EHM The Blue Line

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=pag ... eid=351340

2 more overseas games have been arranged for the start of next year. And surprise surprise the Penguins and Crosby have been selected to play. Give someone else a chance, the 2 games will feature Rangers vs Lightning in Prague, and Sens vs Pens in Stockholm.

Sounds like good news, i'm hopein to attend 1, ive always wanted to go to Sweden.

Always wanted to go to Sweden too... Although i doubt i'll be able in time for the Sens vs Pens game, but who knows?...

Am I the only one that doesn't like Crosby? Yes he has awesome talent, that can't be argued, but I just don't like him, and there are 29 other teams with good players on there team aswell, that im sure would like to play overseas aswell.

thats my 2 cents

Am I the only one that doesn't like Crosby?

No.

...I know I've hated him since day one.

Plus by the sounds of it, every hockey fan in Philly hates him too.

Pens are rumoured to play their exhibitions in Finland.

I don't hate Crosby, but I'm not all pumped up about his existence either. I like Ovechkin more... Maybe if Crosby played for Washington, I could reconsider.

Will have to go take a look see at attending if they play in Turku or Helsinki region, though.

Flyers fans hate Crosby? Nah, that would be like saying Flames fans hate Gretzky. Come on.

Sid is a great hockey player, he is also a kid still. He will grow up.


(PS-When I was young like Getzlaf I hated Wayne...cause I was so freaking jealous of him...what that dude could do with a puck...wow. Talk about having eyes in the back of your head)

Sid is a different player than Wayne, we will not likely ever see another one like 99 Or number four Bobby Orr.

Sid will not change the way the game of hockey is played. Bobby and Wayne both did.


As for playing games in Europe...just another NHL waste of time. No offense to you Euros who live there really. Just as far as the NHL goes...games over there are a waste of time that tire out the players and cause the teams playing to

1. Suck when they come home for some time.
2. Get hurt.
3. Suck.

The Kings should have been better than they are. The Ducks were brutal until around Xmas (not all to do with Nieds return, but yeah some of it is) and when the Nucks went to Japan, they and the Ducks were brutal upon return. (Also had alot to do with the Messier sideshow here)

Tasku wrote:I like Ovechkin more...

I love Ovechkin, and I beleive he is a better player than Crosby, as Ovechkin has a harder job, he is a sniper, an out and out sniper is harder to be than a playmaker...where you have other players finish off your pass, Crosby is a great player, but I'd rather Ovechkin any day of the week.

Although it seems to be a fact, i don't quite understand why the NHL teams suck after playing a couple of games in Europe. Sure, there's the travel, the difference of time zones, and such, but also a few more days to recover before their next games...

By the way, i also think it's a NHL waste of time. Afterall, the NHL is made of north american teams only, so why the hell are they playing in Europe? Sure, it's a great opportunity for Euro hockey fans to see those teams live. Sure, the best Euro players are in the NHL, so it's somehow fair that the Euro fans can see them live from time to time. But it remains a NA league.

Oh, and about Crosby, it's pretty obvious that he is not the second coming of The Great One. I still wonder how people thought he should be the next #99... It reminds me all the "next Jordan" we were supposed to see in the NBA and who where just good to great players, but nothing close to His Airness' impact. I hope hockey won't have the same madness about next Gretzkys, but i can see that coming... Tavares have beaten Gretzky's record for a 16 years old in the OHL, and once the commentators will finally admit that Crosby is the not the next Gretzky, they'll turn there eyes on Tavares. How many more desillusions before they finally admit that there's only one Gretzky and that we're not about to see so much talent in a single player before numerous decades? However, Sid is a highly skilled player, and one of the very best of his generation, no doubt about that.

On a side note, yes, Ovechkin has a harder job than Sid. Being able to score over 50 goals in a team full of nobodies is highly impressive! Put a playmaker along with Ovechkin, and how many can he score?

Shadd666 wrote:On a side note, yes, Ovechkin has a harder job than Sid. Being able to score over 50 goals in a team full of nobodies is highly impressive! Put a playmaker along with Ovechkin, and how many can he score?

Completely agree, plus Ovechkin is physical aswell, which I like, and I could only imagine how many he could score playing alongside Big Joe, as I beleive he is a better playmaker than Sid, but maybe thats the teal glasses im wearing

Also about the "Next Gretzky" thing, I once heard on ESPN a famous boxer talk about how he used to copy Mohammed Ali's moves etc, until he realised that, that won't make him famous, and that there never will be another Mohammed Ali, and once he concentrated on being himself, and doing things that worked for him, he became a champion. I think the media should have a look at it, and wake up and realise that there only ever will be one Gretzky, and you can't compare anyone to him...period! And there only will be one Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, etc. etc.

As for playing games in Europe...just another NHL waste of time.

I have to agree. The NHL should be concentrating on growing the game here at home, not taking the show over to other continents. Once they convince us Americans that hockey exists and that it's a good sport, then start going to other countries.

But then again, we're talking to the same guy who thinks we should have ice hockey teams in Nashville, California, Florida, and the desert.

I will try to get hold of tickets to one of the games in Stockholm. If someone else will come you're welcome, maybe join up in a little "gang" from TBL.

sjsharkz: Big Joe as a better playmaker than Sid? I don't know... Both are excellent. And Joe benefits from a way bigger experience... without being necessarly way better on the ice... So he might (and i say might) be a better playmaker right now, but if you compare them at the same age, i tend to think that Sid gets the edge. Btw, if he has to choose between them, i don't think Ovechkin would really care... As long as he sees a playmaker around him, he should know that he would score way more goals, no matter who the playmaker is

B. Stinson: ...and we always conclude it the same way: FIRE BETTMAN!!!



joehelmer: I love the idea of a "TBL gang" going to games together Thought about it a long time ago, but it has the obvious difficulty of the travel costs (and free time). Should be fun though.

RE: Expansion to Europe

I know it has just been bandied around as a flight of fancy, but I think Bettman would if he could. The insurmountable obstacle is the logistics of shipping teams across the pond. Better to focus on growing the game in the US than in Europe. I would love to see the European teams organize into a league and then have the European Champ play the Stanley Cup Champ in a "World Series of Hockey" type thing.

B. Stinson wrote:

Am I the only one that doesn't like Crosby?

No.

...I know I've hated him since day one.

Plus by the sounds of it, every hockey fan in Philly hates him too.

As a Philly Fan I agree i want to see him get hurt and cry

The reason for playing in Europe is marketing and publicity for the NHL. As for european expansion I guess it could happen one day but not for a long time yet. The euro teams are happy with their national leagues but would enjoy the novelty of an NHL game or 2 a season. The NHL has enough teams as it is without expanding further.

What I would maybe suggets is something similar to NFL europe when it was going. Say the players from teams that fail to make the NHL playoffs could play in a spring league in Europe. Get say 8 teams playing home and away and some sort of finals weekend to top it all off. If there was only a handfull of games it wouldn't really interfere much with the local national leagues.

Lets say there was a UK based team they could play in the arenas say Belfast, Nottingham and Sheffield basically tour around and let as many fans get the chance to see such a high standard of hockey locally. Just an example and of course the likes of czech, russia, sweden, finland, germany, switzerland would be good places to have teams.

If each team could get a couple really good names it would attract crowds and fringe players would get a chance and unsigned prospect in Europe coudl perhaps guest star if they are not needed by their clubs for a night. It could be interesting and the winner of this could play the European Champions League winners in a challenge match.

In case anyone's interested:

NHLPA's Take on the Euro Openers

Shadd666 wrote:i don't think Ovechkin would really care... As long as he sees a playmaker around him, he should know that he would score way more goals, no matter who the playmaker is

True, but from what I've seen of Backstrom, he seems to be doing really well, and looks to be quite a superstar in the future.

I thought about going, but the tickets are so expensive

I don't think anyone can deny that Crosby has talent. He is a very very good player. He just isn't Ovechkin.

If you put Ovechkin on a team that was as stacked as the Penguins I think we might have seen a slightly different playoffs this past year.