2015 Calgary Roughnecks and NLL Thread

[SuperMatt18]

July 17th 2018: Kevin Lowe named president and GM of the Edmonton Oil Barons Lacrosse team.

"I may have no experience or knowledge of Lacrosse but my 5 Stanley Cup rings show you that I'm a winner. I also won 4 draft lotteries and that is hard to do."

[FlamingHomer]

Former Roughneck player and captain Tracey Kelusky has been named one of the five finalists for the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot.

Very impressive stats, personal awards and championships. A nominee needs to be on 75% of the ballots cast to gain entry into the Hall. As usual with this sort of thing, the competition is very strong.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/serv...es/?id=5011747

[Acey]

In an email to a Global Edmonton reporter, [Rush owner] Bruce Urban said the professional lacrosse team will be leaving the city it’s called home for the last 10 seasons.

He said it was a difficult decision and pointed the finger at the city and Mayor Don Iveson specifically.

“Tough decision to make as we all love Edmonton, however no future offered for us by the city for a venue to play,” Urban wrote.

Article

[jtfrogger]

It sucks that the Rush are moving, especially after winning a championship. Hopefully they still have a good rivalry for Calgary. The NLL is a ridiculously unstable league. It is rare year that there isn't some team change. At least they have been stable at nine franchises for while, which is better than the nearly annual dispersal drafts they had up until 2011.

But the Rush owner is a weasel. Blaming the mayor for his own failure is a cop out. He seems to think that Iveson should be finding him a place to play.

I wouldn't be surprised if the NLL eventually gets to the point where they only have teams that are owned by NHL teams playing in the same arena. That seems to be the only successful model.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by jtfrogger

It sucks that the Rush are moving, especially after winning a championship. Hopefully they still have a good rivalry for Calgary. The NLL is a ridiculously unstable league. It is rare year that there isn't some team change. At least they have been stable at nine franchises for while, which is better than the nearly annual dispersal drafts they had up until 2011.

But the Rush owner is a weasel. Blaming the mayor for his own failure is a cop out. He seems to think that Iveson should be finding him a place to play.

I wouldn't be surprised if the NLL eventually gets to the point where they only have teams that are owned by NHL teams playing in the same arena. That seems to be the only successful model.

Was he the weasel? The Oilers and Oil Kings are moving to the new arena next season, and bullied the Rush in many ways (telling them they couldn't use the Battle of Alberta slogan) and eventually told them they will not be welcome at the new Arena.

The Rush can't operate out of Rexall without other tenants, it wouldn't be financially feasible. Imagine if the Roughnecks were healthy but weren't owned by the Flames (which was the case for years) and the Flames said;

"Okay, all teams that play out of the Saddledome, we're all moving to the exciting new arena for the 2016 season, and the Saddledome lights will be out permanently, isn't everyone excited??!!................Oh sorry, I forgot to mention, Roughnecks, you guys aren't invited to the new arena because we despise you and you're not one of us, and there aren't any other suitable arenas in the city, so uhhh good luck".

It's pretty ridiculous to call the Rush owner the weasel in this scenario. As usual Katz is the slimey one, bullying around a smaller franchise while having Edmonton's mayor in his back pocket who then blackballed the Rush like a puppet for a billionaire.

I'm glad the Rush packed up and said ****you guys, we just won a championship but we're out, we found a better place to play".

[saskflames69]

Well, it was a great 11 years and 2 champions cups. Bye bye roughnecks.

GO Rush GO!

I give it two years. But I plan on buying season tickets, so a guy can be honest.

[jtfrogger]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Was he the weasel? The Oilers and Oil Kings are moving to the new arena next season, and bullied the Rush in many ways (telling them they couldn't use the Battle of Alberta slogan) and eventually told them they will not be welcome at the new Arena.

The Rush can't operate out of Rexall without other tenants, it wouldn't be financially feasible. Imagine if the Roughnecks were healthy but weren't owned by the Flames (which was the case for years) and the Flames said;

"Okay, all teams that play out of the Saddledome, we're all moving to the exciting new arena for the 2016 season, and the Saddledome lights will be out permanently, isn't everyone excited??!!................Oh sorry, I forgot to mention, Roughnecks, you guys aren't invited to the new arena because we despise you and you're not one of us, and there aren't any other suitable arenas in the city, so uhhh good luck".

It's pretty ridiculous to call the Rush owner the weasel in this scenario. As usual Katz is the slimey one, bullying around a smaller franchise while having Edmonton's mayor in his back pocket who then blackballed the Rush like a puppet for a billionaire.

I'm glad the Rush packed up and said ****you guys, we just won a championship but we're out, we found a better place to play".

If hey was bitching about Katz, I'd agree with him. If he was complaining about the lease arrangement with Northlands, maybe he would have a point.

But he went after the mayor. Some of the bitching included:

• Not attending Rush games on short notice
• Not tweeting enough to promote the Rush
• Not helping him negotiate a deal on using an arena

It would nice if the mayor did these things, but not part of his role as mayor of Edmonton.

I agree with this excerpt from this article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...tion-1.3081054

The mayor said it's up to the Rush to negotiate with Katz and Northlands, and the city has no part to play.

"There's really no municipal role for going in and subsidizing the team. I'm concerned there's a suggestion that we should be doing that," he said.

The team has been plagued by dwindling attendance over the last several years, usually selling less than 7,000 seats per game.

If you are getting such poor attendance with a championship team, you are doing something wrong.

I suspect that an NLL team will be back in Edmonton when they are owned by the Oilers. Maybe that is Katz's game in playing hardball now.

Northlands is saying that they want a lacrosse team in Edmonton. (http://www.edmontonjournal.com/North...900/story.html)

With the Edmonton Rush lacrosse team’s all-but-done run out of Edmonton to Saskatoon, Northlands CEO and president Tim Reid says Northlands will work to get a new National Lacrosse League franchise.

...

“We suspected something was coming. Their lease with us in Rexall Place has expired and while we approached them several times on renegotiating the lease, we weren’t able to communicate anything formal.

“Bruce (Rush owner Urban) and I exchanged a few emails over the last 60 days. We asked for something in writing, but nothing changed except that they didn’t want to talk. We thought that was really peculiar.”

When you are complaining about a politician that is not involved in your business negotiations for why your business negotiations have failed, I blame you for your own business failure.

[Resolute 14]

The mayor of a city that is paying the lions share of the arena cost should bloody well be interested in keeping the team there. The Rush might only be 9-12 nights on the calendar, but those are 9-12 nights of parking revenue and ticket surcharges that the city intends to use to help pay for the arena.

The truth is, Edmonton city council has their collective heads so far up Katz' ass that they probably know more about the state of his colon than his doctors do. And the city knows Katz will probably go after an NLL team of his own in a couple years anyway, so they play the emperor's game.

Also, you are being incredibly disingenuous in your characterizations. i.e.: bitching about the mayor "Not tweeting enough to promote the Rush". What Urban was actually commenting on was the difference in civic attitude between Calgary city council and Edmonton council and using Nenshi's social media acumen as part of that example.

[Fire]

I'm surprised more NHL/NBA teams don't buy NLL teams. The cost is minimal ($3 -$5 million). Even if the whole league goes belly up it's not like it would be a big loss for these guys. The upside could be huge, you never know.

[Sylvanfan]

No doubt the OEG has the goal to basically have their own NLL team. From a marketing promotion standpoint, it makes sense to combine one of those with other entities that occupy the arena they lease, especially since the city pretty much gave him an arena.

So it did make it very tough for a guy like Urban since even if he was willing to negotiate...they city is basically letting Katz build an entertainment and depression medication monopoly in Edmonton.

Hopefully the exapansion team that Katz gets, operates just like the Oilers and can't figure out how to win, and treats it's people the same way.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by jtfrogger

It would nice if the mayor did these things, but not part of his role as mayor of Edmonton.

As we don't have a Strong Mayor system under the MGA, Mayors exert their influence more like ambassadors so Bruce Urban's requests are not that far fetched.

[jtfrogger]

Originally Posted by Addick

As we don't have a Strong Mayor system under the MGA, Mayors exert their influence more like ambassadors so Bruce Urban's requests are not that far fetched.

I agree that these are reasonable requests. But having a tantrum when it is not fulfilled is not reasonable.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Fire

I'm surprised more NHL/NBA teams don't buy NLL teams. The cost is minimal ($3 -$5 million). Even if the whole league goes belly up it's not like it would be a big loss for these guys. The upside could be huge, you never know.

It doesn't make a ton of sense unless you also manage the arena and have some dates to fill. The synergies between shared ownership (one combined marketing, ticketing, sales departments, etc.) are definitely helpful. But the truth is, the NLL has failed in more NHL cities than it has succeeded.

[FlamingHomer]

The 2015 NLL Draft will take place on September 28 at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville.

Calgary will pick 4th and 7th in a deep draft (as per previous comments in this thread). The recently relocated Georgia Swarm will have 4 of the first 6 picks.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/serv...es/?id=5020801

[Da_Chief]

That Swarm franchise has had about 4 1st round picks per draft the last years. Where are all those guys?

[FlamingHomer]

They had 3 but gave the first overall to Edmonton which is a longstanding tradition in sports.

[JiriHrdina]

Off-season update
- Darryl Veltman, free agent, signed with Buffalo
- Geoff Snider has been released after they failed to agree on a renegotiated contract (Roughnecks felt they were paying him too much of their cap)
- Travis Cornwall signed in Vancouver
- Jeff Moleski signed in Vancouver
- Karsen Leung re-signed

Lots of changes. Expect to see more turnover.

[Da_Chief]

Ouch. Those are some big hits no? Veltman was part of the core imo. Cornwall was a decent transition player. Moelski came back but wasn't as effective as his first stint.

Wonder who'll get faceoff duties next year. McIntosh? I think at this time its better for Snider to move on.

Having couple of firsts in this draft helps the cause. I'm guessing they're expecting the new players to make the opening day lineup?

[JiriHrdina]

Yes and no. Here's my breakdown

Snider - not surprised they are moving on from him. He and Malawsky didn't seem on the same page, but I think this is primary motivated by cap. That being said, his face-off skills will be missed. The extra possessions he would get you would allow you to both come back in a game, and hold on to a lead. But outside of that his impact on the team last season was really limited.

Veltman - under-rated player. Great work off ball to free up room for the others. Big shot on the PP too. So he will be missed.

Cronwall - never really got a big chance here and was passed on the depth chart by others like Leung and McFeteridge. Could do well elsewhere.

Moleski - showing his age and not a big deal to replace.

I suspect we are going to see them pick one forward, to play the left side with Dobbie/Shattler in the first round, and one dman. So they needed to free up some space for those guys, who they do expect to play immediately. On transition, they've got guys like Tor Reinholdt, and BIG Tyson Roe on the practice roster, in addition to Manning, Leung and McFeteridge on the big club. So there is some depth there.

In terms of faceoffs - it could be Macintosh, Manning or someone else that they groom into the role. Really most clubs are happy as long as they win 50% or close to it. The Riggers have been fortunate to have a guy that wins 65-75% but you can't overpay for just that one skill.

Snider was always a complete pleasure to deal with. A monster on the floor but a real good guy off of it. He's done a ton at the grassroots level too. So his involvement there will be missed. Cronwall/Vetlman were always great to deal with too.

But some fresh blood is needed so in some ways I see this as good.

[FlamingHomer]

Forward John Tavares has announced his retirement after 24 years in the NLL, all with the Buffalo Bandits. He will move to an assistant coaching position with the team.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/serv...es/?id=5044093