Hockey is back!!! 2006-2007: GO OILERS!!

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The Penguins are once again in limbo. It's a shame as they have such a great young team that will be competitive for years to come. Give them a new arena and watch out! I sincerely hope they remain in Pittsburgh.



Balsillie pulls bid to purchase Penguins

An uncertain future for the Pittsburgh Penguins has become even more uncertain.

Bob McKenzie
12/15/2006 6:48:53 PM

Candian billionaire Jim Balsillie has withdrawn his offer to purchase the Penguins and where it goes from here is anybody's guess.

Representatives for both Balsillie and the NHL refused to comment on Balsillie's withdrawal, but sources tell TSN the deal started to fall apart a week ago today, when the $175 million transaction was supposed to officially close.

Sources say the NHL introduced a lengthy list of terms and conditions on the closing day that Balsillie would have to agree to if he were going to be approved as the new owner of the team. The sources added that those conditions included keeping the franchise in Pittsburgh under any circumstances and also provided for a scenario where the league could take control the franchise if it deemed it necessary.

In any case, it seems clear Balsillie was not prepared to meet those terms and conditions. He and the league apparently have been negotiating for the past week trying to find some common ground that would permit the transaction to take place, but sources say Balsillie grew weary of the process and served notice to the league he was terminating his offer to purchase.



Sources suggest the door isn't closed to Balsillie resurrecting his interest but only if the conditions of ownership are amenable to him. The NHL, though, appears intent on getting some firm commitment that the Penguins will not be leaving Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, the news obviously comes as great disappointment to Penguins' owner Mario Lemieux. Lemieux issued the following statement:

''Jim Balsillie delivered a notice of termination today, and it is our understanding that he has stopped negotiating with the National Hockey League to get the necessary consent to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins,'' Lemieux said.

''While these developments create significant uncertainty, the Penguins organization will re-evaluate our situation after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board makes the decision on the awarding of the Pittsburgh gaming license.

''What is clear is the best way to assure that the team remains viable and in Pittsburgh is to award the gaming license to the Isle of Capri.''

A decision on a slots license application is to be made Dec. 20. If the license is awarded to the Isle of Capri group, which has an agreement with the Penguins to get a new arena built for the NHL team, the future of the franchise in Pittsburgh appears to be secure.

But if the slots license were granted to a group other than Isle of Capri, there is no guarantee the Penguins would be able to stay in Pittsburgh.

It is difficult to know how to spin what has happened here since neither side – Balsillie or the NHL – are talking. The best we can do is to speculate.

The NHL might be inclined to say its desire to include assurances the Pens stay in Pittsburgh, and Balsillie's subsequent refusal to grant those assurances, shows that Balsillie was strongly considering the possibility of relocating the franchise, perhaps to southern Ontario, where the headquarters of his RIM corporation are located. The NHL could maintain it was championing the cause of NHL hockey in Pittsburgh and protecting the Penguins.

Balsillie might be inclined to say the NHL blindsided him and the Penguins' Lemieux-led ownership group with a series of last-minute demands that would leave his $175 million investment greatly compromised and that he could never invest that sum and have his hands tied as tightly as the NHL was insisting.

Now? Who knows?

The first hint that something might be awry came earlier this week when a fax vote by the NHL board of governors was supposed to have been completed. Whether it was or not, we don't know. But the expectation was, initially anyway, that the approval would be swift and unanimous and could have been announced as early as Monday of this week.

Sources told TSN that the board approval might be withheld until after the Dec. 20 announcement on the slots license in Pittsburgh, that if the Isle of Capri received the license and the arena plans were going ahead then Balsillie would get board approval. But that if Isle of Capri didn't get the license, and the Pens' arena future was uncertain, there would have to be assurances from Balsillie to keep the team in Pittsburgh before league approval was granted.

As it turned out, those demands were made last week when the deal was supposed to close on Dec. 8.

The Penguins are expected to hold a news conference during the first intermission of their game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh.
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So, a good defence,...pretty good goalies and a lot of shots on the enemy net. here comes the dallas stars,....


:|
 
Canadiens1160 said:


Guillaume Latendresse, local fav, got his 7th and the crowd gave him the loudest cheer of the night. The Frencher your name is, the more applause you get :D
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haha, but the opposite is true too - if you're french-canadian and not playing well, living up to expectations, etc you'll get louder boos than anyone else (for eg Theo's buddy in Colorado who used to play for the Habs - his name escapes me). It explains why some french-canadians - apparently Lecavalier is one of them - won't play there.

The Habs are bad at diving?!
I didn't know that. :reject:
Who are the worst offenders?
(assuming of course you're not just a disgruntled Bruins fan :wink:)

Can't be any worse than when the Habs played against Carolina last year - the Hurricanes were diving quite a bit!
 
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ladywithspinninghead said:


(for eg Theo's buddy in Colorado who used to play for the Habs - his name escapes me). It explains why some french-canadians - apparently Lecavalier is one of them - won't play there.
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His name is defenceman Patrice Brisebois.

Any lady you're right. That's the climate that French-Canadian players have to endure here. They asked some French media members here what they would prefer: a mixed Stanley Cup winning team or a losing squad made up primarily of French-Canadiens.

Guess which one they chose?:huh:
 
I hate this plan. The top two teams in each division making the playoffs? Wildcards? What in the world are these people thinking?


NHL considering significant overhaul



Bob McKenzie

The NHL has been trying for weeks to tinker with its schedule configuration, but is now considering a significant overhaul of the face of the league that includes realignment and a reduction in the number of divisions from six to four.

Nothing is carved in stone at this point, but the NHL is floating an aggressive trial balloon to its governors for consideration. Earlier this week, six club executives, (a mix of governors, teams presidents and GMs), representing the six current divisions met in New York with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and brainstormed to produce a new-look alignment and schedule that they're taking back to other clubs in their respective divisions for feedback.

If there's enough support for it - 20 of the 30 governors would have to approve it - the changes that would take effect next season could be approved at a board meeting during the NHL All-Star Game festivities in Dallas in late January.

Sources tell TSN the proposal includes the following:

A reduction in the number of divisions from six to four. There would still be an Eastern Conference and a Western Conference, but there were would one eight-team division and one seven-team division in each conference.

The top two teams in each division would be guaranteed the top four playoff seeds within the conference with four wild card playoff berths going to the teams with the next highest point totals.

The four new divisions would be configured primarily along the lines of time zones. The theory is not only would this benefit teams in terms of travel, but could also boost TV ratings because game times in the same time zone would be more favorable.

The current Northeast Division (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo and Boston) would remain intact and add two other teams to form a seven-team division. Sources say Pittsburgh is one of those teams that would join the Northeast teams.

The current Atlantic Division (the three New York area teams plus Philadelphia) would be melded together with four teams from the current Southeast Division (all but one of Washington, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida).

The eight-team division in the Western Conference would feature all teams in Pacific or Mountain time zones (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Colorado and Phoenix).

The seven-team division in the Western Conference would feature teams that are in either the Central or Eastern time zones.

As for the schedule, it is said to be a little more complicated than it currently is, because of the uneven number of teams in the divisions, but each team will apparently play its division rivals six times each and its conference rivals either three or four times each and non-conference teams once each.

The theory is there will be some reduction in travel because of the geographic alignment by time zone, but every team will see every team at least once over the course of the season.

It will be interesting to see what feedback is provided by the various clubs as the schedule has become a hot-button issue with many teams
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Mannn

New jerseys
Penguins moving
Stupid realignment

What's up with the NHL these dayz?
 
LarryMullen's_POPAngel said:
Yzerman's getting his number retired tonight.
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We watched it. Ernie is the big Red Wings fan (I'm a fan by association with him. :wink: ). It was very touching.
 
Fucking awesome! :up:

Too bad I'll be at work for the gold medal game. That always seems to happen. :lol:


The Canucks' win over Dallas tonight (2-1 in S/O) brings them to 5 wins in a row. Things are definitely looking better!
 
ThoraSEB said:
Fucking awesome! :up:
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I find it hilarious right before the camera cuts away you get a closeup of the players celebrating and hear a "Fuck yeah" and someone else shouts "Fuckin' right"

:lol:
 
ThoraSEB said:
Fucking awesome! :up:

Too bad I'll be at work for the gold medal game. That always seems to happen. :lol:


The Canucks' win over Dallas tonight (2-1 in S/O) brings them to 5 wins in a row. Things are definitely looking better!
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:madspit:
 
God damn, Toronto. Calm down on the goal scoring. Save some for later games.


Impressive display.
 
inmyplace13 said:
God damn, Toronto. Calm down on the goal scoring. Save some for later games.
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i guess t.o. could have used patrik stefan tonight, eh, impy? :sexywink:
 
elevated_u2_fan said:
I love how they take possesion of the puck, turn around and score... That guy must feel like a total ass...
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Well, in his defence it seems like the puck just bounced over his stick. I don't think what Ray Ferraro said was called for.

It's not like Stefan pulled a Leon Lett and slowly skated towards the open net before an opposing player took the puck away from him. Although him falling down was pretty funny.
 
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