EHM The Blue Line

Tampa Bay have been bought by a group led by Doug MacLean

Tampa Bay : SOLD!

I dont think this will bring about much change, they have the leasing rights for the Forum still, and they have been quoted saying that John Tortorella will remaing as GM

Heh..what no Balsillie?

But does that also mean that they are gonna move???

Havent read nothing about that on that article, but maybe u guys over the big pond know more "insider infos", lol!!??

getzlaf15 wrote:Tampa Bay have been bought by a group led by Doug MacLean

Tampa Bay : SOLD!

I dont think this will bring about much change, they have the leasing rights for the Forum still, and they have been quoted saying that John Tortorella will remaing as GM

Not to nitpick but Tortorella is the head coach, Jay feaster is the Generel Manager , but it is interesting to see if they will spend to the cap or stay at the rumored 44 mill the old ownership was talking about?.

Flea--No discussion of movement of TBL. (Totally OT and silly but-- Hey cool..Tampa Bay Lightning...The Blue Line. Cool. ). They are likely staying there for now, but would not be shocked if one day they moved.

Think this is a good move for Doug MacLean. I was reading in The Hockey News that Tampa is the 4th best Market for hockey in the USA. This surprises me because I would expect it to be
1. Detroit
2. Minneapolis
3. Chicago/Boston
4. Boston/Chicago
5. New York

If I remember the article right its
1. Detroit
2. Boston
3. New York
4. Tampa Bay
5. Chicago

Likely based solely on the excitement caused by winning the cup. If they go through a few lean years..which they kind of are starting to...TB will die out, and if Chicago gets better like they should they will go back up.

Minnesota just needs a good exciting team, which I think they have now. But they get penalized for losing the North Star/Star franchise.

I cant see Chicago rising past 4. Not without Boston Dropping. You have to remember that when they say "New York" they mean the area. That has included (at the time of the article) New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, and the New York Islanders. I think even if Tampa and Boston fall we would see something like

1. Detroit
2. New York
3. Chicago
4. Minneapolis
5. Las Angeles (accounts for Kings and Ducks)

I really surprised to see Boston so high... at least for the NHL. It's barely a blip on the radar these days. Now that the Celtics have made themselves a contender, the Bruins are struggling for #4 team in the city with the New England Revolution (MLS soccer) breathing down their necks. College and youth hockey are still big though.

bruins72 wrote:I really surprised to see Boston so high... at least for the NHL. It's barely a blip on the radar these days. Now that the Celtics have made themselves a contender, the Bruins are struggling for #4 team in the city with the New England Revolution (MLS soccer) breathing down their necks. College and youth hockey are still big though.

Yea, I think the Artlicle was a little screwy in that they counted BC and TDT (Those darn Terriers {sorry, Michigan fan...}) but left out most other colleges.

When i read the title of the article i immediately thought of Balsillie, but he aint involved in this one,

My bad on the GM and Head Coach mix up,

Regarding the top 5 hockey franchises, i would have put the Sharks in there somewhere, don't they have the biggest fanbase in the league, Detroit are pretty clear winners, The Rangers are high up there and i would say Toronto is too

WOO! 200th Post

getzlaf15 wrote: Regarding the top 5 hockey franchises, i would have put the Sharks in there somewhere, don't they have the biggest fanbase in the league, Detroit are pretty clear winners, The Rangers are high up there and i would say Toronto is too

Those were just the USA teams, all 6 canadian teams have a bigger following than any american team.

I just heard Doug Maclean on the radio. They said anyone and everyone who ever spoke about this deal was on a confidentiality agreement. He said that they would not reveal anything to anyone, because of the Balsilliness. So there ya go. It came out today. They have been working on it since June. When Doug and his buddies thought "wouldn't it be a good idea if we bought a team, and owned it, and ran it our way?"