Post-lockout NHL attendance to be.. HIGHER?

[Burr]

So much for attendance taking a hit after the lockout. All the exciting player movement this offseason might lead to an attendance INCREASE!

Penguins ticket sales hit the roof (http://post-gazette.com/pg/05231/556523.stm)

The Penguins are such a hot ticket, they already have sold more seats for the upcoming season than for the entire season when last they played (2003-04).

That translates into nearly half a million tickets purchased amid the exhilaration generated by Sidney Crosby and the New Guys.

And remember: It's only mid-August.

The usual sales bumps of training camp (starting Sept. 13) and the regular season (starting Oct. 5) remain weeks away, yet the telephones in the Penguins' offices continue to ring and tickets continue to sell.

"There has never been a three-week stretch of season-ticket sales like this," stressed Tom McMillan, the Penguins' vice president for communications and marketing. "Ever."

I'm sure it's the same story in other markets whose teams have suffered from lack of talent before the season, like Chicago. Couple that with the fact that the NHL actually got a better TV deal than before the lockout, and revenues might actually go UP this year. Perhaps the salary cap is already working its magic?

[Blackwolf]

Yeah, well, unfortunately in Atlanta they traded away the only player that had a name we could PRONOUNCE. :/

[Burr]

Hahah good point. Atlanta has turned into a Euro team real quickly..

[Arandar]

I don't know what ended up happening in Boston, but I know Thorton was either going to be traded or was a free-agent or something. All I know is the top two guys were either gone or going to be gone. So basically we failed MISERABLY in the first fucking round of the playoffs two years in a row and our solution is to get rid of our best players. And so with this you see why Boston is not a hockey city.

[Burr]

Actually the Bruins re-signed Thornton to a contract worth about $6.7 million a year. This forced the Lightning to pay Lecavalier $6.8 million a year to re-sign. Thanks a lot for killing our cap situation. :p

(actually I blame Columbus for paying Nash over $5 million a year even though they didn't even remotely have to do that as he was a going to be a restricted free agent for the years they signed him to anyway)

[All-Night John]

Arandar, please shut up. How can you admit to not knowing what you're talking about and continue to ramble on? The Bruins signed Thornton to a 3-year deal. Who did you consider our second-best player? Murray? Re-signed him. Samsonov? Re-signed. They were very active in the free agent market, made several nice signings, have put together a great offense, and are maxing out the cap this year. The team is committed to winning.

[Burr]

Also, Boston will always be a hockey city as long as they have the Beanpot Tournament. I envy them having 4 college hockey teams worth writing home about right in their city.

Edit:

Interesting article on why Dany Heatley demanded to be traded.. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2141518)

"Did I ever think we were ever going to trade Dany Heatley? I didn't think this day would ever come," Atlanta GM Don Waddell said Tuesday evening after Heatley had signed a three-year deal in Ottawa worth $13.5 million.

"It was a sad day. It was a sad day for me because of everything that's happened in this organization," Waddell said of Heatley's demand to be traded. "It was sad to see that he wanted to leave us. But after I had some time to think about it, reflect on it, I understood what his reasons were and certainly I respect him for that."

Heatley told Waddell that he'd sold his home in Atlanta and that he thought it would be difficult to return to the city where two years ago during training camp he was involved in a car accident that cost the life of teammate and close friend Dan Snyder.

"Just driving around the city and being with his teammates here he felt that it was going to be tough for him," Waddell said. "He just really felt that the emotional side of him said a change would beneficial for him, not only personally, but for his career."

In a brief statement issued through the Thrashers, Heatley said that "requesting a change of environment was an extremely difficult decision. After a tremendous amount of reflection and numerous conversations with my family, it made the most sense to seek a change."

[Arandar]

Arandar, please shut up. How can you admit to not knowing what you're talking about and continue to ramble on? The Bruins signed Thornton to a 3-year deal. Who did you consider our second-best player? Murray? Re-signed him. Samsonov? Re-signed. They were very active in the free agent market, made several nice signings, have put together a great offense, and are maxing out the cap this year. The team is committed to winning.

How about you stop acting like such an arrogant little bastard and actually try reading what I write for once? I specifically said last I heard Thorton was going to be traded or was a free agent. And seeing as that was a REAL possibility my statement would be correct. I never denied I didn't know what ended up happening, only what I had originally heard before any signings happened. Congrats on being such a sports freak though, its nice to know that while you may know everything about sports you know jackshit about anything else.

And Burr, college hockey has always been bigger here then pro, but still nothing real big. At least for the past decade at least since the Bruins haven't won the Cup in over two decades. Its big when it happens, but in the off-season no one cares, unlike the Red Sox or Patriots. Boston, and the state of Massachusetts as a whole, is by FAR a Baseball city/state first. Then we are a football state, and then maybe hockey. But the only reason it would be the Bruins over the Celtics is because the Celtics have pretty much sucked for the last 15 years ever since Bird, Parish, and McKaal(sp) have gone. And then lastly is Soccer, heh unless you count college sports as well in which case Soccer would be even farther down the list.

[All-Night John]

How about you stop acting like such an arrogant little bastard and actually try reading what I write for once? I specifically said last I heard Thorton was going to be traded or was a free agent. And seeing as that was a REAL possibility my statement would be correct.
Uh-huh. Okay. You said:
All I know is the top two guys were either gone or going to be gone.
Which was wrong. And then you said the organization's
solution is to get rid of our best players.
Which was bullshit.

I never denied I didn't know what ended up happening, only what I had originally heard before any signings happened.
So then why were you bitching?

Congrats on being such a sports freak though, its nice to know that while you may know everything about sports you know jackshit about anything else.
Ah, I love when you have no point, so you resort to personal attacks.

[Arandar]

So then why were you bitching?

I was "bitching" because, as usual, you were acting like a jackass about it. As I said I didn't act like I knew what happened in the end. I was only giving my opinion from what I had heard could happen. And at the time from that particular newscast seemed likely to happen.


Ah, I love when you have no point, so you resort to personal attacks.

You mean much in the same way you do?

[All-Night John]

I was "bitching" because, as usual, you were acting like a jackass about it.
I was referring to your first post. You were crying about the orginazation, saying their "solution is to get rid of our best players," and saying Boston is not a hockey city because of what the ownership is doing. And you're apparently basing this all on one Thornton trade rumor you heard months ago. If you had paid attention to the off-season at all, you'd have known that was not their intent, and that's not what happened. They've had a great off-season. They've even lowered ticket prices. Fans should be nothing but optimistic.

And you never did say who you thought was their second best player was, nor why you thought he was gone. Just making shit up, I assume.