This news is a couple of days old, but I wanted to chip in my two cents regarding the news earlier this week that the Penguins finally got their new arena deal and thus will be remaining in Pittsburgh.
First, I’m happy for fans of the Penguins and in particular Pittsburgh hockey fans. It would’ve been a shame to see a city that’s seen its NHL franchise go through so much in its history, from the highs of Mario Lemieux in his prime carrying the Penguins to Stanley Cup championships to the lows of bankruptcy and the selling off of its stars, to lose their team.
It would've really sucked to lose their team to a city where NHL hockey failed once before, where the only real selling point was its big, shiny new arena, where the team and it’s history and budding young superstars may not have been fully appreciated.
It’s going to come with a price to the local and state taxpayers, as building a new arena won’t come cheap, but that’s the price to pay to keep this franchise in Pittsburgh. The hockey fans likely won’t mind it.
Mario Lemieux has saved the Penguins franchise several times since he was drafted in 1984, but it looks like this might be the last time, for having secured a new arena there’s talk he might give up part of his ownership with the team.
Lemieux’s been accused of greed for stretching out these negotiations, that the only reason he bought the team and came back to play was to get back the deferred payments owed to him by the previous ownership.
That may be, but if Lemieux didn’t care about hockey, and in particular hockey in Pittsburgh, he could’ve sold this team out a long time ago for whatever he could get. Don’t try to suggest that he wouldn’t have received top dollar because of the lockout, because teams were being bought and sold before (Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo), during (Vancouver) and after (St. Louis) the lockout.
Point is, Lemieux cared enough to find a buyer willing to keep the team in Pittsburgh, rather than taking the money from somebody else and scuttling away in the night.
The interest expressed in the Penguins from Kansas City and (it’s believed) Las Vegas and Houston has me wondering if another round of expansion might be in the offing for the NHL.
Kansas City needs something to fill that new arena. Las Vegas is considered by some observers to be a major untapped market for a sports franchise, while the Edmonton Oilers nearly became the Houston Oilers almost ten years ago.
Even if expansion isn’t on the NHL’s agenda, it’s possible a current NHL franchise not called the Penguins might pull up stakes and move to K.C. The Nashville Predators have popped up recently in relocation speculation. Some say the reason the Preds dealt for Peter Forsberg was to improve its chances for a Cup run and thus improve its gate, just as the Lightning and Hurricanes, who also play in what’s been considered “non-traditional hockey markets”, saw their gates improve after their championship seasons.
With the Penguins’ future no longer in question, it now remains to be seen if the Penguins can afford to keep its current promising young roster together.
I am hoping that the young team remembers who gave them the chance & develop some loyalty to the franchise and not go to the highest bidder to benefit their agent(s) According to the complicated contract, the money to be earned should be able to keep the team together for a while at least. Fuzz
I've heard this talk about Lemieux being greedy as well... and its absurd. If that were the case, he would have let blackberry mogul Balsille buy the pens and send them to some ottawa suburb. While some may argue it was Bettman that stopped that sale, I dont believe for a minute that Lemieux didnt have something to do with it. And one certainly can't say it was all Rendell...he's a slimeball, period. Secondly, as part of this new deal, Lemieux forgave 5 MILLION DOLLARS that was owed to him ... something that is extremely unlikely to be just a PR move. Lemieux always has been and continues to be the only reason the pens have stayed home throughout their existence. In his words, he has two goals: the first is to keep the pens here, and the second is to win the stanley cup. It's a good start.
Crosby has already hinted he would take a discount to help keep the team together. How much that is though is anyone's guess.
Also, Lemieux has already stated the Pens will spend near the top of the cap in order to keep the core intact. There have been rumblings that because most these players are "growing up" together they will be more willing to take less money to stick around, but who knows how much truth to it there is. I will say this though: the players get along great and are all good friends, it's almost like a fraternity.
oh and i agree fuzzboss ... we cant forget that the renewed interest in the pens because of these incredible young players has certainly been the lynchpin ... and ive heard rumors that Crosby has all ready stated that he would be willing to take a paycut to help the team retain its form (and by paycut he likely means he would get 5-6 million instead of 7-8, but still..) If this team can stay relatively intact by the time the new arena opens, its going to be incredible.
I thought the other day, would the push to keep the Pens in Pittsburgh would have as big as it was had they still had screws like Rico Fata, Matt Hussey, Micheal Sivic, and Chris Beech on the roster instead of Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and Fluery? That being said, it a huge relief to me and fellow Pens fans that they are staying and now are just a great young team with a championship feature, instead of a team constantly in lingo.
You know I'm all happy for Pittsburgh and all but that coverage on Versus was just annoying as hell. Every 5 seconds there was a reference to the Pens staying or an interview or something that just took away from the great game that was played.
As a Buffalo fan I know full well what the Pens were going through, in fact I think the Sabres went through something worse. But holy #### just play the game. I think it was over the top to just have Mario make that announcement before the game but at least he had the sense to make it just one sentence long.
Congrats Pittsburgh. We went through the same thing in Edmonton a few years back. No reason Lemieux would sell. Now that the team is winning they should start making a decent profit. I wasn't a real big fan of Crosby, but lately its hard not to. He is really saying the right things at the right time. And if he makes 5-6mil this should drop salary arbitration numbers a bit. P.S. Ryan Smyth this guy is willing to play for less and is twice the player you are!
As a long-time Penguin fan, I was extremely happy that they will be staying in Pittsburgh. And to hear Sidney say that he would be willing to take a pay cut to stay in Pittsburgh was great to hear. The Penguins are showing the League that they are for real. With such a young team, the key is to get the players to stay together in Pittsburgh. If they are able to achieve that the Penguins are going to be a team that will be great for a long time to come. We could have the beginning of a dynasty. Go Penguins!!!!!
Hey Spector, this if off topic, but i read that you love boston. More than a feeling is also my favorite song, im only 16, but its the song my girlfriend and I love. Its sad that he passed away, R.I.P
It is great that the Pens won't be going anywhere. I had a hard time thinking of #66 and the cup banners hanging up in the rafters in any other city or not at all. It won't be easy for them to keep the core of this team intact by any means, but if they are willing to shell out the money to do so they will have something special for years to come. I'm sure there will be some team that will move to K.C. or Vegas or even Houston at some point, but I'm glad it wasn't now and it wasn't the Pens.
Congrats to the Penguin fans.. And to Crosby if he takes a discount to stay in Pitt. Now the only hope is that he doesn't marry a girl who doesn't like Pitt. We know how that one works.
It is good to see that the Pens are staying put. Another team on the move would throw the league back into pre-lockout days yet once again. It's very obvious that Mario has always been committed to keeping hockey in Pittsburgh. Kudos to them all, and, all the Penguin fans. As far as what Cobra said, yea, we all know how that plays out. *Pronger*... surely the wives and girlfriends of pro athletes know they can be on the move to any team in their league at almost any moment. Suck it up and 'pretend' to like the city your husband/boyfriend is playing in and making the money that affords you the lifestyle you all enjoy so much without complaints for the season. It's only a few months, not a lifetime. I still find it funny that even now, Pronger refuses to talk about it with the media in interviews, i guess his wife told him he can't talk about it.
Even though the Flyers had their's handed to them this year, I'm glad the Pens are sticking around. This cross-state rivalry should heat up next season.
LGB: With all due respect... Crosby will take a paycut because he's a team player. He loves where he lives and plays. For proof, just look at his mentor... Mario, he went way over the top to save the Pens. I could see Iggy in Calgary takin a bit less then what he could fetch on the open market just to stay in Calgary, the team he loves, the city he loves living in. Not all players are greedy and self centered, like Roenick, "Trade me to a contender or i'll retire" Fine then, retire, here's your $2.99 dimestore giftbag, thanks for coming, see ya later.
Last edited by lonewolf40 on March 17th at 10:55 AM.
lonewolf.
I'm sure many players would like to stay in the town they are already in. In my opinion, one of the reasons a lot of players go somewhere else to play, is their agents. Keep in mind that the agent gets a % of the players salary. The more the player makes the more the agent makes and the agent doesn't have to up and move to a strange new town. And it makes it easier to get more money for other players.
A lot of players are from small communities in Canada and not versed in the ways of negotiation. So this hot shot agent comes along and tells the kid he can make tons of money for him. The kid makes a contract with the agent, and trusts everything to him, believing every word he is told. I'm sure that the agent, if told the player wants to take less money to stay put will tell the kid, that he owes it to everyone else in the League to take the top offer, otherwise the barrier to which owners will go stays lower. So the kid says, I can't think only of me, I have to think of all the other players both present and future, I'm doing the right thing by moving on.
What he doesn't consider is that this leaves a bad taste in the fans mouth [rememember Pronger]
Therefore, it is not, in my opinion always the player who is at fault for changing towns, he is merely doing what he is told.
That's true, BUT... teams also have people in place to advise young players on all of the pitfalls and the like. Pronger's case was different, alot like Lindros. Pronger's wife told him to leave dodge, not his agent, Lindros was his folks, " you can't make endoesement money in Quebec, go to a big U.S. city and make a boatload, give us alot too." We could go back and forth all day and a few nights about it. The bottom line, i think, is that if a player is truly happy where he is, he'll stay, like Crosby in Pittsburgh, Iginla in Calgary, Kovalchuk, Datsuk, etc... their not only the 'face' of their franchises, their THE heart and soul of them.
While I wouldnt be surprised if Sid went either way on the contract, let's not forget something; Sid was already a millionaire before he eve knew what team he was playing for. Reebok signed him on to a multi-million dollar deal to be the new face of their hockey equipment. So does Sid even really care if he gets that extra million?
It's all up in the air, but I dont think his endorsements should be over looked in this matter.
Lonewolf:
The kid listens to his agent first and foremost. An NHL coach told me a couple years ago that a lot of these kids today, if you fine them or some even get yelled at they are on the phone to their agent.
The guy who told me, I have a lot of respect for and I believed him then and I do now. They listen to their agent, period.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
