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Having that accomplished, and with changes to the forward group and the blue line, you start tinkering with the lineup. Just for giggles, I put the current roster into NHL 23 to see what the top line and the blue line combos would look like. (This is under the assumption that Edvinsson isn’t ready to start season). Here’s what came out:
Top Line: Perron-Larkin-Debrincat Second line: Fabbri - Copp - Raymond Compher was the third line center and Berggren was listed as the 4th line center.
Blue Line - Ghost-Seider Walman - Holl Chiarot - Lindstrom (disagree on 3rd pair but the game wants to go left-right on each line)
Let me know your thoughts and possible line up.
On the ESPN front, the write ups have changed drastically. When I saw the layoffs coming (along with the Bally mess) and the viewership falling off things started to “red flag… for me. Then Disney’s situation started to get worse and worse. The D+ streaming service lost more than 5 billion last year and this year’s film releases could have net losses of over 1 billion. Even films thought to have made a profit were revealed (dr. Strange and the multiverse) to have spent 100 million more than reported, nearly wiping out all profitability.
Forbes gets some details wrong, in particular the number of rounds of layoffs at ESPN over the past decade they have as 4. It’s closer to 9. The last round was listed as separate (by ESPN) from the mandates but the article lumps them in. Beyond the details, a fascinating scenario was floated. I’ve reported before that Disney will be forced to purchase the last 1/3 of Hulu from Comcast next year. The lowest cost for that purchase is 9 billion with some saying it could be as high as 23. After the last earning report, it was revealed that the debt to cash/cash equivalent ration showed the company with about 220 million (down from 170 billion just a couple years ago). So, if the movies are losing money and park attendance is down, what do you do?
In these moves, stock can be included as part of the purchase price. The stock is currently hovering between 85 and 88 dollars per share. Not near enough to stay below the 14% limit of ownership for an individual interest. Forbes floated the idea of including ESPN in the deal. That is the first time I’ve heard that. An exceptionally well studied individual (goes by the name Culture Casino) suggested that one of the larger gambling companies could make an offer for ESPN. I wonder about conflict of interest and FCC issues in a deal between a sports network and sports gambling site, but it was a first as well.
Regardless, more and more people are seeing the “shine… come off of the “world wide leader in sports… and wondering what will happen to the IP as other sectors are losing money and the constant that used to support everything (the parks) are slipping in attendance. 6 months ago no one I talked to thought ESPN would be going anywhere. Now, there is a fracture in the discussion. Keep your eyes peeled as we look for how the NHL will be available via broadcast.