When the Rangers travelled west this past week, including a stop in Edmonton, I couldn’t help but wonder what Glen Sather thought as he walked into Rexall Place and stared up at those banners of the Oiler greats.
Sather had been behind the bench for all of them, even Al Hamilton. The way the Oilers played was his vision. He designed the offence of speed and constant movement that was truly defined Oiler hockey. Those of us that had a front-row seat saw what Sather did for his players, his team and the franchise as he had to manage the personalities of all those greats.
The Rangers president and general manager was the one who had to divide ice time between Gretzky and Messier. He helped Grant Fuhr as much personally, as he did professionally. Sather challenged Coffey and Kurri to play their best hockey in Oiler Blue.
In many ways, when they all moved on to other teams, he was Oiler Hockey. He was the architect of five Stanley Cups, and yet, even now 11 years later, there appears to be grudge. There is no banner for him and while he would probably say it doesn’t bother him, I suspect it does.
Some will say, it will happen when he retires from the Rangers. For me, that makes no sense. These are events that people are suppose to cherish. They should be able to enjoy them now.
What I find curious, is that the hockey world has already honoured him. He is already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame but he isn’t honoured by the team he transformed into a dynasty. Sather has yet top be recognized by the city that calls itself, “the City of Champions”.
I’ve got news for you Edmonton: Glen Sather was a big part of making the place you live into a championship City.
When Cal Nichol ran the club Sather was persona non grata but that time has past. Daryl Katz owns this team. He bought the team with fond memories of a youth watching Stanley Cups being paraded down Jasper Avenue. Everyone of those Stanley Cups has Glen Sather’s name near the top.
Katz’s Edmonton Oilers should be honouring Sather.
The sooner, the better.
Speaking of Alberta, Edmonton’s new arena continues to be news front and centre.
On Tuesday, the public forum lasted for over 12 hours, with a slight majority of the speakers supporting the deal.
The $450-million deal appears to be pointing this way:
$100M Daryl Katz
$125M Ticket Tax
$100M City
$100M Province
What’s interesting is that the province has yet to make a commitment. In the recent leadership campaign the new Premier, Alison Redford, said no direct money would go to the project, but potentially infrastructure dollars that the city controls could possibly be used. So, in fact the city might have to allow for $200 million for this project to proceed and that last $100 million will see the province and the city pointing at each other as the source of the money.
It also appears that with the city endorsing the deal, they have asked the Katz Group to contribute an additional $130 million to help the local community and spark development in the arena district. Somehow, that money will be true investment dollars that the Katz people will see come full circle.
With the city owning the land, and actually owning the arena (and the Oilers committing long term to the city) there are still interesting days and negotiations ahead in Edmonton.
And there is no group more interested in the outcome of Edmonton’s downtown arena debate than the folks in Calgary.
Just as 37-year-old Rexall Place has become too small and antiquated for the Oilers, it appears the 28-year-old Scotiabank Saddledome is on the verge of obsolescence. Hard to believe that a building that has already been renovated once is done but that appears to be the case.
Technology in construction has come a long way since 1983, and the creature comforts that now exist in Pittsburgh, Newark, Dallas, Toronto and Los Angeles don’t really exist in Calgary. Improving the fan experience, particularly at Canadian hockey prices, is important.
That said, you know darn well that Murray Edwards and his people will be on the phone to the Premier’s office, as soon as she decides that provincial money will be used in Edmonton.
It might be worth noting, that it might be a damning blow to both cities when it come to the Province of Alberta assisting (directly or indirectly) with upwards of $100 million to one, let alone two, arenas.
I’m led to believe that the Flames might have at least two sites in the downtown core for a new building.
I would venture to guess that you haven’t noticed the verification line in any NHL arena just yet. That’s because it hasn’t been installed yet. It appears the hockey operations group still can’t agree on the width between the red goal line and the green verification line.
The width of a puck is three inches. Therefore, logic would require the gap between the lines to be just over that three inches.
However, the new cameras installed in the back of the nets create an optical illusion when it comes to the two lines, hence the issue. Installation date is now TBA.
As far as the lighter netting on the tops of the nets, the installation will begin soon across the league. The hope is to have all 30 rinks (60 nets) done by the end of November. The intention is to provide better vision for the video review group when it comes to disputed goals.
Ownership notes
Circle Nov. 23rd as the date for Tom Gaglardi to officially take over the Dallas Stars, since the deadline for placing a bid for the team has past and he is the only bidder.
In St. Louis, Matthew Hulsizer’s bid for the Blues continues to plod along. Understand there is no binding agreement between the Hulsizer group and Dave Checketts and the SCP group. One source told me that it still is not clear that the Hulsizer group will be able to complete the purchase. There were reports that former Tampa owner Oren Koules was involved, but in talking to him today, he certainly doesn’t sound like he’s completely committed to the process. In fact, his most pressing issue this week is his wife giving birth to their baby in Southern California.
In Phoenix, former Sharks president Greg Jamison is still trying to get a group in place to purchase the Coyotes from the league. I’ve been told that while Jamison has little money of his own in the deal, he is now having trouble with his investors to commit to the project. Meanwhile, Jerry Reinsdorf sits and waits to see if he can still be the answer in the desert.
In Florida, ownership there has been adamant that Dale Tallon must dump some salary, hence the shopping and subsequent trade of David Booth. The Panthers unloaded almost $21 million in committed money for Booth and Steve Reinprecht, while taking on $4.75 million for Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm. But let’s remember, the Cats have new entry-level contracts with Erik Gubrandson and Jonathan Huberdeau that could max out at $3.2 million dollars per player a year, over the same time period as the Booth deal. Somehow, it just might make sense. Just how much cash on hand for the team might be indicated if young Gubrandson sticks with the big team this season.