re: Choosing an NHL team to follow (STL Blues, it is - questions on pg. 7)

Blue Jackets and for most of what BF19 said.

I'm pretty sure they were the youngest team in the league last year and will continue to rise with Jarmo and John Davidson at the helm. There's so much young talent in their system that it's scary.

Yeah he's starting to piss me off. I thought JD played a boss move today in the training camp press conference by explicitly outlining the various deals they've offered him.

Him and his agent turning down $46 million for 8 years had me rolling. I'm to the point where I don't want them to offer anything else. $5.75 million a year is an absolute steal for someone with only one good year under his belt (people forget he was benched in the AHL playoffs just two years ago). If this continues, I think they would be perfectly fine moving one of the youngsters up out of Wenneberg, Rychel, or Dano.

If does what's best for him, he'll take the bridge deal.

It's all messed up. I feel like management isn't doing anything wrong at least. The season is too close for me to worry about it. I'm just excited at this point. The Horton back injury news bummed me out a little. Would love if the guy actually earned his contract this year.

Maple Leafs

ETA: I actually just realized you said competent in your OP so never mind

The Lightning
I think this promising young team has got special times ahead
Plus, I liked the off-season moves by the Lightning too

Super Star in Stamkos....
Up incoming young Goalie in Bishop.......
Many other skilled players to go with great management
Great fans, mascot, Lightning Bolt, and cool team colors
It's a win-win.....

Phoenix Coyotes. I refuse to call them the Arizona Coyotes.

Reason: Shane Doan is my favorite hockey player

The colors are aight, but I can't get past that new logo. But I also thought their uni's from the late 90's and early 2000's (ones before the unis they just abandoned) looked really cool so I dunno

Arizona Coyotes


You would be the furthest thing from a bandwagon fan. We just got brand new owners who are committed to Keeping the team there.

Have one of my favorite players ever in Shane Doan. A hard working blue collar player who has always been a coyote (or jet) and had always been overrated.

The team is always on the playoff bubble and feels like we are always a player away. Even made a trip to the conference finals a couple years ago.

Have one if the best coaches in the league in Dave Tippett. And have some great players. Ekman-Larson, Hanzal, Keith Yandle, Martin Erat.


Not to mention th badass colors/logo/jersey combo

Hurricanes

This comes up a lot, and my biggest advice is this: be honest with yourself. If you like high-flying offense and gorgeous goals, you're not gonna last long as a Wild fan, who play suffocating defense and play team-first hockey. If you want to contend for the Cup, you're not gonna want to root for the Oilers, who have been redefining incompetence for the past decade (but are so loaded with young talent it's like they are trying not to win). If late collapses bother you, then there are few franchises in sports that know how to break their fans' hearts like the Blues.

All of your front-runners have definite positives for rooting for, but be aware of the negatives as well. Know what you're getting into. And since someone asked just before the playoffs last year, giving the criteria of 1) Good but not too good, 2) decent history, 3) Potential and/or star power, 4) Colors/city, I gave this answer, which still applies:

quote:

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Here's who you can't root for as a new fan: Penguins, Bruins, Kings, Blackhawks, Red Wings. If you root for any of those teams as a new fan, you are a soulless frontrunner who deserves to be mocked until you cry. Those are your most recent Cup winners. That's like showing up to the NFL and deciding to be a Patriots fan. Have some dignity.

I'm assuming you're in the South, and you could root for a southern team. That gives you the options of the Bolts, Panthers, Predators, Caps, Hurricanes, Stars, and Blues. If you want a southern team with history, you're pretty much stuck with the Caps or the Blues, who have both been around for 40 years. The problem is, their history is one of unending pain and suffering. These are hard franchises full of fans who have been through hell.

The Blues have the longest Cup drought in the NHL (never won, have existed since 1967). The Caps have the worst record in Game 7 of any team in professional sports. Both are playoff regulars (Blues went to 25 straight playoffs at one point, the Caps just had the 3rd longest streak in the NHL snapped this year). So, always good, never great, southern, and few bandwagoners overall (both also have cool logos and are in fun cities).

That said, since the Blues are in the playoffs, that's the team to go for. They are also a young team and have the NHL's best personality (Shattenkirk) and Olympic hero (Oshie).

If Southern-ness isn't that important and you still want "history", you probably want the Flyers, honestly. And that hurts to type. Won some Cups in the 70s, have the whole Broad Street Bullies thing, great logo, awesome city that people are afraid of, and you're immediately hated by everyone else in the NHL, which means awesome rivalries. You also get to root for Scottie Hartnell and Wayne Simmonds. Not a favorite, but still good enough to tempt you.

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LINK

I'd also throw the Islanders into that mix. Generational talent in Tavares, hopefully getting better, great history but terrible recently, probably on the upswing, classic logo, finally getting good so the bandwagon is just starting to take applications.