Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
That’s not what happened. They had a star - Jaromir Jagr - the leading scorer in the league when they “almost relocated”. And they “almost relocated” when they were winning- getting to the third round. It had only been 6 years since they won the cup when they “almost relocated”.
The only other possible relocations of the Pens was in 1978(again due to potential bankruptcy) and 2005 (after they had Sid) because Mario wanted a new arena and the city wasn’t cooperating.
And the only time attendance really dipped in Pittsburgh was (a) when they were in the bankruptcy in 1998 and (b) when they tanked to get Sid. In 3/04 they were under 12K per game.
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I'm not trying to take away from your point, but they picked Sid in the 2005 draft, which was the draft right after the lockout. I believe they had something like a 1/16 chance to get Sid, which is my long way of saying those lucky SOBs.
If anything then Pittsburgh tanked to get Fluery, when they finished 2nd last in the standings. Even when Florida won the Fluery draft lottery, PIT traded for that pick. They continued the tank in the following year when they finished last in the Ovechkin/Malkin draft.