Yes. Especially in the most of obvious locations, the Toronto area.
Elliotte Friedman @FriedgeHNIC
In media scrum, Kelly says he believes NHL will expand to 32 teams within "2-3 years, most likely" to Quebec City and the Toronto area
Details
Interesting stuff. Would be nice to see two more teams!!
Yes. Especially in the most of obvious locations, the Toronto area.
I think it would be great for Toronto to finally see some NHL level hockey...
I'm kidding Leaf's fans!
Yeah, 28 seems like a better number than 32... dilution of talent + more teams in high revenue areas = growth in cap = serious overpayment for midlevel talent = greater difficulties in areas like, oh I don't know, Phoenix.
/S
~ I'm not a sociopath, it's just that my magnetic personality keeps throwing off my moral compass.~
Victoria DH
C(3): Athanasiou, Sissons, Zibanejad
LW(3): Lehkonen, Burakovsky, Hymen
RW(3): Bjorkstrand, Smith, Palmieri
F(3): Stepan (C), Bjork (LW), Poehling (C)
D(6): Carlson, Heiskanen, Bogosian, Edler, Hakanpaa, Fleury
G(1): Talbot, Sorokin, Varlamov
Bench: Parise (LW), Motte (C), Richardson (C), Hagg (D)
IR: Wood, Henrique, Johnson, Dvorak
Prospects: (F) Barre-Boulet, Khovanov, Beckman, Greig, N. Robertson, Fagemo, Tuomalaa, (D) Ceulemans, Hughes, Schneider, Zboril
I'm against expansion of any kind for the NHL. By all means, relocate struggling teams to Toronto, Quebec City, etc., but adding more teams is NOT a good idea. I believe the talent level is diluted enough, and the amount of good hockey markets is limited. Don't dilute the talent further, and move the failing teams to places where they'll have a chance to thrive.
11th year Keeper League, Fantrax
14 teams, H2H, keep 10, daily starts
G (3), A (2), +/- (1), PIM (0.1), PPP (1), FOW (0.1), FOL (-0.1), SOG (0.1), BLK (0.5), HAT (3), W (5), SO (3), SV (0.1), GA (-0.5)
C (3) - Frost, Novak, Rossi, Lowry, Mercer (RW), Norris
LW (3) - Keller (RW), Hagel, Byfield (C), Lafreniere (RW), Mangiapane (RW), A. Nylander
RW (3) - Vilardi (C), Batherson, Oshie, Stankoven (C), Bjugstad (C), Noesen (LW)
D (4) - Dobson, Nemec, Moser, Romanov, Girard, Zamula
Util (1)
G (1) - Thompson, Vanecek, Varlamov
Here is the article.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opin...expansion.html
Your beer mug isn't half-empty, your just half-way to the next refill.....
There should realistically only be like 24 teams with like 10 in Canada. This might be a step in the right direction in some senses but like others have said there are still some teams out there that are struggling and could probably use new homes.
How about..........say.........Houston, New Orleans, and Memphis
11th year Keeper League, Fantrax
14 teams, H2H, keep 10, daily starts
G (3), A (2), +/- (1), PIM (0.1), PPP (1), FOW (0.1), FOL (-0.1), SOG (0.1), BLK (0.5), HAT (3), W (5), SO (3), SV (0.1), GA (-0.5)
C (3) - Frost, Novak, Rossi, Lowry, Mercer (RW), Norris
LW (3) - Keller (RW), Hagel, Byfield (C), Lafreniere (RW), Mangiapane (RW), A. Nylander
RW (3) - Vilardi (C), Batherson, Oshie, Stankoven (C), Bjugstad (C), Noesen (LW)
D (4) - Dobson, Nemec, Moser, Romanov, Girard, Zamula
Util (1)
G (1) - Thompson, Vanecek, Varlamov
Mathematically, 32 teams is ideal for a sports league.
2^5. It's a numbers-guy's number.
I think the NHL will land at this number... but I think the league (the "owners") really want to see what shakes out with Phoenix & perhaps Florida first.
The NHL has already indicated it's desire to go to 4 conferences.
You want to have a set plan before you add the last two teams.
So... I think expansion revolves around the NHL finding out what is going to happen with Phoenix.
i) Are they stable?
ii) Should they become TOR-2?
iii) Should they become QUE?
iv) Seattle? (my guess)
We'd likely be looking at the following conferences:
WEST (Smythe): LA/ANA/SJ/COL/VAN/CGY/EDM... SEA/PHX. (I predict Phoenix ends up in Seattle)
CENTRAL (Norris): WPG/DAL/STL/MIN/CHI/DET/CBJ/NAS
^These two conferences are actually set for next year - and likely the NHL wants to keep them in tact. Hence, my prediction Phoenix goes to Seattle. (or stays in Phoenix)
NORTHEAST (Adams): TOR/OTT/MON/BOS/BUF... +Tor#2, +Que, +FLA?
EAST (Patrick): PIT/PHI/NYR/NYI/NJ/WAS/CAR/TB?
It's a no-brainer (IMO) that the NHL will become 32 teams.
But dealing with Phoenix HAS to be step #1.
Everything else will fall in place after that.
Last edited by Pengwin7; January 30, 2013 at 9:59 AM.
just be prepared for more lockouts...
Cant wait for my hometown to get a team...go markham!