Goody another Canadian-Centric Goofball, Because TML & Buffalo don’t want a team in Hamilton & where else in Canada are you going to put a team Mooosejaw, Yellowknife

Posted by Evilpens on 09/29/09 at 09:13 AM ET

the problem is i have yet to hear anything about this come out of the states. everything bad about bettman starts in canada. Dont get me wrong, i hate the prick, and Im also canadian

http://www.firebettman.com

*#$%@& YOU BETTMAN, you’re about as useful as chlamydia

Posted by damji on 09/29/09 at 09:42 AM ET

lmao i just realised firebettman.com is american

Posted by damji on 09/29/09 at 09:43 AM ET

I agree with everything he says, except his comments about Dallas and Columbus.

Dallas is a good market that’s not only one of the largest metro areas in the country on its own, but it’s near enough to two other major metro areas to draw fans in in. The Stars originally had a good owner, but he made stupid mistakes with outside investments, and is now in a bad position. Had Hicks stayed away from the Liverpool FC fiasco, I think the current financial issues facing the Stars would be moot.

And Columbus has finally tasted playoff hockey. They have a lot of hockey fans in Columbus that used to be Red Wings fans until they got a team—and now that they finally have a team that’s going to at least competing for the playoffs for the foreseeable future, I think they can build a reputation and add more fans.

Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 09/29/09 at 09:46 AM ET

Interestingly enough, the “failed” “southern” expansion seems to state otherwise.

Tampa and Carolina have won Cups and have fairly solid fanbases entrenched in their markets considering the economy.  San Jose and Dallas have solid fanbases and have for some time now, even though Dallas isn’t a very good franchise anymore.

Now compare to the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders and how they’re doing.  They’re not “southern” or expansion, and they’re failing miserably in their markets.  Buffalo is failing in their market because they have a penny-pinching owner that fans now resent.  Those are all northern markets.  Chicago was failing hard until last year.  Boston still has issues and still doesn’t have a presence in their market like they once did because of their stupid owner.

And of course Columbus isn’t “southern”.  For all the “credentials” this clown has and touts at the beginning of the article, he sure doesn’t even know basic geography.  Nice to know what a Canadian education can get you?  If Columbus is southern, so is Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Philly, St. Louis, and Denver.  Doofus.

In his contention that the problems are all U.S. markets, he also completely ignores the fact that it was only a few years ago that the Ottawa Senators filed bankruptcy.  And again, last I checked anyways, Ottawa was still in Canada.  So 1/3 of the Canadian teams are currently in financial trouble or been in very recently.  How’s that for a ratio, hmmm?

@Nathan:

Doesn’t Hicks still have a black hole for money in the Rangers, or did he manage to sell them?  The Salary Cap also hurt the Stars because they’ve been a terrible drafting team for so long and they used to just plug holes by spending big (the exact same way the Avs got into trouble).  And the few younger guys they’d land in the draft they’d trade away for oldies (Langenbrunner, Iginla...)

The result is that now the Stars aren’t very good, there’s not a whole lot of hope on the youth front still (but slowly improving), they can’t freely spend because of the cap and because Hicks has wasted money on other ventures, and fans are predictably turning elsewhere.  Time has caught up to them, same as it caught the Avs and for the exact same reasons.

Posted by Primis on 09/29/09 at 10:49 AM ET

The longer this Phoenix fiasco has gone on, the less against Jim Ballsillie as an owner I am.  There really isn’t a good reason to keep him from owning a team anymore. 

The big question is then, if the Canadian teams are the ones pulling in the most money, then they’ve got to be the ones with the most pull in the league, right?  Why is it that I’m only getting reports from fans and media editorials about what a horrible job Bettman is doing?  Why don’t I ever see any leaked stories from anonymous sources with a team stating that there are grumblings amongst the owners regarding a desire to get rid of him?  What kind of damage is the Maple Leafs’ ownership doing in this situation because they’re afraid of a little competition in their neck of the woods?

Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 09/29/09 at 10:54 AM ET