Do you really believe for a minute NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is on the verge of expanding his league to Quebec City? Or Winnipeg?
Dream on!
The NHL is so far from having its house in order, there is no way on earth it will settle for a new team in a small and risky Canadian market. Besides concerns about there being a lack of corporate support, not to mention an NHL-ready rink in Quebec City, there is the temperamental Canadian dollar to consider. It’s up today, but where will it be a year or two from now? Canadian-based teams take a huge hit when it sinks well below the U.S. dollar.
All this expansion talk seems to me to be a smokescreen to divert people’s attention away from a number of shaky American-based teams that are sitting on thin ice. The Phoenix Coyotes are the most obvious trouble spot for Bettman and Co. since they are being run by the league and are said to be positioned to lose upwards of $10 million a month.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the next Board of Governor’s meeting when Bettman tries to reach into the pockets of the other owners for money to continue to prop up a team with no hope for survival.
And if you think the Coyotes are the NHL’s only worry, then you don’t know about the troubles in Florida, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Columbus and Long Island. That’s why talk of expansion to small-market Canada is a joke.
It would take in the neighbourhood of $750-800 million to place a team in Quebec when you factor in the cost of building an arena. And to run it efficiently and make a profit, ever so slim, it would have to be micromanaged beyond belief.
I am no mathematics major, nor do I have millions of dollars to toss into an incinerator, but all this expansion talk to Winnipeg and Quebec City seems like bunk to me. And it seems very cruel to be teasing hockey fans in those cities by merely mentioning the possibility of the NHL coming back.
A new team in Southern Ontario? Now you’re talking. But as ripe as that untapped market appears, the league still has to find solutions for its teams that are in peril. Not to suggest they all have to be fixed before the NHL can consider new franchises, but the state of the league’s affairs today hardly suggests it is in a position to be adding new teams.
To his credit, Bettman has made no promises of expansion or relocation to the people of Quebec City. But by meeting with the city’s mayor last week, who is making a push for his city to be considered, it gives false hope to many fans who now believe the NHL returning to their town is imminent.
THE GOOD: Have to admit I didn’t expect the New York Rangers to be this strong out of the gate. After dropping their season opener to the defending Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins, the Rangers have reeled off four straight victories.
Not only that, the team that was supposed to have a wafer-thin defence has been pretty good in terms of keeping pucks out of its net, allowing an average of just two goals per game while shutting out the Anaheim Ducks 3-0 Sunday. In that game the Rangers allowed just one shot on goal in the fist period.
THE BAD: When the Florida Panthers elected not to trade impending UFA Jay Bouwmeester last season, they missed a golden opportunity to add important pieces to a puzzle that remains very much a work in progress. Bouwmeester, of course, was ultimately traded to Calgary, but for far less than the Panthers could have received at the trade deadline.
Now, besides being a financial disaster, the organization is a flop on the ice. The Panthers have won just once in four outings and have been outscored 17-8. Nathan Horton, who is being counted on to score goals, doesn’t have a point and is minus-4, as is top centre Steven Weiss, who has one goal.
THE UGLY: After a summer of hope -– or was it just hot air? -– the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t look any better than they did a year ago when they missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season. The goaltending is lousy and coach Ron Wilson is getting cranky about having to address the state of his stoppers on a daily basis. Two straight wins and they’ll be planning a parade on Bay Street. Such is the roller coaster of emotion that is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
