Oh god, forgot about those yahoos. Barry Melrose scratching and benching Stamkos as coach!

The amount of dollars that Toews and Kane have provided to the Hawks is unbelievable. It's in the 100's of millions in ticket sales, jersey sales and ad dollars.

Ovechkin and Crosby combined don't even come close.

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Uhhh, the Penguins would cease to exist. I'll give it Crosby and it's not even close.

They would exist somewhere other than Pittsburgh.

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Yep, Spot on Seacrest. The $$$ that Toews and Kane have generated for the Hawks is more than Crosby, Ovechkin, Stamkos combined. No one in the NHL is more $$$ valuable to their franchise than Toews and Kane AINEC.

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That's simply because they're Chicago Blackhawks.

Crosby is the face of the NHL in Pittsburgh! No one gives a shit about sports in Florida and yet Stamkos is a face.

Toews and Kane are merely a cog in the McDonough/Rocky machine. Stamkos or Crosby would crush it even more if they were in Chicago.

The Kane/Toews masturbation is short-term memory. Bandwagon fans like shakes prolly don't remember in how shitty a shape the NHL was after the 04-05 lockout.

The Ovechkin/Crosby battles drew back a ton of fans back into the NHL after swearing they were done.

I don't care about your silly argument but Crosby is huge and so important to Pittsburgh. The jerseys alone and outpouring are incredible. Sure population here can't make the dollars match but if Crosby in LA, chgo or NY he would be Hollywood huge.

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Elections have consequences.

LA maybe, but definitely not in Chicago.

Too soft and too prone to disappear in the play offs.

Oh, and he is a cheap shotting little jag off when things aren't going his way.

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I'm talking strictly popularity and dollars not playing terms.

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Elections have consequences.

He wouldn't be as popular here for the reasons I mentioned.

Stamkos would be I think.

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The fact is they're not in Chicago. Toews and Kane are and we've all seen the meteoric rise the franchise has had since they got here. Blackhawks are now one of the most valuable franchises in all of sports, let alone the NHL. Pittsburg, Tampa and Washington aren't even close to their level.

And including Stamkos and Ovechkin in this comparison is a joke. Stamkos isn't even the best center in Tampa anymore, let alone the undisputed face of the franchise. Washington isn't even close to the financial powerhouse that the Hawks are so Ovechkin's $$ value isn't in the same ballpark as Toews and Kane.

The FACT (not hypotheticals like you are trying to argue) are that no two players have made more $$ for their team than Toews and Kane have. They are quite simply the two most valuable players in the NHL in terms of $$ generated and that is the bottom line.

They should each be getting paid in the $20-30 million dollar per year area based on what they have done for the team and what they continue to do.

Anyone saying they are overpaid or that they gouged the team is an IDIOT.

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You're an idiot.

Enforcing the rule book is what brought fans back to the game. Ovechkin/Crosby are not Magic/Bird.

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shakes, look, hockey existed before 2009. wikipedia it before posting more garbage.

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Dude, you're arguing with some who won a free fantasy football league. Best to just step down. You're obviously nowhere near his level.

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-- source

Illegal Clutching and grabbing along with unchecked mucking and grinding existed before 2008. You know, before most people jumped on the Hawks bandwagon here and elsewhere.

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Yeah, they need to do that again.

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So you got nothing. That's what I suspected. Carry on.

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You really misspelled Tyler Johnson, like really bad.

Ask any Tampa fan who their best center is and 99% of them will say Johnson, not #91.

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Yes, they do. The sooner the better.

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I have plenty. But when you say idiotic things like Johnson is better than Stamkos then I have no use arguing with a delusional arrogant dumbass.

The reduction of clutching and grabbing did help. But that's not the main reason why hockey has exploded in popularity. If so, then hockey would be dying right now as it's back in a dead puck era.

No, the biggest reason why hockey emerged from it's shitshow is that large markets stopped shitting the bed. Within the past ten years Chicago, Boston, New York, Montreal, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington have all had significant success. Those teams all have marketable generational talents that are emblazoned across their cities and across the country on NBC and NBC Sports.

Before the lockout you had a Cup finals of:
Lightning/Flames
Devils/Ducks
Wings/Canes
Avalance/Devils
Devils/Stars
Stars/Sabres

None of those teams are in large markets (other than Wysh I have never heard of Devils fans).

Hockey like baseball is primarily regional. With core markets in the Northeast and Midwest succeeding you have enormous growth.

It's that simple kiddo

yep, I've been saying that since the 90s..everytime there's a lockout they come back and enforce the rules by the letter of the law for a few weeks and then it goes back to clutching and grabbing. Shit, after teh last lockout they even started calling interference on defenseman during dumpins at the blue line. That lasted about a week.

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The sad reality is that concussion talk has been way way way down since the league started letting defenders attach themselves to guys like Metroids back in early 2012.

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Shawzer good at biting opponents!

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I thought that was a joke. He did that for real?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

oh I dont know, just speculation it sounds like. Just found it funny.

Whatever it takes!

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'd rather he didn't, given how much fun I had making fun of Alex Burrows for biting a guy.

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What IS it with NHL guys biting each other? Chelios bit a guy too once.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014