Meh, they already have their SECOND Winter Classic.  No sympathy from me.

Posted by Bosephus from Behind enemy lines, Denver, CO on 08/19/10 at 10:15 AM ET

Yeah, I hear ya.  I said basically the same thing about a year ago here, but I guess the NHL doesn’t listen to me…

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/19/10 at 10:17 AM ET

Shouldn’t it say “Longtime Penguin Fan”

(See what I did there?)

Posted by Link_Gaetz on 08/19/10 at 10:17 AM ET

Just one more thing the league hasn’t thought out before committing to something.  They should deal with the hassle of letting the season ticket owners buy more expensive seats instead of forcing those fans to sell their tickets and buy new ones.

Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 08/19/10 at 10:33 AM ET

I actually bought tickets off of a guy who decided not to go because he couldn’t buy better seats. I guess I can’t complain, but I see why people would be pissed.

It doesn’t matter if it’s an “NHL Event.” Take care of the two fanbases.

Posted by Link_Gaetz on 08/19/10 at 10:42 AM ET

“It doesn’t matter if it’s an “NHL Event.” Take care of the two fanbases.”

Right there, that’s why ‘there’s no need to take care of the fanbases’ (and I would say the Capitals are being extremely well-represented with 20 000 tickets).

People complain, people complain, people complain, people complain…

Posted by NathanBC on 08/19/10 at 11:16 AM ET

EHHH they treat it like the Superbowl all the Sponsors & friends of the league & then they worry about the fans of the 2 teams in the SB

Posted by Evilpens on 08/19/10 at 11:41 AM ET

I’m glad it’s back in a football stadium for simple geometric reasons. Beyond that, it’s more about the league promoting the league and “growing the brand” than about hockey. The first two were interesting, but by the Bos/Phi game, it was almost self-satire. The evil part of me hopes the big stars for both teams are unable to play that game for whatever injury and the Ovi/Crosby drama is completely deflated before the puck drops.

Posted by redxblack from Akron Ohio on 08/19/10 at 03:40 PM ET

The penguins franchise is like a little baby. The nhl is always bending over backwards for them. Putting them into another winter classic is rediculous. There are about 24 other teams that have not played in a winter classic yet. Im angry that they picked pitts again.

Last decade the penguins were almost dead. The team was close to moving and they had no support from fans. The NHL gave them draft picks that allowed them to get Malkin and Crosby. Now we are putting them in another winter classic. I feel some other teams should have the chance to play once before the penguins play for their second time.

The whole idea of the winter classic is to attract attention from new fans. Putting a southern or warm climate team would possible help the NHL to expand in a smaller market. Northern teams like Detroit, chicago, pittsburgh, buffalo and philly are always going to be strong fan bases. Lets get those southern markets to grow in size.

Lord knows that some of those small market teams could use the cash influx from the winter classic. The teams in the winter classic sell special merchandise and jerseys. It also gets a southern team on primetime tv which they normally never would.

Posted by chesterfieldwingnut from Flying over the ashland bump on 08/19/10 at 04:13 PM ET

It’s no surprise that Crosby’s is little cry baby. After all he is getting mentored by Lemieux who was himself a huge cry baby as well.

Crosby has a lot of enemies in the league. Detroit, Philladelphia, Washington, New York and the Devils. Go ahead crosby just keep making enemies. That will really make your career last long.

All of that bad attention will catch up with him. You penguin fans better pray to god that he never gets a serious injury because that team will be very mediocre. Malkin is still good but it seems he has fallen back to earth. He would be able to carry that team by himself.

Last, your GM really messed up by failing to resign Gonchar. You really think Martin and that other guy are going produce defensive scoring. Your defense has taken a step back.

Posted by chesterfieldwingnut from Flying over the ashland bump on 08/19/10 at 04:21 PM ET

The NHL gave them draft picks that allowed them to get Malkin and Crosby.

CRACK IS BAD FOR YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Posted by Evilpens on 08/19/10 at 04:23 PM ET

Nice one. You really proved me wrong. Interesting way of proving someone wrong. Instead of refuting the claim with debate, you just put down a quick insult. You showed me. Be a man. Try to disprove me by saying something intelligent.  This is a penguins article in a wings website. Your shocked I oppose your team. Why dont you go find a pens blog and put down some one liners there. I have fun getting these reactions from you. Im just trying to figure out what your doing. If you really thought your team was all that and a bag of chips you wouldn’t be surfing the wings blog. So you just sit around and wait for tony to throw in a meaningless pens article on here. I can tell by the above post that I interrupted a riveting conversion. I’ll say a prayer for you buddy. Try going out.

Fact: Your franchise was a joke

Fact: Your team was giving two high draft picks

Fact: Your team was almost moved to some small market. You penguin people think you are legitimate die hard. Your fan base is one big bandwagon! Where were you with your insults when your team couldnt pay people to go to games.

You seem like a real idiot. Do you or anyone in your family go to Ohio State?

I will see your team come and go buddy. So dont forget to wright some clever insult after you read this. You can back up my idea that all pens fans are retarded. How in the world did you guys loose to the habs?? The best part about it was your crapy team got eliminated on my birthday. Hahah Greatest present ever! Tony probably will get pissed after reading this but its fun.

Posted by chesterfieldwingnut from Flying over the ashland bump on 08/19/10 at 06:13 PM ET

Man what are you smoking? hahah

How about that? Does that mimic your responses? Is that a good response for your elementary brain.

Posted by chesterfieldwingnut from Flying over the ashland bump on 08/19/10 at 06:17 PM ET

Okay Even you penguin fans have to admit that some other team should have been in the winter classic. Right?

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 08:50 PM ET

Yes, I said as much on New Year’s Day….

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tc/comments/penguins_should_pass_on_winter_classics_for_a_few_more_years/

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/19/10 at 08:56 PM ET

This is a penguins article in a wings website.

Posted by chesterfieldwingnut from Flying over the ashland bump on 08/19/10 at 06:13 PM ET

Where in the hell is this coming from ??

Yes, A2Y is a Wings blog, and a good one.  I consider The Chief a good friend of mine.  And now George Malik has signed onboard Kukla’s Korner, which makes the site even better.

But you do realize that there are several other blogs, plus a few that aren’t online yet, don’t you ??

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/19/10 at 09:00 PM ET

When I look at my team I look at what will help them. The league has a big affect on what my team does. Pittsburgh fans should be the same. Whats good for the league is good for our teams. When I see the same teams in the winter classic I get angry. Not because it Pittsburgh and I hate them but because it is the same team.

I would oppose this even if the red wings were having their second winter classic. I know that it’s important to have a least one big northern market team in the winter classic. That does not mean we cant put phoenix, colorado or maybe a team thats strugling to stay alive like Columbus. If we can grow these small market teams it will help the league. It will also allow us to significantly raise the salary cap.

If smaller markets and broke teams like the penguins got their shit together, we probably would not have a salary cap. Thats the only reason the Wings didnt win more than two cups in the last ten years. Seriously the penguins franchise were one of those teams that was really struggling before the lockout. It had to screw it up for all of us.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 09:01 PM ET

Posted by chesterfieldwingnut

Wow, I usually come into these penguin articles and piss everyone off by being an *#$%@&. I guess I get the night off?hahah

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 09:03 PM ET

As long as it’s legitimate criticism, like I said, it’s fine….

Your comment is quite valid, and as you can see in my link, I pretty much said the same thing on Jan. 1st….

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/19/10 at 09:07 PM ET

Tony -

Do you agree with me in that it should have been another team for the winter classic? I can’t click on that loop im downloading something.

Like I said even if it was the wings I would have been pissed. Columbus is in real trouble. Having that market go down would be bad. Its a good size market and their failure would hinder other prospective teams from starting up. Columbus should have got the nod. You guys make a ton off of merchandise, Right? Columbus makes jack shit on merchandise. hahaha. It’s sad because its true.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 09:08 PM ET

Yes, I thought it should have went to two completely different teams…

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/19/10 at 09:09 PM ET

Okay yeah cool Im glad you agree. Phoenix is broke and they had a good season last year. I have no idea whats going to happen with them. Oh, what about the leafs, they have a revamped team and they are the king market of hockey. By a long shot.

I think the biggest markets are

1Toronto
2? Maybe new york I forget
3 Detroit

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 09:12 PM ET

Okay I read that.

Minnesota would be good too. `

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 09:15 PM ET

I know I just got done talking about not having the same team twice. Maybe down the road four or five years, people here on a local radio station have been talking about having the winter classic at the Big House.

Five years from now. Imagine if we had Toronto against the wings at the big house. Keep in mind the big house is incredibly big. It seats well over 100,000 people. Ann Arbor is within driving distance from Toronto. We could have two of the biggest three markets with an amazing amount of people. It would be nuts. Two original six teams mind you.

Doesnt have to be this venue or even these teams. I think this is the type of blockbuster games the NHL should be striving for. Toronto v. Detroit. Phily v. Pitts (maybe at penn st) New York v. Boston ?????

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 09:27 PM ET

Hell we could even do Detroit v. Pittsburgh , Huh? Camon Tony I know you would love that. 100,000plus people to settle the score once and for all.??????

We could maybe even get our goalies to fight like detroit v Colorodo. Or Howard could just put his glove over crosby’s face again for no reason. Would you like that?

The T.V. ratings would be C R A Z Y.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/19/10 at 09:31 PM ET

I think the problem the NHL is inevitably going to have is that their luck is going to run out in terms of the weather….

One of these years, it’s going to be in the upper 40’s and you’re gonna have to play in slush…

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/19/10 at 09:32 PM ET

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 08/19/10 at 09:32 PM ET

Thats a good point. See what most people haven’t realized is the importance behind the winter classic. It seems annually the winter classic has proved to get high ratings. The NHL very rarely has a resource like this that could pull in new fans.

There are lots of people who dont watch hockey that turn there televisions to NBC on on new years. People like it because its unique and pure. Now it’s very delicate because the NHL has to play this a certain way.

There has been lots of discussion regarding adding another game to possibly make it a two game or two night event. You want to keep it rare so that it keeps that luster. You want to keep it changing as well. I thought Fenway was a great venue. Beautiful park, big market. You want to have new teams as well. Thats why I am soo livid because of the penguins. I under stand Crosby is the face of the league but, having the same team just is not the way to go. Crosby will attract alot of viewers but he and the repeating penguins will deter some viewers as well.

I want the league to grow. They hit the jackpot with this idea. I just hope the use it right. Minnesota and Columbus would have been my picks to go in. The capitals were a good call as well. That is another good size market.

Yeah Tony having that slush would be a disaster.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/20/10 at 12:29 AM ET

The team was close to moving…

...because the Lemieux/Burkle regime wanted a new arena and Ed Rendell was doing just about everything in his power to deny them that request.  Go ahead and google “Isle of Capri” and see what you come up with.

Or continue to be ignorant and spout whatever delusions you come up with at will.  I’m not very confident you’ll do the former.  People on the internet very, very rarely admit when they’re wrong…because they can hide behind computer screens like cowards.

...and they had no support from fans.

Prove this.  Show me with not only attendance numbers, but television ratings how the Penguins had “no support from the fans”.  I’ll be waiting.  A long f*cking time, too.  Because it never happened.

Actually, here.  Because I don’t have all f*cking day.

00-01:  42 wins, 96% attendance.
01-02:  28 wins, 92% attendance.
02-03:  27 wins, 87% attendance.
03-04:  23 wins, 70% attendance.
04-05:  Lockout - which was probably the Penguins’ fault as well, right?
05-06:  22 wins, 93% attendance.
06-07:  47 wins, 97% attendance.
07-08:  47 wins, 103.2% attendance.
08-09:  45 wins, 100.8% attendance.
09-10:  47 wins, 99.6% attendance.

Two years of average attendance under 90%.  Two.  That 70% year was an awful one…and not only from an attendance perspective.  I’m sure you probably couldn’t name more than 1 or 2 Penguins on that 03-04 roster (if any at all), so I’ll give you this:  D-man Dick Tarnstrom was their leading scorer with 52 points.  He was also a +/- -37.  -37.  And I am 100% confident (possibly 103.2%) that if you look up the ratings on FSN for those two years below 90%, you’d find that the TV ratings didn’t suffer at all.

The NHL gave them draft picks that allowed them to get Malkin and Crosby.

Oh, and coincidentally, the high picks the Pens received coincided with the really sh*tty years they had!  Imagine that, huh?  I know it’s probably impossible for you to wrap your puny little pea-sized brain around it…but bad teams get high picks.  It’s only been like that for a few decades, though, so maybe you’re not familiar with it.  It’s a pretty amazing concept.

Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll figure it out some day.

This is a penguins article in a wings website. Your shocked I oppose your team. Why dont you go find a pens blog and put down some one liners there. I have fun getting these reactions from you. Im just trying to figure out what your doing. If you really thought your team was all that and a bag of chips you wouldn’t be surfing the wings blog. So you just sit around and wait for tony to throw in a meaningless pens article on here.

You might want to tell that to the bloggers for the Hurricanes, Sabres, Canadiens and Thrashers (among a couple of others) that Paul just added to his stable.  But, why use actual facts in lieu of made up facts when the made up ones fit so much better into the bullsh*t you’re spewing?  Like this one…

Fact: Your team was almost moved to some small market. You penguin people think you are legitimate die hard. Your fan base is one big bandwagon! Where were you with your insults when your team couldnt pay people to go to games.

You do realize that Pittsburgh IS a small market, right?  Probably not.  And, honestly, the rest of your “fact”, aside from it being non-factual, isn’t even a fact.  It’s an opinion.  It’d do you a world of good to learn to differentiate between the two.

Anyway, in conclusion, you are wrong.  And even though Evilpens’ comebacks are not those of the brightest bulb in the knife drawer, your comments fail to even come close to reaching the bar that he sets here day in and day out.

If you couldn’t figure out the last line, it means you’re dumb.  Really, really, really, really dumb.  Well…at least you’re comments are.

Oh, and also…

So dont forget to wright some clever insult after you read this.

Your shocked I oppose your team.

If you’re going to insult someone’s intelligence, learn the difference between “wright” and “write”.  Also knowing that “your” and “you’re” are different would up the intelligence factor a tiny bit.

Posted by Flashtastick56 from Milford, CT on 08/20/10 at 02:09 PM ET

Posted by Flashtastick56 from Milford, CT on 08/20/10 at 02:09 PM ET

WOW!!! Thats alot of shit. I only have two minutes before my class starts up and we can’t have our lab tops out. Besides, it looks like that might take more than two minutes to read.

How about this. I can tell by the quantity of your post that you probably have some really good points. Lets just say you win this one. I am throwing in the white flag.

Ill try to aggravate you on the next penguins article.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/20/10 at 03:08 PM ET

The Ohio state joke was funny though, Right???

one more: How do you get a ohio state grad off your front porch???

You pay him for the pizza.

hahahahaha

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/20/10 at 03:10 PM ET

“wright” and “write”.

It’s not my fault, iphone changes words.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/20/10 at 03:12 PM ET

Posted by Flashtastick56 from Milford, CT on 08/20/10 at 02:09 PM ET

Okay, I will re-frame from being a douche on these penguins articles. Tony seems like a good “writer” and I dont want to screw up his work.

You got to understand. Detroit as well as this state is really down and out. Detroit might just be the *#$%@& place in the world. Haha. Detroit as well as the state are in economic trouble. We have a mayor that steals money from the city. Our schools in Detroit are terrible. We literally have to pay students to come to school. Literally they get prizes when they enroll at the begining of the year. Last, the auto industry is crumbling. Detroit probably has 50% unemployment. Thats an accurate number, not a overestimation.

The Red Wings are the one thing in this state that are good. We love them. Growing up in Detroit means your filled with memories of success. Memories of the great rivalry with Colorado. That’s why I get a little angry when talking about them. I really hate the penguins. In Detroit’s eyes you guys have stole something of ours. It’s about two and half feet tall, silver and metal. It’s the 2009 cup.

I mean god damn, loosing at home in game 7 sucked. That was supposed to be our our second repeat like ‘97’98. Point is we love our team. Ill quit ripping on your team. Even though Crosby is a little baby. hahah Just Kidding. If the hockey gods are smiling down on us, we will meet in the finals once again for the tie breaker.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/20/10 at 04:27 PM ET

You do realize that Pittsburgh IS a small market, right?

I dont think it’s a small market. I thought you guys have the highest profits off of merchandise.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/31/biz_06nhl_all_slide_29.html?thisSpeed=15000

okay maybe you are small. Your team value comes in at 133 million. I think that might be outdated. Your probably so low because you dont own your new stadium or have it payed off.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/20/10 at 04:35 PM ET

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/20/10 at 04:27 PM ET

Are you both pjwalny AND chesterfieldwingnut?  Because if not, none of that was aimed at you, dude.  You seem pretty alright…you come in here to DISCUSS not just put down our team and spew bullsh*t.

Pittsburgh is considered a small(er) market.  It’s not New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, LA, Washington, Montreal, Toronto, etc.  That’s all I was saying.

Posted by Flashtastick56 from Milford, CT on 08/20/10 at 06:32 PM ET

I dont know what you mean? I responded to your post at 4:27 on the 20th.

Do you mean if I agree with him?

I try not to talk trash under Tony’s articles anymore because he gets pissed at me. LOL, besides I would be pissed if I took my time to write a red wings article only to have some jerk steal the attention from my discussion because he/she was being an *#$%@&.

Even though I do hate your team!! haha I say that honestly and joking. No, I spend so much time hating your team I might as well get to know them. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It will just be that more enjoyable to beat your guys next year in round three finals.

Posted by pjwalny from Not Detroit, evidently?? on 08/21/10 at 07:47 PM ET