42 Comments

1. Sebastian says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:21 am

   Good read, too bad Malkin isnt playing, would have been interesting to see how the Kings responded to his cheep shot from last year.

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2. kozak says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:34 am

   Guerin nailed it. I know the schedule is condensed this year because of the Olympics but there is no reason that all teams can’t travel to every city at least once per season

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3. Shakes says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:37 am

   If the current system is built for fostering rivalries, I don’t think it’s sacrificing too much to have some fewer games against conference rivalries. If the main goal is to cut down on travel, it definitely won’t be worse than how it used to be (whenever I’d see Bob and Nick broadcasting from Winnipeg it felt like they were announcing from the the moon)

   I gotta say, real rivalries are built in the playoffs which the old playoff system (the Smythe days…) built because we would basically always play Edmonton, Calgary, or Vancouver every postseason (and Winnipeg was usually the 5th division seed that was left out). While it wasn’t perfect (the top 8 teams in the conference don’t necessarily make the playoffs) my hatred towards the Nucks (What the Puck is a Canuck?), the Flames, and the Oilers continues to this day.

   As much as I like seeing our conference rivals a lot (and now truly hate guys like Shane Doan) it gets a bit old seeing the Coyotes 47 times a season.

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4. VanKingsFan says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:37 am

   I like comparing Guerin’s comments to Sidney’s…

   Guerin: “The travel would be a little bit more, a little crazier, but my God, we’re all on chartered flights now, we’re all on nice big planes and we stay in great hotels. It’s not that big of a deal.”

   Crosby: “It’s got to be something that’s manageable for us as players, as well. We’ve got to, in a way, be kind of selfish and we can’t be everywhere.”

   This is an issue that gets talked about, but largely ignored by the league. Here in Vancouver its the exact same thing. Maybe this already exists but i would love to see a study on how success on the road compares between west teams and east teams.

   When you look at the total distance traveled in a season by teams, the west coast travel numbers are staggering compared the the East.

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5. txkingsfan says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:38 am

   I used to hate seeing as many opposing teams jerseys at the Forum and Staples as Kings jerseys. I do not know if it is indicative of the “novice” LA fan (minimal hockey knowledge, tendency to band-wagon, etc) or the fact that we have a lot of transplants. I’m less surprised to see Red Wings jerseys however, since Detroit is a hell-hole and I do not blame anyone from leaving that God-forsaken, sorry excuse for a city. Too harsh? My apologizes for those of you from there, stuck there, or otherwise incarcerated there. Go Kings!

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6. VanKingsFan says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:41 am

   Shakes:
   re: What the Puck is a Canuck

   As a Canuck myself (not the hockey team) I thought I should enlighten you; using my good pal Wikipedia.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canuck

   You could also see one of the best logos in hockey for the definition, “Johnny Canuck”

   http://i27.tinypic.com/5mafqo.png

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7. 20lucfan says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:43 am

   i hate the penguins! go kings go!

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8. griddle says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:57 am

   i’ll be at the game tonight….PR14…who else is going?

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9. Irish Pat says:

   November 5, 2009 at 9:59 am

   Good article and I completely agree with Guerin.

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10. Khanon says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:00 am

    Shakes,

    You hit it dead on. The old playoff system is what created rivalries, not this David Stern NBA style system that Bettman incorporated. Playing a divisional rival in the first round will definitely create a real rivalry. Can you imagine the Kings playing the Ducks or sharks in the first round? That would be awesome!

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11. Howe 9 says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:02 am

    I’ll be at the game. Up on top with the diehards. I hope there won’t be as many Penguins jerseys as there were Canucks jerseys.

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12. variable says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:10 am

    nice read, rich…

    i really enjoyed what biily g had to say and i agree with him…

    thoughts on travel…:

    i understand all the possible reasons that nhl’ers don’t like to travel…there are plenty…

    but…

    most of these guys…men & kids…have traveled all their lives…almost all of the players who make it to this level probably have logged enough frequent flier miles over their time to never have to pay out of pocket for a commercial flight again…

    i think when you are a professional athlete, travel is non-negotiable…it is a inherit part of the job…and one would have to think that if yr traveling a lot, yr probably having career success…

    so even though all the problems with traveling can be a drag, i have a hard time with professional athletes who complain about it…if they have been doing it all their lives to achieve their nhl goals and dreams, then what’s the problem with coming from pittsburgh to cali once a year to play three good playoff contending teams…? it’s part of the job requirements…

    and like billy goat said…it’s not like they are arriving by horse and buggy and are staying at the goodnite inn in lompoc every time…i’m sure there are amenities aplenty to make many feel comfortable and somewhat at home (sans family)…

    all i know is that if someone offered me a position to do what i like to do and asked me to travel for the majority of time i work to all the great cities (well, mostly) around this great country, i wouldn’t hesitate…i would consider myself lucky to be able to see things i haven’t while getting paid for something i love to do…

    that’s not a bad quid pro quo for you, sidney…

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13. Nick in 318 says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:14 am

    Agree with Guerin,,, hell, all pro sports players get paid millions… if i was getting paid to travel anywhere i’d be thrilled to pieces… if they dont like it, quit and get another job! the ones they should feel bad for are the refs & linesmen… they truly get no glory & have to travel twice as much… practically reffing a game every day… or ever other day… getting hit with pucks… breaking up fights… getting boo-ed everywhere they go…

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14. VanKingsFan says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:31 am

    Nick in 318:

    I don’t feel too bad for referees, I checked a number of sources and referees get paid about $110K for starters and $225K for veterans…Give me that kind of salary and I will travel anywhere you want me to go

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15. Christopher in Canada says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:37 am

    A Canuck is a Canadian actually. It’s a slang term that is really hardly ever used. In fact the only place it’s used is with the Vancouver Organization.

    Although calling Canadians a Canuck is not mean or racist anymore, we’d just laugh and say yes we are.

    Having said that though I don’t know why they use a picture of a sea creature, I’m guessing a whale on their jersey’s unless it’s to show they are on the west coast and next to the pacific ocean.

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16. Ben W says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:37 am

    See, if the newspaper had articles like this, people would still buy them.

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17. bob says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:39 am

    One thing that kills me about these types of games (playing the SC champs) are all the bandwagoners that show up. That has to be the most disgusting thing about LA…and don’t give me that crap about ‘transplants’…cause the crappy teams sure don’t get that kind of attention…EVER. You have to get just as much of a transplant effect in NY, and they don’t have that problem. LAME

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18. Koho says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:40 am

    The NHL schedule is horrendous. Players promote and sell the league by being on the ice in your arena and competing against your team, its entertainment and the talent needs to be seen by everyone to enjoy.

    Would the NBA have been better off having Michael Jordan come to your town every 3+ years? Or the Lakers/Celtics once every 3+ years?!

    Here’s my take on how the schedule should be:

    15 x 2 = 30 East vs. West (home & home)

    10 x 3 = 30 Conference Opponents Outside Division

    (Every year it switches…example…2 games home 1 away against the Central, and 1 game home 2 away against the Northwest. Next year flip the divisions)

    4 x 6 = 24 Divisional Games

    Add 2 games to the schedule or take away 2 preseason games and start the season a week/days earlier and have your division play 6 games like they do know for an 84 game schedule 42 home 42 away.

    Anyone else got an idea? Somethings got to be better than this current schedule that alienates the real hockey fan from seeing all the talent the league has to offer.

    GO KINGS!!!

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19. TB says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:40 am

    fat paychecks, chartered flights, and four star hotel rooms…and they’re complaining about the travel schedule…

    Lets see….my job: so so paychecks, traveling coach on an airline, holiday inn. Something tells me I’m getting the short end of the stick.

    I find it comical that they even bother complaining about the travel schedule. I want to see the stars of the game at staples every year. period.

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20. txkingsfan says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:44 am

    I agree Bob … then again, what have the Kings won? 1 Stanley Cup appearance in over 30 years in the league is not going to increase or maintain your fan base. I’m just saying, I’ve been a fan since the late 1970s and growing up all of my friends laughed at me – many still do but those are the ones from Canada and they pretty much laugh at anything because … well … they are from Canada and I guess that is funny in itself. At least they are not from Detroit. I do not have friends from Detroit. Period.

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21. Belexes says:

    November 5, 2009 at 10:51 am

    I like Koho’s schedule…

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22. Nick in 318 says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:11 am

    VanKingsFan… i hear ya… i’d travel anywhere for a fraction of that amount too… what i meant though was… some of these guys get 6mil a year and think the travel is tough… it was way worse when there were only a few teams west of Toronto & they were in our Conference… it was LA, EDM, VAN, CAL, Winnepeg, Minesota, Toronto… Stl… who else…? not much…

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23. bob says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:13 am

    txkingsfan, I hear you about when have the Kings won anything…but it really hit me the other night watching the Ducks/Pens game. Here the Ducks are, a pretty damn competitive team over the past 5 years or more…and yet it sounded as if the Pens fans outnumbered them. Don’t get me wrong, I love to hear that at a Ducks game…but I know we’re going to get that same crap tonight.

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24. kingsfan2316 says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:20 am

    Whoa there TXKINGSFAN! im from canada and we dont laugh at everything, only when the polar bears knock over our igloos eh!

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25. Cynic says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:23 am

    My prediction for tonight:

    The Penguins will be VERY surprised in our ability to dictate play. They’ve been watching video and all, but I feel our quick starts are still going to catch them off guard. Of course they’ll make a push, but without Malkin, our defense being as solid as it is I think will shut things down. Crosby is going to be frustrated tonight. I am hoping JJ and Scuds cover his line and we see Jack work Sid like a rented mule.

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26. 24diving says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Wow! Crosby comes across as a self-centered brat in his comments. If you look at the location of Pittsburgh it is one of the most centrally located teams. The time it takes to travel to all of the eastern conference teams and half of the western conference teams is relatively short. In fact, the trip to Florida would be a longer trip than going to half of the Western conference teams for Pitsburgh. Guerin has a clue, Crosby needs to get one.

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27. variable says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:25 am

    KOHO…

    it’s a nice idea…but won’t ever happen…not for many years…especially the part of adding two games to accommodate the schedule and varied play…

    if the nhl does anything, it should reduce the schedule to about 74 or 70 games…the season is over 9 months long w/playoffs…if you add the olympics in like this year, that’s almost 10 full months of hockey…

    hockey and football are commonly (perhaps wrongly) compared to each other when it comes to brutality…we all know that it was a few years back when the nfl implemented the bye week to address many different issues that had been brought up due to injuries, etc…i’m not dismissing the t.v. revenue aspect, as well…however, the sheer brutality of the sport supported belief that a break somewhere in the schedule was more than warranted…

    i would like to see the following…:

    - reduce the schedule to 76 games…
    - 30 non-conference games…
    - 46 inter-conference games…

    i would make the reductions inside the divisions…

    the idea would be to make this league a true NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE…give the people the whole league and nothing but…

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28. Seattle757 says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:26 am

    Well living up here in Seattle I expected not to see as many Detroit Red Wing jerseys at Seattle Thunderbirds games, yet every you look you see Red Wing jerseys. Just like in LA when I use to go to games at Staples, it bugs me because it feels like it’s all bandwagoners or our fans don’t show up….

    Now on to the schedule, I hate it plain and simple. I think it is outrages that not only we get screwed, but all the NHL fans get screwed. We never get to see the Eastern NHL stars and they in the east have no idea what goes on in the west and then when a player in the west goes on a scoring tear they all get surprise because they had no idea who the player was.

    Ever since we went to this format the west gets ignored. Just go to ESPN game preview for the Kings-Pens game and you’ll see the preview is mostly about the Pens and the Kings get a small little paragraph.

    Like Koho said above me, can you imagine the NBA promoting the league is the west only had seeing Larry Bird/Michael Jordan once every 3 years? We should have one away and one home game against every team in the Eastern Conference.

    I can’t wait till Bettman gets the boot, if there is anything I hate more than the Red Wings and NY Yankees it is Bettman.

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29. Matt R says:

    November 5, 2009 at 11:34 am

    I don’t see why, in three or four road trips, a team from one conference can’t play every team in the other conference once per season.

    Also, I think this would even things out a little since Western teams have to travel a lot more than Eatern teams.

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30. EJ says:

    November 5, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    I liked it just fine when there were 21 teams in the league, and each team played every other team in the league four times, two home and two away. Back then, you were able to see the best teams in the league — Montreal, the Isles, and Philly — twice a year. But then I’m an old geezer, and Bettman sure doesn’t give a rodent’s posterior about me.

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31. tantrum4 says:

    November 5, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    regarding calling Canadians “Canucks”

    Just wanted to clarify it’s not pronounced “Canook”, like I’ve heard many times during my trips to Seattle. “Hey, you’re from Canada? We love you crazy Canooks!!” ha,ha…makes me laugh every time..

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32. txkingsfan says:

    November 5, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    see! those crazy Canooks laugh at anything!

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33. DougS says:

    November 5, 2009 at 12:41 pm

    The transplant effect at Kings games is hardly cr*p (remember, we’re supposed to avoid profanity here). There always have been, and despite the poor economy there still are, a lot of people who migrate to Los Angeles from elsewhere, a lot of them to work in entertainment. It wasn’t too long ago when you’d go to Dodgers Stadium when the Cubs or the Mets were in town and a third or more of the fans would be rooting for the visiting team.

    I once had a boss in the publishing biz who had originally come out from Chicago to work in TV, and he was still an avid Cubs fan, had no love for the Dodgers at all. That’s who goes to Chavez Ravine when the Cubs are in town. But I don’t blame him for never giving up his hometown team, because when I lived in Chicago, I never gave up the Dodgers or the Kings or the Lakers for the local teams.

    As for the bandwagon effect, well, what’s the most effective way of getting lots of new fans? Winning a lot of games, so that people start talking about you and get curious. If that’s happening how (and I’m not sure that it is, because the Vancouver game last week was not that well attended), how is that bad for anyone?

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34. kingsfan2316 says:

    November 5, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    Anyone hear what happened with that ridiculous espn rumour?

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35. bob says:

    November 5, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    Sorry Doug, but you’re giving these people a little too much credit. Like I said, it would be one thing to have the same effect with teams who are cellar-dwellars, but you dont! You get it with the teams that are winning, and which makes it convenient. Is it surprising that so many people are Patriot fans? Give me a break, its called bandwagoners and LA is FULL OF THEM!

    Oh, and I didn’t know cr*p was considered profanity…wow.

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36. bob says:

    November 5, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Oh yeah Doug, one more thing…based on your logic, then the majority of LA transplants are originally from Detroit, right?

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37. Meg Jarrell says:

    November 5, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Billy Guerin RULES! More players in the league need to have his attitude. Sid still has a little to learn on that front. And something tells me the league’s other huge star, OVIE, would have NO problem being everywhere and making it work.

    I hope Drew hip checks you and setals your puck, Sid….

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38. Meg Jarrell says:

    November 5, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Steals….steals…..(please starting working fingers

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39. txkingsfan says:

    November 5, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    as i said in my post above, Bob, I give those that escaped from Detroit a pass – if you have ever lived there, visited there, lost a bet and had to spend a night in an abandoned, burnt down building, or had a crack deal gone awry, you would know exactly what I mean. Thank God for the Red Wings: without them, what the heck would people from Detroit have to live for?

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40. KingFan says:

    November 5, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    txkingsfan – Can we hear your take on Ducks fans and what would drive anyone in their right minds to support a team named after a lousy movie?

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41. THEROCKNROLL80S says:

    November 5, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    The NHL needs to go back to the old schedule where you played all the teams in your division four times and every other team twice.

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42. Kprice says:

    November 5, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    Great article…

    One quick thought… The NHL decided to create schedules with less travel when many NHL franchises were having a tough time making money. The whole “creating rivalries” could be a cover up from the fact that these teams couldn’t pony up the millions of dollars it takes to travle across the country in chartered flights…

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