A better NHL

I've been brainstorming some ways to make the NHL a little more popular. The problem with the NHL is the up and coming young guys you don't know who they are like the Sidney Corsbys and Alexander Ovechkins tell me where they played before NHL??? Cause I don't know. Here are a few things that could help the NHL take notes NHL marketing team.

1. Makes sure Mark Cuban and Dan Marino become owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mark Cuban would be a huge draw look what he did to the Dallas Mavericks he could do it with the Penguins who have Sidney Crosby who they could build around and is suppose to be the next big thing. Get Cuban in and you'll get some people interested.

2. NCAA you need to work with them to get more recognition to the up and coming players. Nobody gets to see the top talent unless they have local or regional coverage. Football and Basketball get nation wide coverage Hockey needs to find a way to get national coverage not just the national championship game. The NHL needs to work with the NCAA to try to get games on NBC, ABC, CBS, OLN. If you get people to follow kids through college they will follow to NHL. So try to get more television time for the game.

3. The DRAFT its something I really think the way it was changed could help the game. I don't like how you draft kids at 18 or 19 years old and they may not go play for 2 or 3 years if ever. I think they need to draft like the NBA and NFL once you get drafted you go and play for the team right away. A guy like Jonathan Towes from UND 18 years old gets drafted 3rd he can either sign or decide to play with UND a few more years. That puts a lot of stress on UND and any NCAA school not knowing wether he will be back or not. Allow him to decide when he wants to go into the draft when he gets drafted he goes plays. Also a guy like TJ Oshie was drafted like 27th by the Blues, but after the kind of year he had with UND this year his stock had to of rose even more and could be making more money. And when they draft kids at 18 or 19 and they don't come out right away fans of NHL teams kinda forget about them and the buzz is kinda lost for the kids who 2 or 3 years down the road might never play a single game. A lot of blabbing their but hopefully I got my point through. Basically the way they draft doesn't help the game.

Well those are just a few Ideas that I thought i'd share maybe me and tony will podcast a little about this the next podcast since its kinda slow sports news.

Matt's NFL PRE PRE Season power poll

Well I've decided to make my own power poll up for the the NFL season and hope to do it weekly when the season starts up I think it will be fun to do. It just shows who I think are the top, middle, and bottom teams in the league.

1. Pittsburgh - defending Super Bowl champs will stay at top for now, but I don't think they will be their very long.

2. Seattle - NFC Champs should be a team that has good shot at defending NFC championship still have a lot back from last year.

3. Carolina - All around wise I think they are solid offense, defense, and special teams with some key acquisitions in the off season.

4. Indianapolis - How will they fair without James? No running game teams can key on passing attack, will see how good of a quarterback Manning is this year.

5. New England - Patriots are still a top 5 team with Brady at the helm. Injuries really hurt the team last year I look for them to rebound and have a good year.

6. Dallas - Boys got a couple key positions squared away with adding TO and Vanderjagct which should add a couple wins from last year and a playoff berth.

7. Denver - Could be dangerous team if Javon Walker can get back to his pro bowl ways, and Tatem Bell plays to his ability.

8. Miami - This is a team that could move up quickly if Culpepper plays right away and plays like he did a couple years ago. Plenty of weapons on offense and the defense is real good. Could give Patriots run for their money in division.

9. Washington - Had awesome defense last year could be even better this year, offense is gonna be the key if they wanna go anywhere especially in that tough NFC East.

10. Cincinnati - Who's the Bengal's back up QB?? Yeah nobody ya wanna trust to start. If Palmer is healthy and plays whole season they will be up more but their season rides on his knee.

11. Jacksonville - Can beat the weak teams but have a tough time with the big boys. If they can show they can beat some of the big boys watch out for the Jags.

12. New York Giants - Another team that has a good defense but needs Eli to become that pro bowl type qb like his brother he's got plenty of offensive talent around him just needs to get the job done.

13. Kansas City - Gonna put up a lot of points this year with LJ in the backfield, defense will keep them from being any type of contender.

14. Chicago - Best defense in the league last year and should be one of the best this year, but they have a terrible offense with no real Quarterback or running back. They will be good enough to win their weak division but be about it.

15. San Diego - You have one of the best Running backs and Tight Ends in the league a solid defense and an unproven 3rd year quarterback your in the middle and could go either up or down.

16. Atlanta - Mike Vick can he finally get the job done?? Offense is what is hurting this team don't have a true #1 receiver for this west coast offense either.

17. Baltimore - Ravens could be top 10 team if McNair stays healthy they have QB that can throw the ball, which give's Lewis and Anderson better chance to run the ball more effective and the Defense with Lewis and Reed will be tough like always.

18. Tampa Bay - Average offense and decent defense will be an average team this season and I'm not Simm's fan either.

19. Philadelphia - McNabb will be healthy but no wide receivers to throw too and not sure about the defense this year. Look for them to have a little better year then last year.

20. Arizona - Love the offensive fire power they have with Boldin, Fitzgearald, and James. Warner will be good tell he gets hurt and will be fun to see how Leinart does. Again the defense to me will be what keeps them in the lower half for now.

21. Minnesota - This team is tough to predict with new coach, offensively you don't know what your gonna get and defensively they should be alright. They shouldn't go any lower then this but don't know how much higher they could get either.

22. St. Louis - No longer have that high powered offense and not very good defense which will keep them in the 20's.

23. Detroit - Kitna the answer?? Think he is better then any of the QB's they've had their for long time but still a few years off tell a contender.

24. Cleveland - Kellen is back from motorcycle injury, not a bad defense, and I couldn't name their QB so that doesn't help.

25. Green Bay - Can they stay healthy is the question they have some talent on both sides of the ball its just staying healthy if that happens they will be moving up on the list.

26. Oakland - Aaron Brooks to Randy Moss touchdown???? Lamont Jordan had a good year just another team with a iffy defense that doesn't help when it comes to winning.

27. Tennessee - Is Vince Young the man?? They are in a re building stage right now and think they are going in the right direction. Don't look for them to do to much this season.

28. New Orleans - Reggie Bush and Drew Bree's will be good add ons to this team might add a couple wins but will be one of the crappier teams in the league..

29. Buffalo - Who's their QB???? Defense???? Uffda they might even be lower by the end of the year.

30. Houston - Like what they have on offense they seem to keep improving, Defense was key in draft I think they should move up in the rankings a little by end of year.

31. San Francisco - No where to go but up

32. New York Jets - They are last right now because I have no clue what they are doing with their quarterback situation. They have a very good defense which will keep them in games. But if ya can't score ya can't win. So if they can find a way to score some points they could make a definite push higher in my ranking.