Posted on 06/18/2017 12:10:45 PM PDT by Yaelle
The Pens ran a dysfunctional franchise for 20 years before building a fan base the first time. After that the base was pretty stable. I don’t think Vegas has that much time to succeed or fail but I hope they can build one. They’re starting from a much better base than the Pens had.
You’re probably right about Detroit. The same is true here in Pittsburgh, winning has become the status quo. The injection of youth is important for teams such as this. Gives everyone something new to look at.
Re: Pens
Two words: Mario Lemieux
Of course the Pens did tank to get Lemieux in ‘84, it’s a strategy that paid off but not immediately. The Pens didn’t seem good until the late 80’s with Lemieux and that record breaking season and that’s when the fans came. I think most of the current fan base were kids during this time. It takes awhile to build a fan base.
I hate that we will lose James Neal, the Real Deal. Also, I hate the new Adidas jerseys. They look like cheap, knock-off, side of the road imitations.
I don’t know if I hate them, but as a group they all look like a t shirt made to look like a jersey. Will take some getting used to. Golden Knights logo a little passive looking for a hockey team. Is the knight standing in the hallway of a museum?
There is definitely a pendulum effect (BESIDES the salary cap) to winning NHL teams. We saw it with our local boys the Kings. I won’t say winning the Cup could ever be done on psychology alone, but it helps. You know a strong will, a tiny very into it town, really can get you to a series win from being down 0-3. Skill is hella not enough!
When the Kings are doing well, the entire town (Manhattan Beach, where they ALL live) is abuzz and displaying signs, stickers, gear. The town is that seventh player in MB for sure.
And then, when you are at the top for a few years, since there is no where to go but down, other teams have MORE motivation than you do to win the cup, and your salary cap for the hottest players means they need to sacrifice in order to stay, so the order of teams always changes at the top. Which is, in the end, fair and makes the playoffs so exciting.
Pittsburgh almost lost the team to Kansas City a while back in the pre-Crosby days. People sometimes forget that Lemieux had to come out of retirement in 2000 just to rescue the team.
L.A. is a tough town for any team to succeed. The biggest problem there seems to be the enormous size of the metro area coupled with the wide variety of entertainment options there. They went years without an NFL team, and NASCAR even took away one of the race dates at California Speedway because of the low attendance.
This sounds almost too obvious but getting anywhere in early evening in L.A. Actually makes people prefer to not go out. Unless you’re young and going out means meeting the opposite sex...
Still, in tiny Manhattan Beach, I do think the team felt the incredible fan presence. Every shop, everywhere, even the end of the pier, was all GO KINGS in their runs for the cup.
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