Is it time for a Canadian only professional hockey league?

[patnyrnyg]

I was in a sim league like this once. It was 20 teams, all Canadian towns/cities. Only Canadian players. I am not Canadian, but I knew the commish from another league and let me in because he knew I would be active and my grandmother was born in Slave Lake. My great grandmother brought her to NYC when she got word that her sister immigated here. For those unfamiliar with sim leagues, market size did not come into play. So, I could put my team in Ft McMurray or Yellowknife and it was not a disadvantage to someone who used a bigger city. Only rule was nobody could use the names of the 8 Cities that had an NHL team in the early-mid 90s. BUT, you could use the name of a neighborhood/town/whatever within the city. I used Slave Lake as an ode to Grandma.

edit: I was also aware of, but not in, another sim league where the teams were at the time all the current and former NHL team names, and at the time Canadian AHL teams. So, they had the Quebec Nordiques and Quebec Bullogs, the Maroons, Vancouver Millionaires, Toronto St Pats, Hamilton Bulldogs, etc.

 

[Rebels57]

I would love a cfl type hockey league, games only on the weekend, teams in Regina and Saskatoon, drink a few bud lights...

Canadian teams are at a disadvantage, but that has more to do with location than Gary.


Relax man

Drinking a shitty American beer while attending a game at the Canadian-only hockey league. Classic lol.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

In my experience Canadians are not this whiney but damn

Canadian teams could just be better lol

 

[Rob Brown]

Stop embarrassing us. Stop crying.

Signed all Canadians

This.

But also, no interest in watching a second tier league while all the good Canadian players stay in the US.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Sure if you want it to be a 2nd rate joke of a league like the CFL

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

Anyways, you Canadian guys that freak out over Bettman and stuff would be a lot happier if you all just made the concentrated cultural effort to push Junior Hockey into the same sphere of relevance within your country as NCAA Football and College Basketball are in the USA.

Places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama.. Norman, Oklahoma... Lawrence, Kansas... Clemson, South Carolina... Lincoln, Nebraska... they aren't sitting around crying because they don't have NFL and NBA teams, they just treat the local college team as the biggest show in town and give it all the attention and fervor that come with pro sport franchises.

This guy gets it. And let me tell you something, rooting for college sports is a hell of a lot better than rooting for pro sports if it's your school.

 

[knuck]

you guys ever watched the Spengler Cup? A fully Canadian league would be below the Spengler cup skill level

no thanks

 

[FerrisRox]

i say this because i feel with bettman calling the shots, i don't see canadian nhl teams have a chance to win..

i believe its time for canadians to create their own professional hockey league just like the CFL...

in this professional league, the salaries will be lower and the ticket prices will be affordable for families...

i say to canadians let the NHL go with its pro american business mindset...and embrace a new league that will cater to hockey crazed canadians..

What has Bettman done that makes it unfair for the Canadian clubs?

This is absurd. The only reason a Canadian team hasn't won since 1993 is because they haven't been good enough to win it all.

There's absolutely no "conspiracy" by the NHL to hold down the Canadian teams.

This is idiotic.

 

[Gee Wally]

i say this because i feel with bettman calling the shots, i don't see canadian nhl teams have a chance to win..

i believe its time for canadians to create their own professional hockey league just like the CFL...

in this professional league, the salaries will be lower and the ticket prices will be affordable for families...

i say to canadians let the NHL go with its pro american business mindset...and embrace a new league that will cater to hockey crazed canadians..

 

[Guttersniped]

The inherent disadvantages of managing teams in Canadian cities is becoming too obvious to ignore.


The good one.

There’s an inherent disadvantage to managing a team in Toronto?

That’s like saying there’s an inherent disadvantage to managing a basketball team in New York.

That’s not why the Knicks or the Leafs haven’t won Championships since 1973 and 1967.

 

[Guttersniped]

That’s sports dude. The Chicago Bears haven’t won since 1985, you don’t think Bears fans want something to cheer for? Vancouver got very close in 2011, Montreal lucked their way into a Finals appearance recently, and if Toronto/Edmonton had better management they’d be fighting for Cups perpetually this decade. It isn’t Bettman’s fault that the Leafs torched their rebuild with Tavares or that Chia/Holland can’t put talent around McDrai, or that Vancouver makes bad decision after bad decision for the last 12 seasons.

The Bears haven’t won because God is still punishing them for this:



(The guy who’s fake playing the bongos is a hero though.)

 

[Grinner]

There would be more money in Canada, stars follow money. No dead ass team to level down the others

What? The same deep pocket teams will have to keep the also rans solvent .can't just have a league if Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

 

[Guttersniped]

Both things can be true. Canadian teams are forced to spend more to keep talent because of taxes.


At that time people were calling it an overpayment, so I don't know about that.

I don’t want to shock you but Massachusetts is not famous for low taxes but the Bruins still gets its stars signed, often at a pretty team friendly prices.

 

[Voight]

Anyways, you Canadian guys that freak out over Bettman and stuff would be a lot happier if you all just made the concentrated cultural effort to push Junior Hockey into the same sphere of relevance within your country as NCAA Football and College Basketball are in the USA.

Places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama.. Norman, Oklahoma... Lawrence, Kansas... Clemson, South Carolina... Lincoln, Nebraska... they aren't sitting around crying because they don't have NFL and NBA teams, they just treat the local college team as the biggest show in town and give it all the attention and fervor that come with pro sport franchises.

Jr Hockey has a big sphere of relevance. Especially in places like London, Kitchener, Kamloops, Red Deer, Halifax, QC.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

No, the Cup is not a f***ing participation trophy. No teams are entitled to win. Canada's teams are dog shit and horribly managed. Let them languish.

 

[Jigger77]

i say this because i feel with bettman calling the shots, i don't see canadian nhl teams have a chance to win..

i believe its time for canadians to create their own professional hockey league just like the CFL...

in this professional league, the salaries will be lower and the ticket prices will be affordable for families...

i say to canadians let the NHL go with its pro american business mindset...and embrace a new league that will cater to hockey crazed canadians..

Personally I think this is a great idea, and I also I think it would work. Virtually any small market in Canada would support a high caliber pro league with reasonable attendance prices. The CFL works. People here support hockey in large numbers at every level. I think it would be very successful. It would also provide an alternative to going to Europe for bubble NHL players. I would love to see it and I certainly would support it.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Personally I think this is a great idea, and I also I think it would work. Virtually any small market in Canada would support a high caliber pro league with reasonable attendance prices. The CFL works. People here support hockey in large numbers at every level. I think it would be very successful. It would also provide an alternative to going to Europe for bubble NHL players. I would love to see it and I certainly would support it.

It wouldn't work because there are already 7 NHL markets. It's not like the NFL where there are zero teams so you have teams like the Alouettes and Argonauts that are filling a void. Obviously the Leafs and Habs aren't seceding.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It wouldn't work because there are already 7 NHL markets. It's not like the NFL where there are zero teams so you have teams like the Alouettes and Argonauts that are filling a void. Obviously the Leafs and Habs aren't seceding.

In fact, the Canadian Football League has 9 teams. 7 of those teams are in the same city as NHL teams and there are additional teams in Regina, SK and Hamilton, ON. Canada just doesn't have enough large population centres to support that much high-level pro sports.

 

[Cup or Bust]

I would watch it as much as I currently watch the AHL, which is 0.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Serious question, do most Canadian fans ACTUALLY care about the other Canadian teams? Like do Montreal fans actually root for Vancouver, Edmonton, etc.? Do Flames fans actually care about the other Canadian teams?

Like for me in St. Louis, I couldn’t care less about how the Royals or Chiefs do on the other side of the state. I assume it’s a loud minority on these boards, but maybe it’s a bigger thing than I realized.

 

[Green]

Who gets to keep the cup

 

[Cup or Bust]

Serious question, do most Canadian fans ACTUALLY care about the other Canadian teams? Like do Montreal fans actually root for Vancouver, Edmonton, etc.? Do Flames fans actually care about the other Canadian teams?

Like for me in St. Louis, I couldn’t care less about how the Royals or Chiefs do on the other side of the state. I assume it’s a loud minority on these boards, but maybe it’s a bigger thing than I realized.

I don't. I only cheer for my team. I might cheer for another NHL team at times if there was a player I liked or some other compelling reason but geography would not be why. In 1994 I was a hardcore New York Rangers fan because almost half the roster was the Edmonton Oilers so it was like watching the Oilers win another Stanley Cup.

I was a big Rams fan too......Loved Kurt Warner in St. Louis....The Greatest Show on Turf!

 

[MikeyMike01]

It would go down in financial ruin

 

[Scomerica]

Who gets to keep the cup

Lord Stanleys family takes his cup back home to the UK. His cup, his rules

 

[Jigger77]

Serious question, do most Canadian fans ACTUALLY care about the other Canadian teams? Like do Montreal fans actually root for Vancouver, Edmonton, etc.? Do Flames fans actually care about the other Canadian teams?

Like for me in St. Louis, I couldn’t care less about how the Royals or Chiefs do on the other side of the state. I assume it’s a loud minority on these boards, but maybe it’s a bigger thing than I realized.

I don't know what most Canadians think, but I'm in a hockey fanatic rural part of Canada. Played all my life. Around people who are hockey nuts all my life. I can't speak for the rest of the country but in my area you would have a hard time finding someone who would support the American team over the Canadian one in a playoff scenario. Cheer is probably a strong word though. I would call it a preference for the Canadian team instead. In my case I definitely have a preference for the Canadian team in most cases. But I do find the Leafs finding new creative ways to lose year after year as amusing as the next guy.