Thanks, Gary -- Schedule favors Pens
There is no proof that the NHL schedule was designed to benefit the Stanley Cup champions, but the Penguins have been playing advantageous hands the past few weeks.
A game Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena marked the fourth of eight previous contests in which a rested Penguins squad faced an opponent that played the previous night.
In fact, according to FSN Pittsburgh, seven of the Penguins' past 12 games have come against opponents that either played the previous night or traveled a great distance the day before. The Penguins were 5-0-1 in those contests.
"It's just the nature of this year's schedule," coach Dan Bylsma said.
... the Penguins will not have to leave Pittsburgh for three of the 11 remaining times they are scheduled to play on consecutive nights.
8 months ago
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When it comes to the Pens and Bettman,
there’s always a conspiracy. Always.
Dallas Stars 4 Life: Stars Blogging From Hockeyville, Iowa
by Brad_Richards_Rocks on Dec 21, 2009 11:24 AM EST reply actions
Warning: tinfoil hats required.
I really hate to put garbage like this on the Rink, lest I discredit our reputation for intelligent Caps discussion sans the run of the mill biased nonsense that constitutes most sports blogs….. but I swear to God I see the Pens get calls that other teams don’t.
Did anyone see the goal against Colorado a week or two ago where they blew the whistle for Fleury after… literally a split second, as the puck was sliding underneath him into the net. I have never seen a quicker whistle in my life of watching hockey.
Less than 1/2 second. But that’s not even the worst part… the puck is IN THE NET well before the whistle is blown, 100% confirmed by the replay. And the referee who made the call was behind the net at a perfect angle as it all went down. Baffling.
Let’s say the NHL has quite a bit to gain from the Pens doing well. That’s all I’m saying.
by Bushwood Bushwhacker on Dec 21, 2009 11:43 AM EST reply actions
I don’t follow, you don’t want to discredit the fine Rink commentariat, then you contribute to the behavior prevalent in blogs that mouth breathers frequent? But to the larger gripe, what happened toughing through against the teams that “get calls,” or when you’ve got to do another back-to-back? Or to put in another way, in deference to your ID:
Isn’t the man who is worthwhile one who can smile when his shorts are too tight in the seat?
"After the Cold War, the AK-47 became Russia's biggest export. After that came vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists (and a couple good hockey players)."
by Bald Pollack on Dec 21, 2009 12:02 PM EST up reply actions
Meant my second comment to be a reply to this. Post fail.
by Bushwood Bushwhacker on Dec 21, 2009 1:26 PM EST up reply actions
Let’s say the NHL has quite a bit to gain from the Pens doing well. That’s all I’m saying.
Does it? PIttsburgh has a new building 85% built, the highest local TV ratings and is arguably one of (if not THE) strongest American markets in hockey.
The NHL could stand to help quite a few other teams (Boston, NY, Chicago, LA) that would generate a lot more buzz and revenue. As it stands, the Penguins aren’t in need of any assistance.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
if not THE
Give me a break. Top 3 if you count everything from western Minnesota to Detroit as the same market.
In an ideal world all ten fingers would be on my left hand so my right hand could just be a fist for punching.
by Fehr and Balanced on Dec 21, 2009 5:05 PM EST up reply actions
Pittsburgh’s not a strong market right now?
(Not a pissing contest, just saying.)
You come at the king, you best not miss.
It is for sure, but there’s no chance it’s THE preeminent American market. That’s Minnesota’s crown until further notice.
In an ideal world all ten fingers would be on my left hand so my right hand could just be a fist for punching.
by Fehr and Balanced on Dec 21, 2009 7:03 PM EST up reply actions
I’m perennially baffled by this — what would the NHL’s reasoning be for propping up Pittsburgh? If thoeries such as this existed about the league favoring, say, Toronto or Los Angeles, then maybe I’d be able to see where the thought process came from, at least. But Pittsburgh? Why should Pittsburgh be perceived to be the NHL’s favorite child?
"Camaraderie, that's what the Washington Capitals are all about."
by CapitalCentre on Dec 21, 2009 5:32 PM EST up reply actions
Mario writes them the biggest check!
But I agree with you. Bettman did help the Penguins a lot to get a new arena in Pittsburgh, but I don’t think he’s rigged draft lotteries or tipped officiating to help the on-ice product. The Pens have already won the Cup, they’re the hottest team in hockey right now. Why keep aiding them when there’s bigger and more advantageous markets to cheat for? You know, if you were going to throw out all credibility of having an actual sporting event instead of professional wrestling.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
I meant my intro sentence sincerely… as much as I didn’t want to point out my observation as it might come off as amateurish, stinking of that home-team-blinders bias that runs rampant on crappy sports blogs… when I saw this play I really took pause. It was truly noteworthy. Pens or not, I would’ve thought hard about what was going on in that referee’s head.
Alas, Smails was indeed a wise man… all you can really do is smile. It wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t have to go through Pittsburgh on our way… to wherever we may be headed.
by Bushwood Bushwhacker on Dec 21, 2009 1:04 PM EST reply actions
when I saw this play I really took pause. It was truly noteworthy.
Did you see the game or just that specific highlight on youtube? Honest question. It happened in the 3rd period of a 1-1 game when both goalies were gobbling up shots. The ref didn’t see the puck, and obviously had reason to believe the goalie had it. That’s why he blew the whistle.
Was it a bad call? Absolutely. Should the ref have maybe waited a second to see what would happen or to let another official with a better angle make the call? In a perfect world, yes. But things develop quickly.
I wish it wouldn’t have happened to let things play out fairly, but that’s one incident of a game. A game in early December against an out of conference team. If the league was really trying to stack the deck that wouldn’t be the time to do it.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
It was my secondary game at the time (the Caps were probably on), and I had been watching for a few minutes before the play in question happened. I believe it was a 1-1 game in the 1st, Avs on the PP.
I only jokingly accuse the NHL of aiding the Pens in any sinister way… but it really does make sense from a dollars and cents standpoint to help them. More than anything right now the NHL wants exposure. For a while the notion has been kicked around that the penetration of Hockey as a spectator sport in the US is not be at it’s full potential, and I tend to agree. The more the Pens and Crosby win, the more people outside of hockey will take notice, and growing the sport is the best way to make more money (as opposed to wringing more money out of the current fan base.) If the Phoenix Coyotes win the Cup this year, people outside of Hockey will say, “Who the hell is that?” and go on with their lives. The Pens win, and the hype machine grows.
Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way actually accusing the NHL of a widespread conspiracy to aid the Pens, all I am saying is that if the NHL could pick a team to win it all this year, it would be the Pens.
And guess what? The NHL would probably want us in the Eastern Conf finals too. So it goes both ways. Where’s our special treatment?!!!
This was the worst call I’ve seen this year, hands down, but I’m really just messing around here with the conspiracy theory stuff…. but if it was true… I wouldn’t totally be surprised.
by Bushwood Bushwhacker on Dec 21, 2009 5:26 PM EST reply actions
I understand what you mean, dude. I do debate that helping Pittsburgh would be the most beneficial for the league (why not help New York or LA?) but I get your point.
I also don’t think one terrible call in early December against an out of conference opponent is enough to cite conspiracy examples, but hey, if you subscribe it could happen. We all know this wasn’t the first egregiously bad call ever made in a hockey game.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
Seriously?
This was the worst call I’ve seen this year, hands down, but I’m really just messing around here with the conspiracy theory stuff…. but if it was true… I wouldn’t totally be surprised.
You should be a politician with all of that double-speak.
I’m disappointed this thread has gotten so much attention.
by Yoshietree on Dec 21, 2009 8:53 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
So this is what getting attention is like...
I meant the whole thing as lightheartedly as possible, I apologize if the conversation offended you.
The truth is the NHL is a business. Struck with two lockouts in ten years, and the 4th major sport (by dollars) in the US by too wide a margin, it’s a business that hasn’t reached it’s potential, to say the least..
It’s ‘05. There’s not enough money. Everyone’s pissed. You’re the boss. What do you do? You try to provide your customers with more entertainment. Almost every rule they changed after the lockout was done to increase scoring (or entertainment value— shootouts). Yes, NHL brass changes the game itself materially to make more money. This is not news. I’m sure they get a nice tickle when Ovie and Crosby clash in the playoffs. You can’t buy that kind of entertainment. But, wait, you can. And they are selling it.
There is money in the Hype Machine, and Crosby is the star of the show (with special guest Alex Ovechkin). Kids love him. Chicks love him (probably Ovie more). He’s on sportscenter more than any other hockey player. He is the exposure that the NHL wants. There is a positive correlation between Crosby’s success and NHL economic success. (Now, I’m not saying he single handedly resurrected hockey, he is just a sizeable factor among many factors that led to the economic upturn of the sport.)
And not to be rude, but you sound like someone who would blindly discredit a politician because he has mixed feelings on an issue. Things in are rarely black and white, and my original statement remains. Do I think that the NHL has told referees to favor the Pens? No, I don’t. Do I think that the Pens are on the (very) short list of teams they’d love to see in the finals this year? Yes. Does the NHL want to make money? Yes. These are not difficult dots to connect.
If you could give the Pens a 1% greater chance of making it to the finals, where you, as a business, would make XXXXX more dollars merely by giving them a soft schedule… all things being equal, no one would ever know it was done purposefully… would you? What is the true compass of the NHL front office? To uphold the honor of the game, or to grow the game? I don’t know.
So, Yoshietree, while I think it is fun to have an academic discussion about this, I understand if you don’t. But please don’t misinterpret my tone as anything else but logical. I don’t watch hockey games to pick out conspiring refs. I love the Caps, and I am happily contributing economically to the NHL through them… I just enjoy the meta game, too.
(If I was in charge I would spend every penny to put every goddamn game in HD!)
tldr
by Bushwood Bushwhacker on Dec 22, 2009 2:13 AM EST up reply actions
This was the worst call I’ve seen this year, hands down
I haven’t seen the play at hand, but I have a hard time believing it was even the worst quick whistle call of the year (that honor has to go to the not even very quick whistle that called off a clear Brad May goal for the Wings early in the season), much less the worst call overall of the year.
Of all our iniquities ignorance may be the worst
by Killer_Carlson on Dec 21, 2009 10:12 PM EST up reply actions
I tried to find a clip. Puck shot, puck under Fleury for a fraction of a second, puck in net, whistle blown, no goal. The painful part was that even with the lightning quick whistle (seriously fast), it still actually blows after the puck is over the line. Clearly. Just kind of like…. uhhhh…. that was a goal and everyone knew it. Ref standing right there. If they could’ve reviewed it, it’d have been a goal, 100%. Refs make mistakes, I know. But it was egregious.
http://www.pensburgh.com/2009/12/3/1182160/colorado-avalanche-at-pittsburgh
Check that thread. Turns out FnB was watching, he sums it up perfectly about half way down the page.
by Bushwood Bushwhacker on Dec 22, 2009 2:25 AM EST up reply actions
For the Last Time....
The schedule is not generated to be favorable to one team over another. Each team submits 55-60 dates that the arena will be open and available for NHL play, and then a computer is used to generate a schedule, taking into account travel, etc. The schedule is then tweaked by hand to make some final adjustments.
There are outside factors that affect the schedule:
1) The Winter Classic: the teams and location are picked in advance, and so that date is set.
2) The European season start… the teams and dates are preset as well
3) This season, the Olympics are also a factor, causing the Canucks to go on a 14 game road trip (well, there’s a 2 1/2 week gap in the middle of it, were a few of them will be playing at home…)
The CBA has requirements as well that have to be put in: No more than two games in a row, etc. Plus, each team has to have some “open available days” for a possible make up due to weather, etc. If the Caps had a home game this Sunday against a team that was playing in Carolina on Saturday, the game would have been postponed…
There is no bias in how the schedule is made. This year has some weird stuff due to the Olympics and that’s reflecting all around the league (it’s why Boston is making both their visits to DC in the last 7 days of the season…)
Let's go Caps!
I hear Yanni concerts can influence schedule.
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by Whiter Mage on Dec 22, 2009 9:28 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
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Southeast Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington
|
82 | 54 | 15 | 13 | 121 |
|
Atlanta
|
82 | 35 | 34 | 13 | 83 |
|
Carolina
|
82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 80 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
82 | 34 | 36 | 12 | 80 |
|
Florida
|
82 | 32 | 37 | 13 | 77 |
(updated 4.12.2010 at 9:21 AM EDT)
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