GM and Coach, god I hope there are some real hockey men on the horizon for this team.

20 year olds:
M Zimmer
C Patterson
B Parker
D Featherstone
K Deines
D Byfuglien

I would go with the 1st 3, dump Feathersone and Deines and try to deal Byfuglien to somebody in the east.

19 year olds:
S Bowles
C Cooper
T Feakes
E Hunter
J Johnson
A Rogers
B Stengler

18 year olds:
J Bray
R Cyr
N Drazenovic
G Gardner
D Gendur
R Gillen

17 year olds:
M Berube
E Fuller
T Wishart

The 3 reasons for hope next season in my opinion are Eric Hunter, Nicholas Drazenovic and Real Cyr. If they can take the next step, they have the skill set to give us 3 high quality players would could cary this team along ways.

The 3 reason for concern next season are GM, Coach and the overagers. The 1st 2 have been beaten to deal, the the overagers have to step up big time. If it is Zimmer, Parker and Patterson, we need all 3 to be around a point a game. Last summer I would have said no problem, but now I wonder. I hope Zimmer goes home with some fire in his belly, and comes back ready to prove he is a much better player than this season showed him to be.

The Euro situation? Is it to much to hope for drafting one or 2 guys who can actually play? My lord if we could just get lucky. Did we burn up all the luck with Zdeno and now the hockey gods are going to make us pay?

Brewer, Chara, Hamhuis, ahhh the memories.

Ryan Kerr, Lance Redden, Andrew Cherniwchan, Tyler Gron,

How did they progress this season, how are things looking?

But maybe thats when the team will actually do something!?

With at least a 6 player roster change this team is not destined to greatness next year. Brodsky has no idea how to prepare for a winning season, and is with out a doubt headed for failure again. Did you know that for $129 you can have yourself a SpruceKing season ticket, and that is where my money is being spent next year.

Sorry everyone but the disapointment is a far cry from over. I for one am not going to give them another year. The closest my a$$ will be to a chair in the multiplex when the Cougars are playing is right after the new owners take over or they win the division championship, my hope is the former prevails first.

1. Apologize to everyone for the poor effort this year
2. Lower ticket prices
3. Reward STH will free exhibition tixs at the very least
4. Fire the head coach and GM and bring in "real" hockey people
5. Increase the Budget for on ice promos and entertainment - make it entertaining not cheesy
6. Create a booster club - fans will bring in more fans
7. Trade those players that really do not want to be here - may change if coaches change
8. Get new scouting staff
9. Become more people friendly - realize that they are here because of us
10. Reward their staff, billets and volunteers more - happy people equals happy results
11. Retire Jersesys with a big old ceremony on Game #1 - Brewer, Chara, Hamhuis - Bring them to PG - have a big old party for STH.
12. Get real about wanting to win- they should want it so bad it consumes their every thought.
13. Treat the players with respect - barking and benching them did not work - try at little more tact - they are somebodies kids.

If they need someone to show them how to do this I am sure there are a lot of NHLers that are on a break right now, CALL THEM and ask for help.

If something doesnt change now, it is time for the big buck holders of PG to gather together and offer Brodsky a nice tidy sum to purchase the team. I am sure when he looks at how much MONEY he lost this year he will be willing to sell it just to get rid of the headache. Has anyone ever approached him abour selling. someone better do it before it goes out of town and we've lost the team forever.

that he has been approached atleast 3 times by a major PG company about selling with some very serious numbers thrown at him.

His reply, sorry, not interested.

WHL franchises don't lose money averaging 3000+ seats/game. Doesn't matter if the STH didn't show up, they still have the $$$.

It costs a lot to have a team, once you take the cities cut off for rent and salaries for everyone, bus and travel expenses, plus all the equipment etc, I really do not believe there is any money left this year, not enough to make it worthwhile. Enlighten me. And remember you can't compare to other teams as our travel is more than most of the others and the building is still fairly new and doesn't have corporate sponsorship, ie. the city has to recoup costs as much as they can.

Yes there are expenses, but they also have a favourable lease with the city, signed when the city was trying to attract a team. They took in around 1.6 million in ticket revenue, 200,000 grand in luxory box's, NHL money for drafted players, advertising revenue from adds around the arena, and merchandise revenue, both internal and WHL related.

Overall the team will still show a reasonable profit this season. The staff costs are not overly high, they spend almost no money on Euro scouting, and they are on the low end for billet renumeration.

averaging 3000 per games, the team is still able to show a profit at the bottom of the general ledger, and that is despite paying a tidy salary to Mr Brodsky, as well as many family members. Therein lies the problem with selling the team. It makes money, and give good paying jobs to alot of the family.


Now on the creative accounting side, Mr Brodsky can claim a loss of about 1.35 million this season based on about 2500 empty seats per game. It is not a general ledger loss, but rather a loss of expected revenue. Gotta love accountants.

I'm an accountant and the answer is no. You can't take a deduction for revenue you didn't receive, because by the very nature you didn't receive it, it becomes it's own deduction because there is no income to report. However, if you still have to pay lease on those seats, that would be an deduction.

It's also an urban myth that when a company loses money it gets a tax refund equal to the loss. It gets a tax break equal to the amount of loss X the company's tax rate. I.E. a $1,000,000 loss equals $380,000 of tax relief. The owner is still out the other $620,000, so losing money never makes sense.

I've done some quick calculations and Brodsky is making money. It is also a good point he has created employment for two family members. Chances are if he didn't have the Cougars, he'd have to support them out of his own pocket, so he probably doesn't even consider them an expense.

What has baffled me is additional revenue after all fixed costs are paid, is almost all pure profit. I can't understand why he wouldn't lay out say $250,000 to attract a top GM and Coach, and try and get another 1000 season ticket holders, which would be $400,000 of revenue, leaving him an extra $150,000. I wonder if the city gets a share of the gate. If so, that may be affecting his decisions.

What I meant by the loss comment,

Sport teams and some companies in general tend to announce to the fans that they "lost" x amount of money in a season or year, but in reality the general ledger actually showed a profit. When forced to explain they mean they "lost" x amount of dollars because they budgeted for a certain revenue based on ticket sales, did not acheive it, therefor "lost x amount of dollars"

Did I explain that right? I think you understand what I mean.

Most likely the coaching staff is gone, they are not related to the Brodsky's so they will take the fall. The Cougars need major changes in management but how is that going to happen? Mr. Brodsky is not going to fire his daughter and husband. Experienced and qualified hockey people who know the whl are hard to find and not very likely to come here. Why would they come to Prince George where you will be faced with a meddlesome owner who wants to make all the decisions. The cougars will hire another lackey for a coach and the losing will continue for the foreseeable future. If Mr. Brodsky were a true businessman he would realize the shortcomings of himself and family in running the hockey operations and give control of that part of the organization to a more qualified person but it's not going to happen.

What would be wrong with Dallas going down south to run the team in Texas...........it would get him out of our hair and keep him in the family business.

What is wrong with Dallas, he's not the problem. He seems like a good hockey man. The problem is to bring in talent (they have drafted lots of talented players) and develop them for a few years. That creates a winning team, once PG has a winning team the fans will come back. The key word is development.

I don't believe that Dallas has the knowledge to operate a team of this level. Give me a Lorne Mollekin or a Sutter anytime. But'''Dallas will be here forever.

Someone in the org. is purging players for some reason or another. Always an excuse like didn't work out hard enough or bad attitude or off ice issues, want ourt for lack of ice time etc. These boys have all done well elsewhere. A good coach can harness the talent. A good GM can expect that from his coach.
PG has had the players to be a contender and dumped the majority of them.

Team this year could hAVE BEEN

Moulton, Buff, Later, Redenbach, Filly, Yeo, Kozak, and on and on. Okay, Buff stayed and the results from this years team? No playoffs. You think it will get better next year? No. 20 year olds will be marginal and the team will have maybe 3 bonafide very good players.
You can hope for more but the song next year will be...we are very young. We will be better in a year or 2 and the results will not change.

Just under three years ago the team used that as an excuse. Some of the regular posters on here will suggest that it was different then because they had Dempsey behind the bench then... Then Lambert came and he needed a few years to turn things around, right the ship so to speak; of course that was much more difficult than expected because Dempsey had such a terrible impact on the incumbents that they needed to be purged first. This year Byfuglien (bar far the best player on the team) had such a horrible attitude he brought the entire team down. Hiring rookies to foster lame excuses to cover up the real issues is getting old. Lets face it the organization doesn't have a clue and they are trying to fake it... And when they've pi$$ed off enough people they can then leave and blame it on the uneducated fan base, the terrible economy, or the poor schedule based on geography.

The next excuse...were a young team (not really compared to this years Swift team). I'm not buying it...and i'm guessing the arena is going to be a quieter more humble building next year.

Expect good hockey performances from Berube, Fuller, and Wishart also. These three young guys have all proved they can play at this level. Maybe if they were given the chance throughout the season the outcome would have been different. Both Berube and Wishart showed more heart and determination when they played than the big trade of Rogers and Trojovsky. They competed hard every shift. Yes they got beat on occasion, but so did the so called vets. Developing the young guys would have been a smart move. Fuller, Gendur, and Stengler also proved that they can compete with the top lines out there. Don't be so sure that by getting rid of six or so vet players that the Cougars don't have any hope. If thats what your saying you don't know your hockey.

I suggest some reading comprehension classes for you. Hell if it was up to me, 8 or 10 guys would be gone!

Sorry this comment was not meant for you. It was to go to Porn Star " Season looks shaky for next year".

The team has to do a ligitimat rebuild year. Of the possible returnees the only one I would keep is Featherstone (remember this is my opinion). Parker, and Zimmer are third liners on any other team inthe BC div, probably the league. They didn't play with any heart the last half of the season, and never seemed to fully accept the systematic hockey that was being coached. Buff won't be back. End of story. Patterson could be used as early trade bait, before teams have their 20yo situation figured out. Deines, I'm on the bubble. IMHO I don't expect him back.

Again, in MY opinion, it was the vets, the 19's, that let this team down. I have talked to most of the players at one time or another, and it was always the youth that felt they still had a chance. The vets seemed to give up on that long losing streak they had in January. That finished them, heart was gone. After listening to Hunter do the color commentary that one game, he sounded pissed that the guys basically gave up, and it sounded like it was senior guys he was most disappointed in.

Personally I don't see next year as all doom and gloom. Gendur, Fuller and Stengler were awsome at the end, and only getting better. Nick and Greg together with Hunter. Awsome first and second lines. Defense is going to be tougher than ever. Anchored by Cooper, always solid back there, and Wishart, Berube and Gillen are only going to get bigger and better. I see us having the best one-two punch in net with Bowles and Cyr. Don't rely on one more than the other. Go to whoever is hot and we should be in decent shape.

Sput:
You forgot Rogers on D. D for next year will most likely be : Cooper, Rogers, Berube, Wishart, Gillen ?, Featherstone ?, Kerr ?. I agree lots of talented players coming back next year. Some skilled forwards who will be one year older and stronger. The teams dilemma will be which player to let loose. My opinion is to first get rid of all the quitters and go from there. And if Bubba want to play in the league as a 20 then trade him this summer.

Sput if you're only keeping Featherstone of the 19yr olds than you don't know your hockey as he is not the best of that crew. Zimmer definately is not a 3rd liner and would be welcomed anywhere, I suppose thats why the Cougars would not trade him last year when Habcheid at Kelowna wanted him. Most always have a bad year health wise and thats what happened with Zimmer unfortunately , when he did return he had a very difficult time with his tonsils I unerstand which can poison your body making it very difficult to be up to form. We can only hope that he returns with a renewed health and does what we know he can do for this team and we can also hope that these guys have not been turned off for some particular reason unknown to us or if they have than look beyond that. I believe a change at the top, will help and probably not Stu as he obviously was a fellow it looked like the players looked up to.

Well we now have 4 under 0.500 seasons in the last 5 years and the one that wasn't was barely over 0.500. To me, that translates into subpar hockey for pretty much half a decade!

Is it any wonder that the fans are falling off like leaves on a tree in September? The bottom line that is pretty much impossible to critique is that in regards to winning, this franchise has accomplished NOTHING IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS! Now I ask all of you, if you accomplished NOTHING IN FIVE YEARS at your job, would you still be employed? I realize fully that winning isn't the only way a franchise should be judged (there are other considerations), but it is certainly the most significant and in these regards, the Cougars have failed miserably.

What will it take for Brodsky to realize that he doesn't have the expertise to operate a successful franchise in regards to putting a winning product on the ice with consistency? 1 more year? 3 more? Another half decade? Heck, history shows us that he has NEVER won a championship of any sort . . . why do we honestly beleive that he will suddenly "figure it out"?

Sadly, my hope for this franchise turning around rests on two possible options:

1) Brodsky sells the team to local interests and they hire the right people (there is no guarantee that a local purchasor would do anything different than what Brodsky has done) OR

2) Brodsky swallows his pride just a little bit, faces the fact that his way of doing things IS NOT WORKING AND HAS NOT WORKED and overhauls the organization and brings in people that can get it done.

IMHO this franchise needs a COMPLETE overhaul. Tinkering hasn't worked and it will not work with a business facing the challenges that this operation is looking at. Dwindling fan base. Serious concerns about the capability of coaching and scouting. Marketing efforts that are simplistic at best. A cross town competitor that certainly appears to be in a position to steal market share. You could go on and on.

I've said all along that I think the Cougars are simply in over their head in regards to running an effective business. One of the first things they teach you in business classes is to be very wary of going into business with friends and relatives (for obvious reasons), yet Brodsky seems to take it as a personal challenge to prove that theory wrong. The problem with what he is doing is that it clouds his ability to be objective and it forces him into the classic debate of "do I look out for the family or the business". Well Rick, without the business working, the family that is dependant on it will have NOTHING.

So this leaves us to the question as to what will happen next year. My own personal thought is that NOTHING of significance will change. Sure there may be some things in regards to the on-ice operations, fan friendly initiatives, new promos, etc., but nothing major to address to culture within the operation. It's like a really old vehicle. They will wax and polish the body and get it looking really good, but the drivetrain and everything else will be falling apart until they have a great looking car broken down on the side of the road with nowhere to go . . . except maybe Edmonton. Then they will fix those internals just enough to get that car over to Edmonton and the people will see this flashy car rolling into town and think "Wow what a GREAT car" . . . until 10 years later when they start asking themselves "What happened . . . it sure looked good".

I know I sound awfully cynical rigut now, but I don't see any reason to beleive that anything major will change. We may stumble across a winning season every now and then, but under the current operating structure, this team will not achieve greatness. The way the business is run simply doesn't allow it to occur and that is a damn shame for the people of PG. I'll hold out hope that things will change but I'm not taking it to the bank.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

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