[tommygunn]

Sundin signs a 2 year deal (worth $11 million).

The final two years for the "great" Leafs captain to lead them to a Cup? :lol:

[grimes]

On what basis would you make that assumption (From what I've heard of Mr. Balsillie)? Again, you talk as though you are somehow privy to Balsillie's motivations.

Also, I'm going to assume that being a smart guy, you understand that winning the Stanley Cup (and/or at least being a competitive franchise) is good for business.

To rehash Mark Cuban, he bought one of the worst run professional sports franchises around, and he singlehandedly turned it into one of the best NBA franchises. He didn't sit around and wait for a championship contender before making his purchase - he bought the team that was available, and made it a contender, and has watched the coin roll in. During his tenure the value of the franchise has risen from $280 million (in 2000) to $463 million. Revenue has gone from $60 million to $140 million. Why, I'd almost suggest that Mark Cuban - fanboy owner - might have known exactly what he was doing when he bought the team, and it wasn't a playtoy.

Clearly, with Balsillie's attempt to buy the Penguins, he didn't give a rat's ass which franchise it was, he just wanted an NHL franchise, and I'm expecting that given his businesses savvy, he's going to do the same with the Preds that Cuban has done with the Mavs.

Sorry grimes, but I simply don't see how you can seriously believe that he bought this franchise for fun, simply because he's a hockey fan. It's an investment....it just happens to be an investment in something he loves. We should all be so lucky.

And come to think of it, what does Balsillie's intentions have to do with whether or not Leipold got a half decent return on his investment? cratch:

On your last point, well a few posts back, you asked "...why is a guy in Waterloo buying an NHL franchise for $220 million?" and we pretty much moved the topic of discussion from Leipold to Balsillie at that point.

So, sticking with the Balsillie discussion, of course I am speculating on his motivations, just as you are. I don't expect there is anything I can say that will defeat the inner cynic in you, but you asked for what my assumptions are based on, so here it is anyway. First, by "what I've heard of Mr. Balsillie," I am referring primarily to my perception of his reputation here on Bay Street. The corporate finance community in this city is a surprisingly small world, and I've met several lawyers, accountants, and investment bankers at networking functions over the last several months that have various ties to upper management at RIM, and even a few directly to Balsillie. Second, In my line of work (mid-market commercial lending) I do business with a lot of very wealthy people (though admittedly, never someone quite in Mr. Balsillie's stratosphere), and part of managing the business relationship includes getting to know them outside of the corporate world. And while there is certainly no shortage of sharks out there that are all about the money, there are also a lot of people whose business successes are a means to allow them to enjoy their real passions in life. For some, it's a vintage car collection, for others it's a yacht, or a plane, or a vacation home in an exotic location. For example, I know one very successful entrepreneur that is also an avid skier. As his business continued to grow, he used some of his earnings to buy a property in Whistler so that he wouldn't have to stay in a hotel every time he went there. A few years later he added another in Golden, then Vail, and now he's looking at Europe. Are these investments? Of course they are. But if he wasn't a passionate skier, he would never have considered putting his money into them. So by the same token, it's not difficult at all for me to believe that Mr. Balsillie is buying the Predators because of his passion for hockey.

So when you say "...it just happens to be an investment in something he loves" I have to take issue with it. It is far from a coincidence that it is an investment in something he loves. On the contrary; he's investing in it because it's something he loves.

[cferneyh]

So when you say "...it just happens to be an investment in something he loves" I have to take issue with it. It is far from a coincidence that it is an investment in something he loves. On the contrary; he's investing in it because it's something he loves.

Fair enough and agreed. But I stand by my earlier comments that he intends to make money from this investment, rather than simply look the other way if it bleeds consistently (as you've stated). This simply isn't a place for him to crash at while he happens to find himself in Nashville.

[tigerthelion]

And the elbow on Comrie that drew blood? A phantom hooking call that, for the entire regular season and playoffs, has always constituted a hooking call? And he didn't appear to be crying about being held up at all, in fact he acknowledged how he had to adapt his game. The biased bullshit still works both ways, so it seems.

Heatley was crying about it and the biased Canadian media (with very few exceptions) wanted him to use it as an excuse. Freidman asked the question for crying out loud, and got exactly the answer he was looking for. Heatley and his nonsense about going back to "old time hockey" and such. The Sens need to suck it up and accept responsibility for losing. There are still too many penalties being called as far as I'm concerned.

It's all good though. The real reason why Ottawa lost was because of the ice. When they play in Ottawa, they'll blow out the Ducks because of better ice. :roll: :roll: :roll:

We've seen that Ottawa can't win unless they score on the PP. I loved the last game. 5 on 5 is how games should be decided.
:thumb: Let's see how the great and almighty leader Alfredsson responds. hock:

[tigerthelion]

So that's your argument for Pronger winning the Norris last year? Wow, calling it weak would be an understatement. :roll:

Here's the results of last year's Norris Trophy vote:

1. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 1,152 (91-28-8-2-0)
2. Scott Niedermayer, ANA 817 (29-57-16-15-3)
3. Sergei Zubov, DAL 464 (0-21-42-31-14)
4. Zdeno Chara, OTT 430 (5-14-35-30-17)
5. Wade Redden, OTT 115 (0-1-12-12-12)
6. Mathieu Schneider, DET 111 (4-5-1-4-19)
7. Chris Pronger, EDM 97 (0-1-5-15-20)
8. Dion Phaneuf, CGY 61 (0-0-6-6-13)
9. Bryan McCabe, TOR 44 (0-1-2-6-9)
10. Lubomir Visnovsky, LOS 39 (0-0-2-6-11)

name, team, total points, (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th place votes)

8)

You're argument is a lot better. The guy chosen for the award is always the most deserving. After all, Jose Theodore really did deserve his MVP award. :oops: Wade Redden ahead of Pronger? :roll: :roll: GEEZ! What a horrible vote. Chara? AHAHAHAHAHA....

[tigerthelion]

Anyone else see Chelios pull a class move after the game and leave the ice before shaking hands with the ducks players......that guy is my hero :roll:

Yeah. This is the guy who received the Mark Messier Leadership Award. :thumb: Great job by the people choosing that one. I wonder is Moose had any say. Ah, who am I kidding? The entire system is a joke. They market players and try to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. Anyone with a brain knows that Chelios is just an old man hacking away at the puck clumsily. Yet, the machine that feeds us bs (hockey players, commentators, writers) insists that he's still an excellent hockey player. We're constantly hit over the head with TSN telling us every game about the greatnes of a guy like Francois Beachumin (sp?), regardless of whether or not he has 10 turnovers or costs his team two goals by missing his assignments. Most of the commentary during games is planned before the game even begins. What actually happens during the game isn't even relevant to blowhards like Glenn Healy and Gord Miller and Jim Hughson and Greg Millen. All I heard all series long between the Sharks and Predators was how tremendous the Nashville D-corps was and how phenomenal the Sharks forwards were. Of course, neither team was good enough to even make the Western Conference Finals but that's beside the point. They were the two best teams, damnit, regardless of outcomes! The great Nashville D showed up for sure. The Sharks only scored 16 goals in 5 games. I mean, they surely were totally shut down. :roll:

[tommygunn]

You're argument is a lot better. The guy chosen for the award is always the most deserving. After all, Jose Theodore really did deserve his MVP award. :oops: Wade Redden ahead of Pronger? :roll: :roll: GEEZ! What a horrible vote. Chara? AHAHAHAHAHA....

Nearly two weeks later and you respond with a post like that? :lol:

From weak to sad... cratch:
You're in cferneyh territory now! :lol:

Anyways.. I've shown you why Lidstrom was deserving.. you've still shown absolutely nothing why you feel Pronger was 'robbed'. :roll:

[tigerthelion]

Nearly two weeks later and you respond with a post like that? :lol:

From weak to sad... cratch:
You're in cferneyh territory now! :lol:

Anyways.. I've shown you why Lidstrom was deserving.. you've still shown absolutely nothing why you feel Pronger was 'robbed'. :roll:

Whatever you say. :wink:

[ryan93]

Entertaining first 2 periods tonight in Ottawa, hopefully the Sens can hold onto the lead.
Although i'm glad it counted, I can't help but wonder how the Daniel Alfredsson goal counted, yet the Karel Rachunek goal was disallowed in round 2 against Buffalo.

[Lizard King]

Pronger with the elbow again, I wonder if he'll get another suspension? He deserves to be out for the rest of the playoffs if you ask me, tonights elbow was alot more blatant than the last one, the guy is playing with fire.

[cferneyh]

Pronger with the elbow again, I wonder if he'll get another suspension? He deserves to be out for the rest of the playoffs if you ask me, tonights elbow was alot more blatant than the last one, the guy is playing with fire.

I'm sure he'll blame the Canadian media again if he does get suspended.

[opiated]

pronger's a douche, the refs were shit again, as was the commentating...i'm not watching anymore games...in the immortal words of Chris..

"i'm done"

[tth_fan]

pronger's a douche, the refs were shit again, as was the commentating...i'm not watching anymore games...in the immortal words of Chris..

"i'm done"

But he really wasn't done...wasn't he??
Does this mean you say you're not going to watch anymore games, but you really are, or are you really done watching the games? :lol:

[thedarkcanuck]

he`s just a drama queen

[cferneyh]

pronger's a douche, the refs were shit again, as was the commentating

Speaking of which, did anyone notice on the McAmmond goal that they showed the replay about 10 times how McAmmond banked it in off Pronger, then the live play started up again, then they showed another replay, then Neale chimed in with: "They are giving the goal to McAmmond....so he must have touched the puck on the way in."

I guess Harry needed a 12th replay to determine what happened. :lol: