EHM The Blue Line

It's a small market team in Phoenix. But there are only a few teams who would be able to sell out every game despite a weak season. The key is to win. Anaheim is a small market team, but they win and that's why they keep the team there. One could even say Pittsburgh and Washington were small market teams before they got their Crosbys and Ovechkins.

The Coyotes have started to become an intersting team recently with all the young talented guys. They just need to keep concentrated and make the right moves. What about Malkin to Phoenix for five first rounders!?

Coyote of the Sea wrote:i don't think they'll move if they make a playoff run in a year or two. What i'd prefer is the team get sold to a decent owner,

Decent owner? I doubt it. Not with Bettman around. I'm gonna go out on alimb and say its gonna to go the guy that pulled out of the bidding first. (can't remember his name, but the owner of the Bulls) Then its probably going to go to Las Vegas. Bettman seems to want a team there.

But with the youth talent they have that is coming up now, in a year or three they could be a very strong team.

then i'd be sad

Hey how do you think I felt when you stole my Jets away? :-P

More news out as well. Balsillie not going to appeal.

http://www.thestar.com/article/703679

http://www.thestar.com/article/703687

Qikdraw wrote:

Coyote of the Sea wrote:i don't think they'll move if they make a playoff run in a year or two. What i'd prefer is the team get sold to a decent owner,

Decent owner? I doubt it. Not with Bettman around. I'm gonna go out on alimb and say its gonna to go the guy that pulled out of the bidding first. (can't remember his name, but the owner of the Bulls) Then its probably going to go to Las Vegas. Bettman seems to want a team there.

But with the youth talent they have that is coming up now, in a year or three they could be a very strong team.

Well the NHL is going to sell the team, and i agree it will probably be Reinsdorf (also owner of the Blackhawks IIRC). Besides their love of Gretzky i also liked Ice Edge, and didn't mind the idea of some of the season being played in Canada as well as Phoenix. But they kind of just disappeared

Hopefully Reins does the same deal as he was going to do before, team stays for 5 years then he can move it if he wants.

Vegas IMO, would be one of the worst places to move the team, it really is mostly driven on Tourism. Besides it can't be just a coincidence that Vegas has no professional sports teams. Where i'd wouldn't mind seeing a team (in the us) would be Seattle

Ice Edge is still around.

Phoenix and Anaheim are not "small market" teams. Non-traditional- yes, but not small.

In terms of "hockey" they are small market. So are alot of other big American cities. The exceptions being Bos, Det, Min, New York and if there is a superstar there LA. "Market" is defined by revenues not by people. Anaheim and Phoenix are definitely small market with the amount of revenue they have brought in in the past, save Anaheim's trips deep into the playoffs and the Cup when the bandwagon filled up.

Other big city small market teams: Florida, Tampa, Atlanta.

I would include teams like Nashville, Buffalo, Carolina but they are kind of small markets in both areas...population and hockey market forces.

Wasn't this judged on Monday? I read that NHL won it all. Is it true? So there will be no move to Canada?

Yeah, the NHL has bought the team for $140M or something like that. I guess they've got plans to then sell the team to one of these other groups at some point with the condition of keeping the team in Phoenix. Of course, this is just delaying the inevitable. If the team can't turn a profit here they'll have to either move it eventually or dissolve it.

The owners of the Toronto ARgonauts, Canadian Football League team are apparently interested in the Coyotes and may look at moving them to Canada. I have no source for this, just off the radio. This has been made public through the CFL reporters because they owners would have to sell the argos to do so. Something the CFL is very worried about. However, I fully expect that either the ICE edge group, or Reinsdorf will end up with the Yotes. Cause Bettman is a moron.

batdad wrote:Cause Bettman is a moron.

This one sentence can sum up this entire thread.

Lock it up baby.

It's not locked and the story can continue...

NHL SUES FORMER COYOTES' OWNER MOYES

Seriously. This team has had so much drama. They just need to close up shop and start over some place else.

So now Bettman continues on making vague and unclear statements.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story ... oenix.html

Maybe hope for the Jets fans?

He gives hope to both Quebec City and Winnipeg and the day after he says " I don't want to have to move a team. If there's new teams it would be as a expension blablablablabla..."


He really just can't admit he sucks.

http://fwd4.me/BdX

http://fwd4.me/Bca

Two new articles speculating that Phoenix may be heading to Wpg. I can see why Bettman doesn't want to run Phoenix next year, but this does put pressure on them to sell the team. They'll have to get the ok via the Arizona Constitution (http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=357146) though. Its the main reason the team hasn't been sold yet.

Interesting. Yes.
Frustrating. Yes.

We're still hoping they'll move them. I wish it for the people of Winnipeg but I still doubt.

philou21 wrote:We're still hoping they'll move them. I wish it for the people of Winnipeg but I still doubt.

Yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath.

So Glendale is ready to give 25 millions to keep to Yotes. It's getting pathetic. The people of that town will now pay more taxes for an non popular team.

From the official website of the city of Glendale:

Record-Setting Online Viewers for Council Meeting for Glendale & NHL Coyotes Agreement
Glendale set a record for online viewers as nearly 9,000 people watched live and online the May 10 Glendale City Council meeting as the Council approved a one-year extension to its current Arena Management Agreement with the NHL. Click here for the most recent press release (pdf).

That's a fair bit of attention... wonder what's the proportion of fans vs. the proportion of people widdled at the $25M expense. The city of Glendale defended itself in a small FAQ by stating that this expense was already planned no matter what to cover the arena's running costs. Glendale seem in an awkward position here. They must keep the arena's main tenants to prevent the arena from becoming a financial disaster, but said main tenants are a financial disaster.

- YZG

The are just a 250 000 peoples towns far an NHL team who is losing 25 millions PER SEASON, not 1 year on ten or twenty. This is ridiculous. People complain about an NHL team at Qc City with 700 000 peoples, who like hockey too.

I don't know whats going to happen here, but its easy to see Bettman really doesn't want Wpg to have Phoenix. I think he see's it as if it would be an admission of fault in moving the Jets out. Not something I think he wants to even come close to admitting, not with his ego. The real test is to see if Atlanta will head Wpg's way, then we'll see if Bettman will even consider bringing the NHL back to Wpg.

I think Glendale's deal with the NHL is terrible too. I hear they are running a budget shortfall and now they've promised another 25 million away for no seeming gain. I think the way this whole thing has gone down in these past few years is a real black eye on the league. This should have been worked out ages ago.

A lot of Peggers are pretty widdled about the way Bettman is handling this, but there are a lot of us who are just going into 'meh' mode. I'll start hoping when there is some real concrete news.

And honestly, while it would be nice to have Phoenix back in Wpg, Atlanta seems to be a better team for us in the near future. They look like there is good room for growth with their current lineup. So right now I'll take Atlanta.

Good grief... Where have I heard this before??

THRASHERS CO-OWNER: NO CLOSER TO FINDING SOLUTION IN ATLANTA

One co-owner wants to keep the team in Atlanta.

DALY: NHL HAS NOT GIVEN UP ON KEEPING THRASHERS IN ATLANTA

And it seems the NHL is trying to do the same. At least that is what they are saying...

I guess we'll know in a few weeks.

Apparently if the Thrashers move to Wpg they'll stay in the same Divs as they are now, but next year Detroit may move to the East to switch them up. Supposedly.

Qikdraw wrote:...Apparently if the Thrashers move to Wpg they'll stay in the same Divs as they are now, but next year Detroit may move to the East to switch them up. Supposedly.

The changes in the divisions if and when Winnipeg gets a team back is a pretty interesting story in itself. According to an article in the Columbus Dispatch (http://www.bluejacketsxtra.com/live/con ... ml?sid=101) the Blue Jackets would like to move to the East too. The most interesting part of the article is the stand the league is taking on it:

Since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL, it has been whispered that the first club to move to the East would be Detroit, that the Red Wings' desire to leave the Western Conference predates the Blue Jackets' existence.

No such agreement exists, a league source told The Dispatch this week. Priest said he's been told as much, too.

"I have personally never been told that anybody has a leg up over anybody else," Priest said. "If there's a team that needs to move to the East, every team would be looked at before any decision is made."

So while it's obvious that Winnipeg would move to the west after a year, there might be more to filling the East than just automatically giving the place to the Red Wings. Geographically the Blue Jackets might even be the more viable option (not much of a difference, but still). And there's also the rivalries to consider, the Red Wings being the classic enemy of the Blackhawks and perhaps even the Avalanche (although these have been a bit stale for a while) while the Blue Jackets really haven't had a decent rivalty in all of their existence. The close proximity of Columbus to Pittsburgh might be a factor here.

Either way, it's going to make things a lot better IMO.

There is a bantam team in Winnipeg called the Thrashers!

And they suck too! HEH.

No seriously, the Thrashers moving to Winterpeg is an interesting idea no question. But if they have to play even one season in the SE Division they are screwed financially. No way that works for them. Travelling to play Carolina, Florida, TB and Washington 6 times per year is going to kill them. They have to get the WInterpeg team into the west some how some way. Move Detroit or Nashville. Nashville to SE Division, WInterpeg to NW Division. Colorado to Pacific. Dallas to Central.

VAn, Min, WIn, Edm, Cal
Col, SJ, LA, Phx, Ana
Dal, Det, Stl, Chi, CBJ

THe reason you keep Detoilet in the west, is because it hurts the league to have 5 of the 6 original teams in the east. You have to keep them there. Also...competitively they need to be on this side. If you move Detoilet it is to NE division and then you have to move Buffalo. Not going to move Boston. Toronto, Ottawa and MOntreal are not options. I guess Buffalo would have to go to the division with the FLyers, Pens, Devils, Rangers, Isles....But then who in god's name do you send to the SE. Moving Nashville makes the most sense. Really it does. Then we just need to get Phoenix in there, and Washington out. Then we can contract an entire division.