My biggest pet peeve from reading Dobberhockey.

[thatbirdguy]

I believe you have to earn respect.
1) Zero Cups
2) Zero members winning a on ice player trophy. (Steve Sullivan won the Bill Masterton)
3) 5 play-off appearances in 11 seasons
4) Never got out of the 1st round
5) Highest goal total: 33 - Arnott
6) Highest point total: 85 - Kayria
7) Fan-base in the bottom 3 most likely (Florida, Phx, Atlanta are the only ones even close)
8) Money issues a constant
9) Only publicity is bad publicity
10) Only stud player might leave this year. (Some may disagree that they only have one however)

Wow Im sorry Dutch... that even got me depressed...... and Im a leafs fan :S

See, these are the reasons they will continue to be under-rated. The coach and players have been able to do a lot with little support from ownership. They have little in the way of offense, but how do you change that if you have a budget limit on your team?

They have a stellar goalie system, and a stacked roster of young defencemen.

Your fact 7 is completely false. This year they are 19th in the league for ticket sales, ahead of Tampa Bay, Colorado, Anaheim, and New Jersey.

As for publicity - that isn't the fault of the Team, its entirely the media not caring about the team, except for the Canadian media wanting them to move to Hamilton. American media couldn't give two shits about them, as with most other hockey teams. Also probably the reason Rinne may never win the Vezina, despite his numbers.

Just for fun, if we compare the Leafs and the Predators since they have came into the league in 1998.

1) Zero cups
2) Lady Byng (02/03), King Clancy (99-00), Masterton (07/08), Messier (07/08) - in the centre of the hockey universe where the media jumps if a hockey player picks his nose.
3) 6 playoff appearances in 11 seasons.
4) Usually made it out of the 1st round in that time.
5) Highest goal total - 41, Sundin (followed by 2 years of high 30s, and the rest high 20s-low 30s)
6) Highest point total - 83, Sundin (followed by a bunch of low-mid 70s)
7) Well they win this one.
8) No money issues
9) Loads of publicity
10) What stud player?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can't really punish an 11 year old team by comparing them to original 6 teams. If you look at recent history, their numbers stack up pretty decently even WITH a self-imposed budget cap, and a limited market. That's why they're under-rated.

[horrorfan]

See, these are the reasons they will continue to be under-rated. The coach and players have been able to do a lot with little support from ownership. They have little in the way of offense, but how do you change that if you have a budget limit on your team?

They have a stellar goalie system, and a stacked roster of young defencemen.

Your fact 7 is completely false. This year they are 19th in the league for ticket sales, ahead of Tampa Bay, Colorado, Anaheim, and New Jersey.

As for publicity - that isn't the fault of the Team, its entirely the media not caring about the team, except for the Canadian media wanting them to move to Hamilton. American media couldn't give two shits about them, as with most other hockey teams. Also probably the reason Rinne may never win the Vezina, despite his numbers.

Just for fun, if we compare the Leafs and the Predators since they have came into the league in 1998.

1) Zero cups
2) Lady Byng (02/03), King Clancy (99-00), Masterton (07/08), Messier (07/08) - in the centre of the hockey universe where the media jumps if a hockey player picks his nose.
3) 6 playoff appearances in 11 seasons.
4) Usually made it out of the 1st round in that time.
5) Highest goal total - 41, Sundin (followed by 2 years of high 30s, and the rest high 20s-low 30s)
6) Highest point total - 83, Sundin (followed by a bunch of low-mid 70s)
7) Well they win this one.
8) No money issues
9) Loads of publicity
10) What stud player?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can't really punish an 11 year old team by comparing them to original 6 teams. If you look at recent history, their numbers stack up pretty decently even WITH a self-imposed budget cap, and a limited market. That's why they're under-rated.

Here here!

I'm a Canadian and a fan of a Canadian team, but I am also a fan of teams that continue to produce against the odds. Each season I see people saying this team isn't good enough, they don't have enough offense blah blah. But each year they are in the thick of it. I also hope that Rinne gets plenty of Vezina votes - his numbers speak for themselves.

[Daves_a_Mess]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can't really punish an 11 year old team by comparing them to original 6 teams. If you look at recent history, their numbers stack up pretty decently even WITH a self-imposed budget cap, and a limited market. That's why they're under-rated.

I never compared them to the leafs. Just was stating why they are always disrespected and not given any props. You have to earn it in professional sports. If they had an MVP, huge offensive player, a long playoff run or a cup it would be different. But they haven't done anything to deserve respect.

After all that i actually like this franchise, just hate where they are. Trotz is my favorite coach out there and i love his system and how he can get players to buy into it.

If Poile was allowed to spend to the cap, I would love to see what Trotz could do with highly skilled players on his team. But unless they start selling out this is very very unlikely.

My bad on their attendence though. Had no idea it would be that high.

What I was getting to, is that there is a legitimate reason why they dont get respect. They havn't done anything to earn it yet.

[Leumas]

Quit being so hard on Nashville.

They've got a bunch of great guys there.

You know, Pekks, Sully, Horny, Webs, Sutemeister, Kosty, Legger, Lombo, Gocarama, Ferris Mueller and the Rat.

I don't know any of them but we all went to different schools together. Great buds! I miss all the good times we used to have.

[Dutch]

Any examples? Only looked at Kovy myself, but I couldnt find any other spelling of his name on the web. Where does the English translation change it to chuk from another spelling?



You have clearly never played hockey for a long period of time with the same players. Its just the way it is, and its awesome. In Russia, Canada, the States, Sweden, wherever, it transcends nationalities. Nicknames generally mean friendships, and I would rather them say Clarkie in an interview over Wendel "the mustachion maestro" Clark... although that's a f*cking amazing nickname.



I believe you have to earn respect.
1) Zero Cups
2) Zero members winning a on ice player trophy. (Steve Sullivan won the Bill Masterton)
3) 5 play-off appearances in 11 seasons
4) Never got out of the 1st round
5) Highest goal total: 33 - Arnott
6) Highest point total: 85 - Kayria
7) Fan-base in the bottom 3 most likely (Florida, Phx, Atlanta are the only ones even close)
8) Money issues a constant
9) Only publicity is bad publicity
10) Only stud player might leave this year. (Some may disagree that they only have one however)

Wow Im sorry Dutch... that even got me depressed...... and Im a leafs fan :S

Allright, where to begin...

I actually like the responses from thatbirdguy and horrorfan.

Nashville is and always will be underrated. We could win a cup this year, and next year we will be underrated... That's just the way it is.

As for your reply: You couldn't find any other spelling of Kovalchuk's name? How about his OFFICIAL name: Илья́ Вале́рьевич Ковальчу́к, or how about Igor Makarov being Игорь Сергеевич Макаров, or Anton Babchuk being Антон Анатолійович Бабчук
How many more examples do you need... Just because North America puts a North American spin on their name, doesn't make it their official name...

Secondly, I have never played hockey, you are right. However, I have played numerous other sports, and nicknames are gay period. Especially when coaches and such get into it, it is ridiculous. Instead of "hallsy" just call the guy Taylor already. I mean, hockey is supposed to be so classy with showing up in suits and all to the rink, then keep it classy, and leave the gay nicknames at home unless someone has a nickname that he fulltime uses.

Now on to my favorite part of your post...

1) Zero Cups
sure, but as someone mentioned before, we got just as many cups since we entered the league, as about 20 other teams haven't

2) Zero members winning a on ice player trophy. (Steve Sullivan won the Bill Masterton)
Not sure how this translates into respect, since hockey is a teamsport but OK...

3) 5 play-off appearances in 11 seasons

Sure, however, you need to keep in mind that an expansion team very rarely competes right from the get go, so it takes a couple years to build a decent team. Once that got established, we missed the playoffs only once. And, after this year, we will be equal to the leafs with 6

4) Never got out of the 1st round

True that, but again with an inexperienced group, there's no surprise here, altho last year vs. the hawks we got ****ed by that hossa ordeal

5) Highest goal total: 33 - Arnott

Plenty of teams don't have 40 goal scorers on their roster, so again, whats your point

6) Highest point total: 85 - Kayria

85 pts on a team that scores by comittee pretty reasonable. Again, we score by comittee so who cares about if an individual scores over ppg numbers. Plenty of teams don't have these

7) Fan-base in the bottom 3 most likely (Florida, Phx, Atlanta are the only ones even close)

This is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard... In Nashville there are actually VERY passionate fans. And, last night was the 14th sell out of the season for nashville. That's not too shabby for a team with all the sales problems we've faced in the past.

here's a link I googled for attendance http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance Averaging 16000 fans a game is good enough for me... When we see more fans than the Ducks, Avs, Stars, Devils to name a few good teams, I don't think it's problematic. Heck even the panthers have this amount of fans

8) Money issues a constant

Money issues are pretty much solved right now, Preds are on the right track, and we got some very solid investors with the team right now who I believe will keep the team in Nashville

9) Only publicity is bad publicity

Not sure where you find this

10) Only stud player might leave this year. (Some may disagree that they only have one however)

Nashville has plenty stud players. Weber, Rinne, Suter, and Sullivan to a lesser extent just to name a few. Never mind the pipeline on defense/goaltenders, I am sure we will have plenty of stud players in the near future. The only place I can see we need improvement is on forwards. But, again, I am not worried. Only few teams have actual real star fwds. Philly for example, I really like.

You are only depressed because you only found your information on wikipedia, without actually knowing anything about the preds...

The fact you say

they haven't done anything to deserve respect.

and

is that there is a legitimate reason why they dont get respect. They havn't done anything to earn it yet

is not even true.

The fact that we ALWAYS seem to find away to compete, and make it into the playoffs in the last couple years, and if you look with what players Trotz has to work, that on its own should gather some respect.

[Sack Lunch]

Quit being so hard on Nashville.

They've got a bunch of great guys there.

You know, Pekks, Sully, Horny, Webs, Sutemeister, Kosty, Legger, Lombo, Gocarama, Ferris Mueller and the Rat.

I don't know any of them but we all went to different schools together. Great buds! I miss all the good times we used to have.

HAHAH ..

Blumsy's gonna be a star too..

[Sack Lunch]

nicknames are gay

Not there's anything wrong with that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZPcGapl2dM