most tv sucks these days, but there are some shining examples of good writing, acting, camera work, etc... we call those Deadwood and Arrested Development. Family Guy sucks ass, though...
Like it's my motherfucking job. But the reason you haven't heard from me is because I was hanging out at my friend's cottage drinking beer for the last 3 days, not due to that.
Oh, and Ran I'm really sorry - but the Sabres & Blues are actually the remaining teams from the what I'll call the 2nd 6 (Philadelphia who won in 75 & 76 but not since, Pittsburgh who won in 92 & 93, and again in 2009, Minnesota who finally won as the cheating Dallas Stars in 96 or 97, and the California Golden Seals who had to move to Kansas City, Denver and finally to Newark before they won as the Devils in 95 and 2003) to not have won. Fucking skate in the crease bullshit haunts me to this day.
Vancouver hasn't won the Cup yet, either. They came into the league the same year as Buffalo. I still think the new owner for the Sabres greatly increases the chances of Buffalo winning it.
It was the Kansas City Scouts that moved to Denver that moved to New Jersey. The Seals (and their hideous yellow and turquoise uniforms) became Cleveland, who merged with Minnesota.
And unlike most Sabres' fans, I don't blame Brett Hull. I blame the officials that blew the call even on replay...even if it was a stupid rule to begin with.
While Philadelphia has been waiting almost four decades for another Cup, Toronto has been Cup free for 45 years, with St. Louis now working on 44 years. Vancouver and the Buffalo Sabres are tied for third after 41 years without a championship, while both the Flyers and the Washington Capitals have ended their 37'th straight year without a ring.
I was just trying to work on the first 6 expansion teams - I thought Buffalo came in in 1967 but I guess not...
1967 additions:
Philadelphia, 2 cups
St. Louis, 0 cups
Pittsburgh, 3 cups
California/Oakland (who moved to Cleveland and then merged with Minnesota after faltering, leaving the NHL a team short for the 78-79 season), 0 cups unless you include the Dallas one
Los Angeles, 1 cup
Minnesota (now Dallas), 1 cup
Then in 1970:
Buffalo, 0 cups
Vancouver, 0 cups
1972:
Atlanta (now Calgary), 1 cup
New York Islanders, 4 cups
1974:
Washington, 0 cups
Kansas City (who moved to Denver and then to New Jersey), 3 cups
1979 WHA Absorbtion:
Hartford (now Carolina), 1 cup
Edmonton, 5 cups
Quebec (now Colorado), 2-3 cups? not sure
Winnipeg (now Phoenix), 0 cups
Which brought us to 21, which encompasses my earliest memories of hockey. They didn't expand again until the Sharks arrived in time for the 1991-1992 season and to me the game has never had the same "on ice" quality as it did back in the day. I'm sure most of that is me getting old & cranky however.
By Decree of this post, none of the cups won by any teams who entered the league after 1979 OR changed the logo/team name of any team that existed prior to 1991 (Avalanche & Hurricanes, I'm looking at you) count.
You have a point there with the quality. I was looking at scoring stats from the past. Scoring took a nose dive starting in the 90s and hasn't been the same since. Ovechkin and Stamkos are the only two guys that have broke 60 goals in the past 20 years. Not to mention that penalty minutes are no where near where they used to be.
I had to look it up, but there is funny thing about the Sharks. The guys that owned the North Stars sold the team to the guys who moved them to Dallas. Those guys then brought the Sharks into the league (bringing it to 22 teams). Then the league brought in Tampa and Ottawa, followed by the Ducks and Panthers. Of the last 4 expansion teams, Nashville has been the only one that is routinely competitive. Minnesota has made the playoffs 3 times. Atlanta (now Winnipeg) and Columbus both made the playoffs once (which I believe is one more time than the Leafs since the lockout), however, they were both swept.
There are SO many foreign (non-north american) players now, it totally changes the hockey. I personally like a mix of styles on the ice, no one wants to see checking lines duking it out to 2-1 scores night after night. All I want is for them to contract the league to 24 teams for 1 year, and tell me the hockey isn't at least twice as compelling as what we're seeing now.
NEW YORK POST: reports the NHL is prepared to take control of the New Jersey Devils if owner Jeff Vanderbeek fails to meet an August 14th deadline to refinance the team’s debt. Commissioner Gary Bettman has previously expressed confidence Vanderbeek would resolve his current financial situation, but a source claims the NHL commissioner’s office has apparently told interested buyers to be prepared in case Bettman has to take over the club.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: We can probably expect the usual denials from the Devils ownership and league headquarters, or at the very least, declining to speak about the subject. The Devils, however, have been reportedly close to bankruptcy since last fall, and earlier this year the league apparently provided Vanderbeek a loan to help with his debt payments. If the league does take over the Devils, they’ll be the third team to fall under its stewardship in recent years, as the Phoenix Coyotes have been owned by the league since 2009, while the Dallas Stars are believed to have been run by the league for a couple of years until they were recently sold to new ownership.
Columbus has been losing money like crazy, too. But that is understandable because they suck. It doesn't seem like New Jersey should be having trouble, yet they are.
