I was hoping that LA would get him. Places like LA need to be good for hockey to get some attention. Places like Carolina, Tampa, Nashville, Atlanta don't matter, and it has been proven time and time again, in which those teams have great players, but the league fails to grab a strangle hold in those markets.
Yeah but they will most likely pick Doughty which is just as good imho. I doubt that a lot of people in LA know who Stamkos is anyway and Doughty with his end to end rushes may just become as much of an attraction and a fan favorite.
With Kopitar , Cammalleri and O'Sullivan already in the system they don't really Stamkos anyway. Now their transition game is just going to be sick in a few years with Johnson , Hickey and Doughty (assuming that they do pick him of course. It won't surprise me if they draft Filatov instead).
Tampa Bay needs a whole second line next year if they want to be competitive, Now that tey have Stamkos (who will probably play with Lecavalier and St-Louis) they need two more players
Tampa Bay needs a whole second line next year if they want to be competitive, Now that tey have Stamkos (who will probably play with Lecavalier and St-Louis) they need two more players
Stamkos is going to be their 2nd line center they still need at least 2 "ok" offensive wingers though.
I was hoping that LA would get him. Places like LA need to be good for hockey to get some attention. Places like Carolina, Tampa, Nashville, Atlanta don't matter, and it has been proven time and time again, in which those teams have great players, but the league fails to grab a strangle hold in those markets.
QFMFT. The big markets need to have competitive teams for the sake of our sport. LA has 14 million citizens, and they cant fill their arena, they need a big superstar and a round or two in the playoffs, and the city will be buzzing again, and with their mediatic frenzy, it could be like 1993 again. Same thing goes for New-York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal.
Ridiculous. The league keeps rewarding failure. It should be a completely random draft to keep everybody honest.
The bottom 5 teams should all have an equal chance I think that way it would discourage tanking much more, giving the last placed team a 50/50 chance encourages tanking no doubt.
I was dissapointed because I wanted the NYI to get him. Atlanta has Kovalchuk. Tampa has Lecavalier. Los Angeles has Kopitar. St-Louis has Eric Johnson. NYI has Okposo...
?Screw the East I wanted him to go to the Blues or Kings
Also I hope they now rebuild around him and that Lecavalier walks and signs with us next year.I can dream
The bottom 5 teams should all have an equal chance I think that way it would discourage tanking much more, giving the last placed team a 50/50 chance encourages tanking no doubt.
All 30 teams should have an even chance then go to the order of finish in reverse. THAT would discourage tanking.
Bah Tampa's problem is that they cant play defense to save their lives and have no secondary scoring. I guess he will probably fix the secondary scoring problem by himself but he is at best a Richards replacement for next year and I don't expect Tampa to make a huge jump though they will be better(barring any major trades/free agent signings)
Crisis is synonymous with opportunity, if you're Bob Gainey. Bob has a lot of defensive prospects he can deal to Tampa.
I think the system isn't perfectly fine as it is, the last team in the league has a too big probability to get the 1st choice. It encourages tanking. I wouldn't change the system completely, it improves parity, but I would even out the probabilities.
I would change the chances to #1 for the bottom 5 teams from
48 - 19 - 14 - 11 - 8 to something like
30 - 25 - 20 - 15 - 10
The bottom 2 still have combined 55% chances, and the bottom 3 75%.
Why would vinny wanna stick around for a few years waiting and hoping they can build a contender?
He's already got a Stanley Cup ring.
Now I'm not saying he has lost the will to play.
But it's not like winning another Stanley Cup is a pressing issue in his life right now.
I'm sure he has some comfort level in Florida, and barring a thirst for the dramatic, I don't see why he would want to go to Montreal.
They got rid of Richards because they have the intention to re-sign Vinny and they will pull all stops to do it. Vinny will stay in Tampa unless he himself wants out.
and apparently he wants to sign long term and finish his career there. Shame, such a good player wasted in such a crappy market. At least he's got palm trees and beaches.
