinking the kool-aid.
Surprisingly, the Blue Jackets only have to play like 11 or something like that. Maybe the commish seeing what not making the playoffs would do to the franchise threw us a bone.
Curious, anything special you have to do to get your post up? I posted a blog an hour and a half ago and it only shows on my profile page. A little help...
Mayor it has to have tags and be approved for first time bloggers.
Tags it has. Approval is needed I guess. Thanks bud. About this blog... have you read any of the threads about the Predators schedule? Doesn't look to me the league did them any favors although if you read the blogs and newspapers you'd think they have the best schedule in the league.
The Flyers certainly didn't. 11 of their first 15 games on the road. Ouch!
Yeah, you need to have a tag to get your blog posted.......Hey Canuck fan, thanks for your input. I really just wanted to put butt in my title :)
I just don't think that this league is smart enough to conspire against anyone (other than Balsillie and his attempts to relocate a team to Canada).
You had me until a conspiracy that involved giving a competitive advantage to the Sens. Yeah, sure. Back to back's are stupid. The other thing is when your team plays a competitor that's playing the second (or even first) of a back to back. Last season it seemed to happen over and over again that the Canucks played the first half of some team's double header and the Flames played the second half, giving them a big leg up. Conspiracy? Naw. My faulty (and biased memory)...probably.
The league has long hated the Sabres and giving them 20 back to back games is ridiculous. the 4 other teams in their division play less back to back games (just as they did last year) with Toronto at 13, Boston at 17, Ottawa at 16 and Montreal at 10. Other Canadian teams play less as well with Edmonton at 9, Calgary at 12 and Vancouver at 15. The Rangers and Flyers surprisingly play 17 each. Gary Bettman loves the big market teams to win and was drooling when the Ducks won as the southward and westward expansion is largely his doing. Teams the NHL hates: Buffalo, Vancouver (somewhat), Islanders, Columbus.Teams they love: the rest of Canada, NYR, Detroit, Philly, LA, Dallas, Pittsburgh (only in the past couple of years or when Mario was great).
The league has long hated the Sabres and giving them 20 back to back games is ridiculous. the 4 other teams in their division play less back to back games (just as they did last year) with Toronto at 13, Boston at 17, Ottawa at 16 and Montreal at 10. Other Canadian teams play less as well with Edmonton at 9, Calgary at 12 and Vancouver at 15. The Rangers and Flyers surprisingly play 17 each. Gary Bettman loves the big market teams to win and was drooling when the Ducks won as the southward and westward expansion is largely his doing. Teams the NHL hates: Buffalo, Vancouver (somewhat), Islanders, Columbus.Teams they love: the rest of Canada, NYR, Detroit, Philly, LA, Dallas, Pittsburgh (only in the past couple of years or when Mario was great).
The Preds have the best schedule in the league. Because they're in the central playing Chicago, St. Louis, and Columbus 24 times. But then again I guess we're tied with Detroit for that distinction.
We have 10 back to backs, totalling 20 games. Interesting note though: From Dec. 18 - 27, we play 6 games. They're on Dec 18/19, 22/23, and 26/27. Three straight back to backs.
Thought I would add the Islanders play 17 back to backs. Yous would think ALL the teams would play the same amount of back to backs, it really is the only fair way. As a fan I love them, as I always hate waiting for another game.
congrats gilp,on being a complete idiot
congrats gilp,on being a complete idiot
I'm sorry GP, but I disagree here. I don't think it has nothing to do with conspiracies. In fact I'm certain it balances out... like for example, do the Sabres have a 7 game road-trip? Or maybe the majority of those games are at home (back to back)?
Penguins play 10 back to back games, first is the opening game in Carolina followed by Anaheim the next night at home.
I hear ya RG. I just go back to last year as well when Ottawa and Toronto had far fewer back to back games than the Sabres. Do I really think there is a conspiracy? Not really, but I do believe there is politics in everything. Last year Ralph Wilson, owner of the Bills, spoke out against the way income was being shared. It was speculated by national and local media the reason the Bills played most of their home games in the last half of the season,when it gets cold here in Buffalo, was a way to stick it to Ralph and the Bills. This was purely a speculative little blog. I also wanted to see if people like Mikehock9 would post like a 12 year old. Mission accomplished! :)
20 games is 10 back to back pairs of games. How do teams have 15 or 17 back to back games? Impossible unless you are looking at the number of times they play two games in two nights.
I never thought of it (back-to-back scheduling) as a possible punishment. There seemed to be no reason for 3 or 4 day gaps between games followed by back-to-backs and every-other-day schedules. I chalked it up to arena availability but maybe there was something else at work. One thing is certain; it isn't because of broadcast requirements. HDnet seemed to carry as many games as Versus and regional coverage wouldn't matter. I don't usually lean towards the "conspiratorial" but it just doesn't add up logically. Maybe there is some League office score-settling in the mix??????
The NHL doesnt favoe Canada...if they had their way, all 28-29 of the teams would be American. (Toronto and possibly Montreal as the 2 non-american teams). All you have to do is look at Sens playing a SATURDAY afternoon game in the playoffs when no other Canadian team was playing that day. They should have played at night for Hockey Night in Canada instead of the afternoon game for NBC. HNIC pays big bucks unlike NBC and Versus. Versus cuts away from a double OT game and the NHL still cater to the US tv. If Canada was favored, Winnepeg, Hamilton, Quebec and other Canadian cities would have teams.
yup, the NHL is favouring the Leafsand the US government planned the 9/11 attacksits all part of one big conspiracy to bring the middle east into the NHL
um... so apperantly hitting enter is not a good thing on these blogs?
Back to back games, per se, aren't necessarily bad.Back in the "old days", early round playoff series were two games, day off, two games.The problem arises when Team A plays on "Wednesday" night whilst Team B is dormant, then team A travels to play Team B in Team B Town.This is an NBA technique designed to give the home team an advantage in hopes of selling more tickets.Bettman is an NBA guy.Nuff said.
Why do some of the comments bring up Western teams in this argument, do you realize how much travel is involved? Still 20 does seem excessive.