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Written by HO Staff
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Thursday, 22 April 2010 14:28 |
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As we reach the mid-point of many of the first round playoff games, we here at Hockeyoutsiders dig into our archives to resurrect a story about the Devils franchise that we originally published in 2002. While the action on the ice has been fantastic for the first round some of the big stories have also happened off the ice, where Philadelphia fans have accused Devils fans of poor attendance and lack of support for their team. The Devils fans in a war of words have responded, but nevertheless, the stereotype remains about fans of New Jersey. Thursday, August 22, 2002
Will Rename Franchise Art Diablos
ART, TX (HO) - Upset with the proceedings in finding a new building to play in, the New Jersey Devils have announced a plan to move the franchise to Art, TX , Pop. 2.
Art, Texas was one of the earliest German settlers’ sites established in the 1850s. On the property are four buildings: Proprietor house, Guest House, General Store (Café), and Feed Store. The Devils new arena will be built on the site of the old Feed Store and will be spacious enough to house the entire population of Art. "With this move and new arena, we will be able to double our season ticket base," said Devils President Lou Lamoriello. "We've given strong incentives to the residents of Art, and they've responded."
Because hockey lacks the popularity of other major sports, TV revenues pale in comparison. Most teams are left to generate revenue out of ticket sales, concessions, and parking. "This gives us an opportunity to double our revenues from season tickets," said Lamoriello. "This increased revenue will allow us to compete with teams like Ottawa, Edmonton and Pittsburgh." 
Amenities Galore
Currently, the Devils are reportedly looking for corporate sponsors to sell out their luxury boxes. John Deere quickly reserved one of the two available. All-Agro, the Canadian grain giant, is currently in a bidding war with the HooDoo Guest House for the other box. The bid is set at 300 Canadian dollars.
The Devils considered many moves, including the Yukon Territories, but felt that the homey confines of Art suited the needs of the team. Explained Lamoriello "Where else can we own a city and double our fan base? The warm weather will attract those low-level free agents that we're notorious for signing."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 22 April 2010 18:58 )
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Written by FRE
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Friday, 26 March 2010 17:20 |
Philadelphia, PA (HO). We know what you’re thinking…another article about Flyers goaltending, what would an NHL season be without some comment on the Philadelphia goalie situation. However, with the recent release of a TSN article ranking goaltending in the NHL, we feel it is our duty as pure hockey analysts to take a look at this list and point out the factual inaccuracies contained in it. Perhaps, Paul Holmgren will take a minute this offseason, which is fast approaching for this current Flyers team and do his best to address the problem.
With all due respect to TSN, we feel that the Flyers (ranked at 29 out of 30 teams) is ranked way too high. Edmonton is ranked lower, but we would point out that the current Edmonton goaltending has at least 17 wins and the starting goalie, Jeff Desauliers at least has 3 shutouts this season. Here is a list of other hockey teams that currently also have better goaltending than the Flyers.
1. St. Petersburgh SKA – The SKA is led by former Flyer goaltender Robert Esche. Esche has put up sterling numbers in the KHL this season, which begs the question why no NHL team took a chance on him last offseason. Backup goalie, Maxim Sokolov put up better numbers than Esche, albeit in a limited role. Sokolov has never played outside of Russia, and given his age will probably never get the chance. The Flyers brought back Ray Emery, maybe they could do the same for Esche.
2. Hamilton Bulldogs – The Bulldogs are anchored in net by former NHL goalie Curtis Sanford. Sanford is currently under contract with the Montreal Canadiens and while his numbers have never been that sterling at the NHL level, they have been exceptional playing in the AHL. We all know that success in the AHL is not a precursor to NHL success, but one Micheal Leighton can attest that it can be an indicator of potential. Backup goalie, Cedric Desjardins has never seen NHL action, but the 25 year old is currently the best goalie in the AHL and it appears that the Canadiens are rich in goalie prospects.
3. Magnitogorsk Mettallurg – Ilya Proskuryakov and Vasily Koshechkin form the goaltending due for the Mettallurg. Neither goalie has ever seen NHL action, although Koshechkin was drafted by the TB Lightning in 2002. Both goalies are relatively young, Koshechkin is 27 and Proskuryakov is just 20 and it seems legitimate to claim that they may be the two best goalies not currently playing in the NHL, which makes us wonder why the Flyers who specialize in the best players not currently in the NHL haven’t at least signed one of them.
4. Manchester Monarchs – The LA Kings are another NHL team stacked with goaltending riches. Jonathan Bernier is the real deal, tearing it up in the AHL and if not for Olympic USA goaltender Jonathan Quick, he would probably be in the big show. Jeff Zatkoff his understudy doesn’t appear to be a slouch either, which bodes well for the LA organization. There have been numerous rumors of several Flyer’s players being shipped to LA and it seems logical that one of the Kings promising netminders will be included in the deal.
5. Kazan Ak-Bars – Kazan also has former NHL goalies in their rotation, sporting X-Phoenix Coyote/Buffalo Sabre, Mikael Tellqvist. He however, is not even their best goalie that distinction would go to Vehanen Petri, who is a monster in net, with a ridiculously low GAA of 1.73. Both these goalies have seen their past the prime date expire, but we aren’t focused on age, but rather, which teams have exhibited better goaltenders than this current Flyer squad.
Probably has better goalies
Albany River Rats – who have promising prospect Justin Pogge between the pipes
Manitoba Moose – disgruntled prospect Cory Schneider tops the list
Ufa Salavat Yulayev – Here’s more 30 something goalies with great numbers. One guy did play for the Avalanche for a short stint.
Balashika MVD HC – So that’s where Micheal Garnett of Thrasher fame ended up!
Our Men’s League Team- Todd is the fucking man!
Actually, it might be safe to almost say the entire KHL has better goaltending than the Flyers except for maybe Chekov Vityaz, that team definitely has some goaltending issues.
We also scoured other leagues like the East Coast Hockey league where the Idaho Steelheads have great goaltending, For our British friends, we looked at the Coventry Blaze who are consistently champions. We perused the stats of the Finland SM-Liiga and the Swiss National League A, and we found some other potential teams, but reading the stats and comparing them to the NHL just seemed ridiculous. There is no way that Jyp HT Jyvaskyla has better goaltending than Philadelphia, right?
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 March 2010 17:30 )
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Written by HO Staff
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Tuesday, 02 March 2010 19:42 |
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The original goal of this series was to finish prior to the Olympics’ being over, but who are we kidding? Olympic hockey ruled the news and the day and with such classic commentary by Mike Milbury and the US’s Cinderella run to the medal round was too riveting to make these stories even relevant. So now as we resume back to NHL action, we continue our series where we left off with the 4th place team in the Atlantic Conference, the New York Rangers. Please note this is the pre-deadline NY Rangers before Management decides to see what they can do in the market tomorrow. Hockeyoutsiders lead editor asked; “What was that HBO show with all the freaks in it?”…”Carnivale?”, yeah, that’s your 2009-10 NY Rangers. If you missed the rest of the series, you can find it under the NHL teams, Atlantic division tabs...
Ryan Callahan, who is the Rangers most talented up and coming player, is Ben Hawkins. Both guys have loads of talent, they just haven’t fully utilized it yet.
Marian Gaborik is Brother Justin Crowe. Gaborik just has that creepy, I’m wicked good type of attitude, especially when he’s healthy.
King Henrik is the ringleader no matter how you spin it. If he was also a midget, these guys would be twins.
Back in the day both of these guys were clutch. Now, not so much. Unless they are put in certain situations, see, Hockey, Olympics.
You never know what you’re going to get with Michal Rozsival, the same could be said of Professor Lodz. Plus they both have that “z” thing going on in their names or as our brethren in Canada would say "zed".
It’s just too easy sometimes to make fun of big Olli Jokinen. Comparing him to a guy with the nickname of “Stumpy” is just about right. Olli “Stumpy” Jokinen, yup, that has a subtle ring to it. I think Olli should be referred to as Stumpy from here on out. Stumpy was amazing in that bronze medal game.
Dolan was a bit of a maverick wild card in the show. Prospal has bounced around to his fair share of teams. Always just enough talent to be dangerous, not enough consistency to remain employeed by one team too long.
Fans of the show and the NY Rangers will know EXACTLY what I’m talking about by comparing Wade Redden to Apollonia who is the invalid confined to her bed for the entire series. Both were pretty good once upon a time.
The bearded lady only has one equal. {insert sloppy seconds joke here}
Now this one we probably have to explain a little. The whole series had a mysterious figure behind the curtain pulling the strings. That figure would make decisions that ranged from downright brilliant to amazingly stupid depending of course on the situation. Sather definitely fits the bill of the puppet master. Only one more team to go, the NY Islanders. Will we finish anytime before the end of the year? There is a distinct possiblity that we will or we may just get bored and leave the poor Islanders to your collective imaginations.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 March 2010 20:17 )
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Written by HO Staff
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Friday, 19 February 2010 17:36 |
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In honor of Martin Brodeur's epic shoot-out win last night in the Olympics, Hockeyoutsiders takes a look back into our files of New Jersey stories and found this gem published in 2003 after their Stanley Cup victory. Another classic HO story, brought to you during the Olympic lull.... MEADOWSWAMPS, NJ (HO) -- New Jersey Devils fans broke their own personal arena noise level during game seven of the Stanley Cup finals, prompting the Devils to hold a tailgate party in appreciation of their fan base.
During the third period of game seven of the finals, the fans´ exhortations in favor of the home team pushed the needle on the decibel meter up to 8 db. This broke the previously established all time record high noise level at Continental Airlines arena for a Devils games of 7 db. According to the decibel scale, pictured at right, 10 decibels is the sound of a pin dropping from ten meters. 8 db is is about the sound of a 2 day old kitten crying 3500 feet away.
The Devils themselves were ecstatic as the noise levels were commented on by nearly everyone in the organization. "The fans were great. The noise was almost loud enough to block out the beer vendors opening the cans in section 221", said veteran defenseman Scott Stevens. "Most of the time I can hear those guys making change, but not tonight, tonight was different. I´ve never heard it so loud."
Defenseman Brian Rafalski echoed Stevens´ comments, "To have that happen in the third period, wow, I mean, that´s what playoff hockey is about. Normally the only thing we hear in the third period are the pretzel vendors closing up their stands. But this? Wow!" When told that 8 decibels is the equivalent of a kitten from 3500 feet, Rafalski was amazed, "That loud? Our fans are the best."
The Devils showed their gratitude to the fans during the celebratory tailgate party, mingling, signing autographs and chit-chatting with the crowd, estimated between 12 and 15 people, but an exact count could not be determined. "This is really great, the fans really came out in force for this one", said Martin Brodeur as he overlooked the festivities. "I really wish my wife and her boyfriends would have attended. We could have doubled the size of the party."
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Last Updated ( Friday, 19 February 2010 17:45 )
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