Hot Ice: NHL Thread

[ursus arctos]

Hockey Reference can be very useful in that regard

https://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi

and for Junior and University team affiliations

https://www.hockey-reference.com/amateurs/

[Snake Plissken]

I have a couple of boxes of cards from the early 90s. Managed to get a few signed too, Adam Oates, Craig Janney and Frank Pietrangelo.

[Flynnie]

I got a ton of 90s hockey team sets a few years ago on Ebay. The good thing about being a 90s kid is I grew up during the prime of the Junk Wax era, 86-94 or so when card collecting was at its zenith, so that means it's cheap as chips to get sets and inserts for any sport because Topps/Leaf/Upper Deck/Etc. all massively overproduced and there's ten billion sets floating around. Anything short of relic cards (where they have a piece of jersey or stick/bat on it) or autograph cards is dirt cheap. You can get the 1993 Upper Deck seat -- all 650 cards -- for like £12 online.

Junk Wax was so big it's even fairly easy to find sets in the UK. Anything esoteric will be tricky, but I got a couple Topps baseball card sets for like £15 a few years ago.

Ebay is a boon too, the Global Shipping Programme is overpriced but a lot of online sellers will work with you to ship privately. My guy ships for $9 a set, $1 for any additional set.

It's a lot of fun.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The new NHL franchise is likely to be named 'Seattle Kraken.' I guess they'll be well and truly woke.

[Cesar Rodriguez]

Hockey Reference can be very useful in that regard

https://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi

and for Junior and University team affiliations

https://www.hockey-reference.com/amateurs/

Thanks ursus.

[Snake Plissken]

Another battle of Alberta classic last night - line brawl involving goaltenders, Mike Smith laid the smack down on Cam Talbot. Tkachuk obviously did not like being called a turtle after Kassian destroyed him because he answered the bell in the last two games.

Really hope these two teams meet in the postseason. Im just glad the Oilers have a chance at making the postseason at all.

It's been entertaining old time hockey, in the sense that if it happened all the time it was get very boring very quickly.

Oilers seemed to come out on top in hits, fights and goals.

[ursus arctos]

This is very true, as any fan of my vintage can attest

It is also the case that every player engaging in shenanigans is massively more skilled than their counterparts of that era.

McDavid is an amazing player, and it would be great to see him in the playoffs

[jefe]

Vegas is going to buy the AHL San Antonio franchise and move it to Nevada.

[Hot Pepsi]

Bummer for San Antonio.

[jefe]

Seattle is putting theirs in Palm Springs and building an arena for them, and also hired Cammi Granato to scout.

[ursus arctos]

The churn is much more prominent with teams in "new markets", particularly those in the south and west where the AHL doesn't have a history.

On the other hand, the Bruins have been in Providence and the Rangers in Hartford for much of my life.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yes. In the East, some of the affiliations change fairly often, but the teams are more stable. The Hershey Bears have been there for about 80 years.

A few years ago, there was a big reshuffling of ECHL and AHL franchises that allowed more NHL teams to have their AHL team nearby. But it doesn’t always work out.

With San Antonio moving to Vegas and becoming the Knights affiliate, the Blues will need a new AHL affiliate and the Chicago Wolves will need an NHL affiliate. So they might sign a deal.

It would make more sense for the Blackhawks to affiliate with the Wolves, but there is bad feeling between the organizations going back to when the Wolves were in the IHL and trying to compete directly with the Blackhawks, who were still owned by Bill Wirtz at the time and drawing low attendance.

So the Blackhawks’s affiliate is in Rockford.

[ursus arctos]

Yes, part of what we are seeing is the evolution of a new model where the AHL clubs are all within 100 or so miles of their parent. That wasn't an issue when both leagues were concentrated in the northeast, but became more of one as the NHL chased new markets. The great minor league swap established a new reality that is more amenable to that model, but it is still working itself out (in part because the new AHL franchises aren't always viable).

There's also the issue of the Canadian clubs, as it hasn't been conclusively proven that the AHL will "work" in Toronto and Laval, and it hasn't even been tried for the clubs further west(the social and cultural importance of junior hockey in Canada complicated things in this respect).

[Amor de Cosmos]

Calgary's AHL affiliate was in Abbotsford for a few seasons, which was kinda weird as it's pretty much a suburb of Vancouver.

[Hot Pepsi]

The idea is that you can take your kids to see the future Canucks/Leafs/whatever without getting a second mortgage.

But an AHL team close to an NHL team is going to struggle to get any local media attention and may be competing with junior hockey or, in the US, college hockey.

[ursus arctos]

Watching Habs-Leafs tonight, I have noticed for the first time that several of the adverts on the boards opposite the main camera position have changed between the first and third periods, without them appearing to be electronic or "virtual".

I've never seen that before.

[ursus arctos]

And it gets weirder

They only show up from the main camera(s). On replays from alternate angles, one sees the "old" adverts.

[Hot Pepsi]

I’ve seen that in baseball. The add behind home plate is sometimes not really there.

And in hockey, sometimes there appears to be an ad on the glass behind the goal that isn’t there.

[ursus arctos]

Yes, those were the "virtual" ones I was referring to

These don't look like that; they look like normal ads on the boards.

You can see it in these highlights

For example, the Sun Life and Olymel ads at centre ice transform into Lenovo and Richter between periods two and three.

[jefe]

If Stockton's arena is the one they built about 15 years ago or so, it was crap when it opened.

Vancouver is the team really screwed by affiliations, because theirs is in Utica, Which was the Devils affiliate for a long time I think. Rochester's been Buffalo's for forever.

[ursus arctos]

It is the same arena but has been upgraded somewhat. The ECHL team that used to be play there moved to Glens Falls ("Adirondack"j as part of the market swaps when the AHL went west. Adirondack, which had been Calgary's affiliate(after Abbotsford), is now the Devils' third tier team, with the Flames now having their AHL team in Stockton.

The Devils had been in Utica for a few years, but were more often in Albany. They are now in Binghamton.

I don't know what the economics of building a minor league arena vs a baseball stadium are, though I would expect them to be more expensive. Full season baseball has more dates, but arenas are more versatile and can be used for other sports, concerts and exhibitions more easily.

[Hot Pepsi]

If Stockton's arena is the one they built about 15 years ago or so, it was crap when it opened.

Vancouver is the team really screwed by affiliations, because theirs is in Utica, Which was the Devils affiliate for a long time I think. Rochester's been Buffalo's for forever.

Indeed. The Pegulas own both the Sabres and Rochester Americans.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yes, those were the "virtual" ones I was referring to

These don't look like that; they look like normal ads on the boards.

You can see it in these highlights

For example, the Sun Life and Olymel ads at centre ice transform into Lenovo and Richter between periods two and three.

Perhaps the ice crew actually switched the ads. But I suspect the technology has just improved enough to make it look like that.

I always thought the ones appearing on the glass looked real. I only realized they weren’t when they didn’t show up in the shots from the ice level camera angle.

[ursus arctos]

I thought it was the ice crew, but the "originals" show up from other angles, so it is improved technology.

Another reason to go to Montreal. I wonder if it is common in Canadian rinks now.

[Hot Pepsi]

I’ve always wondered how much it costs to place an ad on the boards. I assume the ones in the corners visible on TV are the most expensive and the ones never on TV are the cheapest.