June 6, 2013 - Random Musings

Here are some quick thoughts, largely unrelated to autographs. I'll occasionally include these with blog posts for no real reason at all.  This may be an attempt to harken back to a day when blogs were more personal and contained more random content, mostly along the lines of angsty breakup poetry on LiveJournal or collections of witty AIM away messages. Not to fear, though... this will still be somewhat relevant.

Who am I rooting for now that the Sharks are out of the playoffs?

Tough for me to say. As a Bay Area sports fan, there is very, very little that compares to the sting of losing to a Southern California team in the playoffs. The Sharks played very evenly with LA through the entire series; all 7 games were won at home and were mostly close affairs. The Kings had the edge on a strong Game 2 finish and taking advantage of a couple of minor Sharks miscues in Game 7. Despite this I'm happy with the way the Sharks persevered to keep the series alive, so I don't characterize this as the typical "Sharks choked again" postseason that many are always quick to slather on them this time of year. Anyone who actually watched Game 7 could attest to that.

So for now I'm rooting for Chicago to destroy the Kings because as much as I like some of the players on the Kings, there's no way I can ever root for any LA team, like ever.  In the East, I am pretty neutral on Boston and Pittsburgh in general. Both have been Cup champions recently and have their share of heroes and villains. I would really like to see Jarome Iginla get a Cup; he's such a cool dude about autographs and he's been one of my favorite non-Sharks players over the years.  As I write this, though, Boston just downed the Pens in 2OT of Game 3, putting Jarome, Evgeni, Cindy, and the gang on the brink. Boston-Chicago would be a pretty badass Final for sure.

Hey y'all, how 'bout that Dallas Stars rebrand?

The Stars unveiled their new identity yesterday with pomp and circumstance at a theater in Dallas, undetterred by the fact the logo was leaked well in advance. Trotting out owner Tom Gaglardi and the legendary Mike Modano, Dallas unleashed quite a dramatic rebrand. 

My initial reaction to the logo was mixed. I was thinking it would either be a minor tweak or a complete overhaul, and while the needle swing a bit to the latter end of that spectrum, it could have certainly been worse. In keeping with the general trend of ditching secondary colors in place of black and silver, the Stars eliminated the gold trim from their logo and went with a couple different shades of gray and silver. Obviously a star stays in there somewhere, and the "D" takes center stage (as in Big D). I actually really like the look of the away (white) jersey. The black and green stripes contrast pretty well with the logo. The home threads look more like an NHL practice uniform, with no shoulder trim or striping. Meh...

I think a lot of people were fearing a branding charlie-foxtrot along the lines of this:

Long live the Mooterus, rofl....

Oh yeah, the Hurricanes tweaked (uncheckered?) their unis as well.

People might dump on me for this, but I think the Carolina Hurricanes logo is one of the better non-traditional crests in the NHL (all jokes aside about toilet bowls and which way the logo flushes, etc). It's simple and appealing, with the hurricane symbol deftly layered in different sizes and colors. I'm glad the design gurus didn't mess with it this time around. As for the jerseys, gone are the arguably gaudy checkerstripes across the bottom, replaced with a simple red stripe with black trim. The end result? As with the new Stars kits, a much simpler uniform set.

Rocket down in Charlottetown... behold the Islanders

The QMJHL's PEI Rocket have had a pretty disastrous on-ice record during their stay on the island, and seemed destined for Sorel-Tracy, Quebec this summer before local investors were able to come together to keep the team in Charlottetown. Since the team's name was a byproduct of their previous existence in Montreal, the new owners decided to give the PEI Rocket an identity overhaul.  The new name, Charlottetown Islanders, is definitely a mouthful. Since I know nothing about PEI, I had to do some digging to figure out the meaning of the new logo. The center of the crest features the Confederation Bridge, which links Prince Edward Island to mainland Canada. I wonder what significance the cream/beige color has to PEI/Charlottetown?

The Canucks need to put their affiliate somewhere, soon.

The AHL carousel has been whirling furiously the past few weeks:

• The Houston Aeros were unable to negotiate a new lease with the Toyota Center and left without a home, since apparently there is no other building in the US's fourth-largest city suitable to host hockey. Off they went, to a market the AHL failed in previously: Des Moines. Hello, Iowa Wild. I am predicting this stay will be more successful; unlike the Iowa Stars (Dallas) and Chops (Anaheim), this team is affiliating with the closest NHL club, and the Wild can build a more fervent fanbase in Iowa.
• The Abbotsford Heat have been major box-office losers during their four-year existence in the Fraser Valley. The Flames got a sweetheart deal from the city of Abbotsford, wherein the city covers operating losses for the club and teams around the league collect subsidies for the ungodly long travel out to the west coast. The city is losing millions of dollars a year from poor attendance. One would think that putting an AHL team in a vastly underserved hockey market like lower mainland BC would be a stroke of genius, but the fans there just can't relate to a Flames affiliate. They pack the place when the Vancouver affiliate visit. 
• The Canucks have realized this and want to put their farm club there. They purchased the Peoria Rivermen from the Blues while negotiating with the Calgary Flames and the city of Abbotsford on a deal to get the Flames out of Abby and move the Rivermen in.  Left without an affiliate, the Rivermen played their last game in the AHL this spring. A group of investors came together to secure an SPHL franchise for Peoria, and the Rivermen will continue on in that lower-level league (better than nothing, I suppose).
• The St. Louis Blues have reached an affiliation agreement with the Chicago Wolves, previously a Vancouver affiliate. No big deal here, as the Wolves are one of the most stable franchises in minor league sports; they have deep pockets, a full TV deal, and a very loyal fanbase that will support the team no matter the affiliation (they were a longtime Thrashers affiliate and were independent in the old IHL).

So now the Canucks have to find a place to put their team, and there are a few snags in their plot to get into Abbotsford. They were unable to hammer out a deal for next season to play out of the AESC because Vancouver wanted the same sweetheart deal in Abbotsford as the Flames, and the city (rightfully) balked. Given more time, the parties should be able to come to some kind of agreement. But where do the Canucks put their affiliate for 2013-14?  Utica, NY has been mentioned as a front-runner. When it seemed more certain that the AHL Canucks would land in Abbotsford, rumors swirled around the Twittarwebs about Utica being a destination for the relocated Heat. People scratched their heads a bit as to why they would put a team in an area already covered by multiple AHL teams and in an aging arena. Cutting down on travel costs within the league is one good reason. Utica could make a good stopgap for a team for a few years. Also, the cities of Lowell and Trenton have come up as other east coast cities currently without teams that could work.  On the other side of the coast, a lot of people mention Seattle's KeyArena as a good temporary home. Having seen many Thunderbirds games here, I can attest to the awkward hockey configuration where an entire end of seats needs to be pushed back and curtained off. Not good for NHL standards, but AHL could certainly work; there are multiple AHL franchises that employ the same setup in NBA arenas.  As of now, though, reports indicate the front-runner for the Canucks is definitely Utica.