Sports & Recreation

Who thinks the NHL is rigged?

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  • Aug 17th, 2020 1:02 am
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Who thinks the NHL is rigged?

so with the nhl in freefall and desperate to make a profit and constantly allowing US teams to win the playoffs so they can grow the game where the money is, who here thinks the league is gonna influence the games to make the leafs or another big city canadian team win the playoffs this year, especially with the hub cities being here in canada? There motivation to grow the game has to be very low with everything thats happening and i think they have given up on growing the game.

Im not a betting man but i can pretty much guarantee this is gonna happen, but whos gonna "win"? im guessing leafs
Last edited by slash407 on Jul 5th, 2020 9:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Title edit
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UPDATE EDIT: topic title changed

Are you implying the league is rigged?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have the 2nd largest net worth in the NHL. Surprisingly the New York Rangers are worth more than The Leafs despite similarly
being a team that has not had playoff success or a consistently competitive team for a long stretch of time.

Gretzky requesting to be traded to the L.A. Kings, after the Oilers could not pay to keep their players, was suggested by his father because it was good for marketability.
Wayne never won there. He did make it to the Cup Finals but lost to Montreal. That was the last time a Canadian NHL Team won the Cup.

The Oilers came close in 2006 by going to game 7 of the Cup finals.
The Vancouver Canucks made the finals in 2011 and lost in 6.


slash407 wrote: so with the nhl in freefall and desperate to make a profit and constantly allowing US teams to win the playoffs so they can grow the game where the money is, who here thinks the league is gonna influence the games to make the leafs or another big city canadian team win the playoffs this year, especially with the hub cities being here in canada? There motivation to grow the game has to be very low with everything thats happening and i think they have given up on growing the game.

Im not a betting man but i can pretty much guarantee this is gonna happen, but whos gonna "win"? im guessing leafs
Last edited by XFactor11 on Aug 9th, 2020 10:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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XFactor11 wrote: Are you implying the league is rigged?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have the 2nd largest net worth in the NHL. Surprisingly the New York Rangers are worth more than The Leafs despite similarly
being a team that has not had playoff success or a consistently competitive team for a long stretch of time.

Gretzky requesting to be traded to the L.A. Kings, after the Oilers could not pay to keep their players, was suggested by his father because it was good for marketability.
Wayne never won there. He did make it to the Cup Finals but lost to Montreal. That was the last time a Canadian NHL Team won the Cup.

The Oilers came close in 2006 by going to game 7 of the Cup finals.
The Vancouver Canucks made the finals in 2011 and lost in 6.
7.

Not that mattered... so close tho for nucks.
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XFactor11 wrote: Are you implying the league is rigged?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have the 2nd largest net worth in the NHL. Surprisingly the New York Rangers are worth more than The Leafs despite similarly
being a team that has not had playoff success or a consistently competitive team for a long stretch of time.

Gretzky requesting to be traded to the L.A. Kings, after the Oilers could not pay to keep their players, was suggested by his father because it was good for marketability.
Wayne never won there. He did make it to the Cup Finals but lost to Montreal. That was the last time a Canadian NHL Team won the Cup.

The Oilers came close in 2006 by going to game 7 of the Cup finals.
The Vancouver Canucks made the finals in 2011 and lost in 6.
The Oilers situation got really messy because of a bad owner in Pocklington. Gretzky wouldn't have wanted out had it not been because of it. It got so bad that the club nearly got moved and on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to that owner. They turned things around here and there, having limited success from great goal tending from Cujo and Roloson. Had Roloson not gone down with that injury in the Finals, I just couldn't see Carolina beating Edmonton. That team was physical and had the depth to take down any giant.

Then we had the Flames with their run in '04, a non-goal call away from winning the Cup, going all the way to seven games.

The most recent Canadian team that was a legit Stanley Cup contender was the Jets. They just ran out of gas from that dog fight with the Predators before succumbing to Bettman's Golden Knights in their inaugural year making the Finals. Hmmmm.....

The Oilers just fell apart thanks to the likes of Kevin Lowe and how bad the situation got with Pronger wanting out of there just after the Finals run because of some crazy fans involved with his personal life. It was never the same (A similar catalyst to the downfall of the Sens after Heatly wanted to be traded abruptly, totally wrecking the team's chemistry and momentum). Drafting and drafting and drafting. Sure, they landed McDavid. But how far have they gone. Goal tending issues, lack of team depth, coaching all contributors. Just a waste.

The Canucks in '94 had a lot more heart to take it all than the Canucks in '11 and other near years with Luongo did. They simply didn't bother showing up to Game 7 at home in Vancouver and got destroyed by Tim Thomas and the physicality that the Bruins brought. Now the '94 Canucks showed that heart to coming a crossbar deflection from a goal away from tying the game into the 3rd period in Game 7 against the Rangers in New York City. Led by strong, gritty, resilient guys like Linden, McLean, Babych and the explosive lightning speed firepower of the Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure! That was a run to remember.
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1993 made me wonder if some games are fixed. I think its more likely NFL games are rigged. Some of those blown calls really make you wonder.
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webshark wrote: 1993 made me wonder if some games are fixed. I think its more likely NFL games are rigged. Some of those blown calls really make you wonder.
See 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals.
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Strafe1 wrote: See 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals.
wow, thanks for the education lesson. Don't watch much basketball. Entertaining read.
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A lot of sports are rigged to maximize revenue or susceptible to corruption due to betting.
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webshark wrote: 1993 made me wonder if some games are fixed
the infamous non call in the Leafs-Kings game 6?
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Reason number one why owners buy sports teams is for prestige, not for money. Prestige isn't going to come when you're involved in a conspiracy in which your team never wins the championship.

Of course, you will get dudes like Harold Ballard, who wants to do things his way, no matter what.
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slash407 wrote: so with the nhl in freefall and desperate to make a profit and constantly allowing US teams to win the playoffs so they can grow the game where the money is, who here thinks the league is gonna influence the games to make the leafs or another big city canadian team win the playoffs this year, especially with the hub cities being here in canada? There motivation to grow the game has to be very low with everything thats happening and i think they have given up on growing the game.

Im not a betting man but i can pretty much guarantee this is gonna happen, but whos gonna "win"? im guessing leafs
Rigged in what respect? I think there have been serious problems with the officiating since the '05 lockout, and it has always been the case that the rules are arbitrarily enforced differently in the playoffs. It seems that Bettman and the NHL executives want the 'gritty' teams that are "built for the playoffs" (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean) to win the cup rather than skilled teams, and the officiating is rigged to some extent to accommodate this.

I stopped watching hockey because the quality of play sucks now. It's simply not entertaining or fun to watch. The ice is way too small, and the switch to the Euro size ice has been long overdue. If you want to put me to sleep, make me watch NHL hockey.

I don't think the games are rigged in the sense that the players are involved in it like in soccer. It's the officials and executives who try to get the result they want by putting certain strategies in place with the officiating and such, but it's still possible for the players on the ice to overcome that handicap. I think it's fair to say that the NHL absolutely did not want the Blues to win the cup last year, but they managed to pull it off.
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sprung wrote: tennis is right at top for rigging. easier to bribe one player than multiple.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-man ... 2019-01-16
Then you have boxing which along with amateur sporting events such as the Olympics as well as FIFA football is more rooted when you have officials, promoters, council members in on it. They are the most notorious as it is so prevalent to occur in those sports whenever they take place.
Last edited by Strafe1 on Jul 25th, 2020 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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rabbit wrote: Reason number one why owners buy sports teams is for prestige, not for money. Prestige isn't going to come when you're involved in a conspiracy in which your team never wins the championship.

Of course, you will get dudes like Harold Ballard, who wants to do things his way, no matter what.
Rogers has sabotaged the Jays ever since they took over. Then we had those years with MLSE and the OTPP holding the Leafs back and only concerned about tickets being sold at prices commoner folks surely could not afford. The majority of the premiere seats all bought up by people in high positions who wouldn't even go attend those games. Either given away to some people or left vacant.
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KhetysTeachings wrote: Rigged in what respect? I think there have been serious problems with the officiating since the '05 lockout, and it has always been the case that the rules are arbitrarily enforced differently in the playoffs. It seems that Bettman and the NHL executives want the 'gritty' teams that are "built for the playoffs" (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean) to win the cup rather than skilled teams, and the officiating is rigged to some extent to accommodate this.

I stopped watching hockey because the quality of play sucks now. It's simply not entertaining or fun to watch. The ice is way too small, and the switch to the Euro size ice has been long overdue. If you want to put me to sleep, make me watch NHL hockey.

I don't think the games are rigged in the sense that the players are involved in it like in soccer. It's the officials and executives who try to get the result they want by putting certain strategies in place with the officiating and such, but it's still possible for the players on the ice to overcome that handicap. I think it's fair to say that the NHL absolutely did not want the Blues to win the cup last year, but they managed to pull it off.
Good points you made. I think the NHL could have likely turned the run that the Blues made into one of the rare story lines to possibly bring more viewership from the "Worst to first" headlines they were starting to push as the Blues started turning their season around after the new year.

Most fans love Cinderella stories for teams. We've seen over the years those upsets when the NHL had the better playoff format of 1st to 8th place seeds in each conference and an 8th place team would knock out the 1st place team. It happened last year as well when both Tampa Bay and Calgary got knocked out in the first round.

Every once in a while, just to mix things up to not make it look like every season's playoffs are fixed; they'll have a Canadian team make a deep run into the conference finals or even the Stanley Cup Finals. Though they wouldn't dare let an all-Canadian teams Stanley Cup Final, not on Bettman's watch as long as he's around. They think it'd be worse for ratings than if Arizona and Florida were to meet up in the Finals. They'd go for those American teams in a heart beat over any 2 Canadian teams to make it all the way to face each other in the Finals.

It's been over 27 freaking years since a Canadian team won the Cup all the way back when that weasel Bettman was fairly new as commissioner. He had to hand over the cup then, though he's devised the structure ever since to make it so hard for a Canadian team to win it.
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Strafe1 wrote: Rogers has sabotaged the Jays ever since they took over. Then we had those years with MLSE and the OTPP holding the Leafs back and only concerned about tickets being sold at prices commoner folks surely could not afford. The majority of the premiere seats all bought up by people in high positions who wouldn't even go attend those games. Either given away to some people or left vacant.
I think it was in Ken Dryden's book where I read that, "In Montreal, fans attend the games, but in Toronto, the tickets are bought up by corporates."
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Strafe1 wrote: See 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals.
That's far from the only time the NBA has fixed a game outcome. They have even fixed the draft lotteries on occasion, such as in 85 or whenever it was that Ewing went first overall to the Knicks. You can see them manipulate the envelopes on camera in plain sight. No shame.
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Strafe1 wrote: Good points you made. I think the NHL could have likely turned the run that the Blues made into one of the rare story lines to possibly bring more viewership from the "Worst to first" headlines they were starting to push as the Blues started turning their season around after the new year.

Most fans love Cinderella stories for teams. We've seen over the years those upsets when the NHL had the better playoff format of 1st to 8th place seeds in each conference and an 8th place team would knock out the 1st place team. It happened last year as well when both Tampa Bay and Calgary got knocked out in the first round.

Every once in a while, just to mix things up to not make it look like every season's playoffs are fixed; they'll have a Canadian team make a deep run into the conference finals or even the Stanley Cup Finals. Though they wouldn't dare let an all-Canadian teams Stanley Cup Final, not on Bettman's watch as long as he's around. They think it'd be worse for ratings than if Arizona and Florida were to meet up in the Finals. They'd go for those American teams in a heart beat over any 2 Canadian teams to make it all the way to face each other in the Finals.

It's been over 27 freaking years since a Canadian team won the Cup all the way back when that weasel Bettman was fairly new as commissioner. He had to hand over the cup then, though he's devised the structure ever since to make it so hard for a Canadian team to win it.
I'm sure the worst to first scenario was a nice surprise for the league that helped drive viewership in the playoffs, but Boston winning the cup is way better for business than a small market team like the Blues. Bettman seems to have a strange obsession with these American original 6 teams that have had a resurgence in the last decade or so like the Blackhawks and Bruins. A Chicago/Boston final every single year is Bettman's dream, but that can't always be orchestrated.

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