Connor McDavid's next team...

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

Seeing the Messi effect on Inter Miami this morning.  Team value increases, ticket prices for games have increased crazy. McDavid is the next Gretzky that can change the wealth of an owner of a NHL team. Better yet with media saturation today, he would have a bigger effect than Gretzky's move to LA. ESPN and TNT would kill to see him in an eastern market. McDavid needs a cup now to solidify his heir apparent to Gretzky and Lemieux. Who takes the leap?... Philly?... 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Standing Room Smoking Cigs
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[Buffalonill]

It's probably Going to be the leafs

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

3 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

It's probably Going to be the leafs

ESPN doesn't care about the Leafs and the 26 owners in the US would rather see McDavid in the US...

Edited July 17, 2023 by Standing Room Smoking Cigs
spelling

[Doohicksie]

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

[Buffalonill]

9 minutes ago, Standing Room Smoking Cigs said:

ESPN doesn't care about the Leafs and the 26 owners in the US would rather see McDavid in the US...

The americans have connor bedard.

And it's McDavids Choice where he wants to be 

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

Just now, Doohickie said:

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

Hence needing a Cup now, that was non salary cap teams.... and Gretzky had quite possibly the best collection of talent around him of any team save the dynastic Canadians and well  the Pens and Wings of his era.... My point is it's not easy to win a cup now let alone 4. McDavid needs a cup, he isn't getting it in Edmonton

[Buffalonill]

7 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

At this point of his career he just has the points and nothing else.

I would still put crosby ahead of him

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

1 minute ago, Buffalonill said:

At this point of his career he just has the points and nothing else.

I would still put crosby ahead of him

And doesn't that sink into his craw?

[Randall Flagg]

36 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

I see a lot of hall of fame talent on those Oilers teams, and Wayne never won again once he left, while the oilers won again right after he left. 

The current oilers roster would be a bottom 3 team if you replaced mcdavid and draisaitl with league-average "top two forward production"

 

It's those two and then 3 4th lines, and Nuge is sometimes ok

Edited July 17, 2023 by Randall Flagg

[Buffalonill]

23 minutes ago, Standing Room Smoking Cigs said:

And doesn't that sink into his craw?

His best chance is the Leafs and sadly I see it happening 

[Randall Flagg]

This is actually Kevyn's end game btw

He's not clinging to assets to establish his reputation, or because he loves them too much, or loves the slow burn on his timeline 

He is getting ready to pounce when McDavid asks out 

 

🙂

Edited July 17, 2023 by Randall Flagg

[Taro T]

38 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

You sure about that.  The Eulers won a 5th cup without Gretzky.

Gretzky took the Kings to the Finals once and didn't go there with the Blues nor the Blue Shirts.

Messier was the captain of that 5th Eulers W and also got the Rags their only SC championship in 83 years.

[LGR4GM]

He's signed for 3 more years. 

[Scottysabres]

47 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

To be completely transparent that early Oilers team was stacked.

McDavid, if he goes to UFA, will be Sabres, I have 0 doubt about that.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Scottysabres said:

To be completely transparent that early Oilers team was stacked.

McDavid, if he goes to UFA, will be Sabres, I have 0 doubt about that.

Well, Sabres were the team he wanted to be with in '15.  Not sure if it's because that't the team he wanted most out of the 30 or because it was the team he wanted most out of the 6 that realistically could've gotten 1st overall.

[GASabresIUFAN]

McDavid's next team will be the new Atlanta Thrashers or the new Houston Pilots

 

[Pimlach]

54 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

Gretzky did not win them alone though. Gretzky had a better supporting cast.   

Edited July 17, 2023 by Pimlach

[Scottysabres]

Just now, Taro T said:

Well, Sabres were the team he wanted to be with in '15.  Not sure if it's because that't the team he wanted most out of the 30 or because it was the team he wanted most out of the 6 that realistically could've gotten 1st overall.

All I know is my son in law used to go to the Otters games, he wanted to play for the Sabres bad, and that was long before he was drafted. He loved Ellicotville I was told anyways. But who knows now that he's matured some.

I still see the Sabres as #1 on his list. I mean, honestly, think about the situation he'd be walking in to at the end of 3 seasons from now. A team stacked with skilled wingers, skilled down the line up in centers, with high end blueline talent, all coming in to their beginning core prime years. And he loved it in the area to boot.

I believe if he doesn't re-sign in Edmonton, Buffalo it is.

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

All I know is my son in law used to go to the Otters games, he wanted to play for the Sabres bad, and that was long before he was drafted. He loved Ellicotville I was told anyways. But who knows now that he's matured some.

I still see the Sabres as #1 on his list. I mean, honestly, think about the situation he'd be walking in to at the end of 3 seasons from now. A team stacked with skilled wingers, skilled down the line up in centers, with high end blueline talent, all coming in to their beginning core prime years. And he loved it in the area to boot.

I believe if he doesn't re-sign in Edmonton, Buffalo it is.

That's the dream at least.  

Could you imagine Dahlin feeding him?  Awe-some.

[JohnC]

10 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

McDavid's next team will be the new Atlanta Thrashers or the new Houston Pilots

 

It's obvious that you have a preference for southern cooking. You are a former Yankee who joined the Confederacy.  😃

https://millerhats.com/store/military_hats/Civil_War_Hats

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, JohnC said:

It's obvious that you have a preference for southern cooking. You are a former Yankee who joined the Confederacy.  😃

https://millerhats.com/store/military_hats/Civil_War_Hats

That, or with him being from Atlanta he figures that by bringing Houston into the league around the same time, it'll buy his Atlanta Shermans 😉 an extra year or 2 before folding as the Houston team will fold long before the Hotlanta team proves that 3rd time isn't always the charm.  😉

The 4th largest city in America (at the time) couldn't sell out a 65k seat stadium in a state where HS football is the national pastime and the local team was in the midst of a 7 year playoff run without having a local grocery store regularly buy up the last 5-10k seats for all opponents except the Stillers, the Pokes, and the Browns.

Know there are a couple of huge advocates here for putting a team in Houston, but simply don't see it lasting.  Maybe if by then the NHL has become a TV dependent league (like the NFL is now) rather than a gate dependent league it might work.  But just don't see that transition happening in time for an expansion team to there getting helped enough to stay viable.

(And still believe that expansion beyond 32 teams is darn near the worst idea a league which regularly tries to top its previous worse idea could come up with.)

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

McDavid is nothing like Gretzky in terms of effect on a team.  The Oilers won four Cups with Gretzky.

and Messier. 

Just saying. Messier won without Gretzky. The reverse never happened, as great as Gretzky was. 

Philly would snap up McDavid if it was ever possible but I doubt he leaves Edmonton. I think Matthews leaving the Leafs might be more possible. As well as Eichel eventually ending up in Boston. 

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

That, or with him being from Atlanta he figures that by bringing Houston into the league around the same time, it'll buy his Atlanta Shermans 😉 an extra year or 2 before folding as the Houston team will fold long before the Hotlanta team proves that 3rd time isn't always the charm.  😉

The 4th largest city in America (at the time) couldn't sell out a 65k seat stadium in a state where HS football is the national pastime and the local team was in the midst of a 7 year playoff run without having a local grocery store regularly buy up the last 5-10k seats for all opponents except the Stillers, the Pokes, and the Browns.

Know there are a couple of huge advocates here for putting a team in Houston, but simply don't see it lasting.  Maybe if by then the NHL has become a TV dependent league (like the NFL is now) rather than a gate dependent league it might work.  But just don't see that transition happening in time for an expansion team to there getting helped enough to stay viable.

(And still believe that expansion beyond 32 teams is darn near the worst idea a league which regularly tries to top its previous worse idea could come up with.)

I, like you, am not an advocate for expansion. 

I'm sure @GASabresIUFANwould argue that the Atlanta hockey market has become more robust compared to when the thrashers existed. The one thing that the NHL has done that I like very much is create a system where expansion teams have the ability to become competitive right from the start if they make smart decisions when selecting from the expansion pool of players. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

19 minutes ago, JohnC said:

It's obvious that you have a preference for southern cooking. You are a former Yankee who joined the Confederacy.  😃

https://millerhats.com/store/military_hats/Civil_War_Hats

My family was trying to avoid being murdered by the Czars and their henchmen when that conflict occurred.

The truth is Atlanta and Houston are the biggest US markets without an NHL team.  Unlike last time, Atlanta will have a deep pocket hockey-focused owner and expansion rules designed to give the team a chance.  Also one of the NHL's TV partners is based here in the ATL.  Build the right building and team and the Thrashers 2.0 will be a hit.  

It's also a recognition that Bettman's expansion program will remain Southern-focused.   Dallas, Nash, Carolina, TB, and Fla are all doing well.  Atl and Houston are the next pieces of that puzzle. 

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I, like you, am not an advocate for expansion. 

I'm sure @GASabresIUFANwould argue that the Atlanta hockey market has become more robust compared to when the thrashers existed. The one thing that the NHL has done that I like very much is create a system where expansion teams have the ability to become competitive right from the start if they make smart decisions when selecting from the expansion pool of players. 

Shoot.  Atlanta's market was robust back in the 70's.  The Flames never averaged less than 12k per game until the final year when they were on their way out the door and they still stayed above 10k per game.  The thing that killed them was the fact that even though they made the playoffs in only their 2nd year, and were consistently good (but not great by any stretch) they never managed to win a playoff series.  Which was the real kick in the pants to Atlanta fans when the team immediately made it to the semi-finals in its 1st year in Calgary.

And @GASabresIUFAN is on the right track blaming a large part of the Threshers departure on ownership being disjointed and then not particularly interested in hockey.  Having no success in the playoffs was the rest of what killed them off.  (IIRC they made the playoffs only once and then got swept in the 1st round that year.  Or did they actually win a series only to be swept in the 2nd round.  Know they got swept in their "best" performance in team history.)