Greater New York essentially has three NHL teams, making this the only major sports league with three franchises in the same metropolitan area. This is easy for me to say, since I'm not an Islanders fan (and I do sort of remember what it felt like to have the Browns move to Baltimore), but I can't see why the franchise needs to stay in that region. I say move them to Quebec City and have them switch divisions to be united with the other three Canadian teams in the Eastern Conference.

But really, the Islanders belong in Long Island. It didn't seem right to see them in Brooklyn.

 

I get what you mean but I suppose the West Side Market belongs in Cleveland and not Ohio City.

But really, the Islanders belong in Long Island. It didn't seem right to see them in Brooklyn.

 

I get what you mean but I suppose the West Side Market belongs in Cleveland and not Ohio City.

 

Long Island and the fanbase is 500 miles from Brooklyn....culturally!

 

^While I would welcome that I think there are a number of cities better suited to host an NHL franchise than Cleveland.  In this order:  Quebec City, Kansas City, Seattle, Houston, Portland, Hamilton, Toronto (#2).

Based on what?

 

Cleveland out-draws Houston (Texas Stars) almost 2-1 in AHL hockey and out-draws the Toronto AHL team, the rest of these cities don't even have an AHL team.

 

http://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph_season.php?lid=AHL1941&sid=2017

^The AHL and NHL fan bases are vastly different.  Go to any AHL game in Cleveland and you'll notice it's filled with families with young children because it's an affordable entertainment option for them.  NHL games are not.  I believe that Houston is much better positioned than Cleveland to support both an NBA team and NHL team based on the corporate presence there as well as their larger base of middle to upper income earners.  The NHL is supported primarily by educated upper and middle class white people.

 

Besides that, the list I presented wasn't just my opinion.  Those are the cities/markets that are either actively recruiting the NHL or that the NHL has expressed interest in.  Seattle is absolutely ripe for the picking since they lost their NBA team.  Their only problem is that they don't have a hockey friendly arena.  Key Arena was built specifically for basketball, and, much like the Barclays Center, is a mess when configured for hockey.

^The AHL and NHL fan bases are vastly different.  Go to any AHL game in Cleveland and you'll notice it's filled with families with young children because it's an affordable entertainment option for them.  NHL games are not.  I believe that Houston is much better positioned than Cleveland to support both an NBA team and NHL team based on the corporate presence there as well as their larger base of middle to upper income earners.  The NHL is supported primarily by educated upper and middle class white people.

 

Besides that, the list I presented wasn't just my opinion.  Those are the cities/markets that are either actively recruiting the NHL or that the NHL has expressed interest in.  Seattle is absolutely ripe for the picking since they lost their NBA team.  Their only problem is that they don't have a hockey friendly arena.  Key Arena was built specifically for basketball, and, much like the Barclays Center, is a mess when configured for hockey.

We have differing opinions.

 

Saying Houston would be a good hockey town would be like saying Atlanta would be a good hockey town.  Atlanta has lost 2 NHL franchises, because like Houston it is not a hockey town.  Cleveland could support an NHL team, no doubt about it..

^That's a fair comparison.  Maybe I should move Houston down my list, but I still don't think Cleveland is well positioned to support an NHL hockey team.  Is there any other city Cleveland's size and with similar demographics that supports both NBA and NHL franchises?  I guess the closest comparisons would be Detroit and Minneapolis, but the true sister cities to Cleveland (Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati, etc.) don't have two winter franchises.  There must be a reason.  Additionally, if Cleveland were to add an NHL franchise it would be the smallest media market in the country with 4 major sports teams.  I just don't see how the city can support an NHL team right now without perhaps losing one of our other teams.

 

Don't get me wrong, I would love for Cleveland to become an NHL city, but my brain tells me we can't support it.

 

Don't get me wrong, I would love for Cleveland to become an NHL city, but my brain tells me we can't support it.

 

The local sports talk hosts would actually have to learn about Hockey. Hearing those guys talk about hockey, soccer or any sport outside of their comfort zone is downright painful. Only Kenny Roda seems to be versed in NHL, and he was sent packing down to AA Canton. 

Arena update for the Arizona Coyotes - aka "The perennial NHL franchise most likely to relocate":  http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2016/11/14/finally-coyotes-announce-plans-for-new-arena/

 

This announcement was for a partnership between the Yotes and Arizona State University.  This partnership has a construction plan to build a 16,000-plus seat NHL arena for the Coyotes with an attached 4,000 seat multi-sport arena for ASU on university-owned land.  (The above link shows the proposed site and arena rendering.)  It actually looks good and seems like a decent plan.  However, its only the first step of a long process and not a done-deal yet.  But if it happens, it would stop the relocation rumors to cities like Seattle or Portland or Quebec City or Kansas City.

 

Just when you think the Arizona Coyotes are getting their arena situation sorted out:

 

- Coyotes arena drama awakens: Arizona State University ends Tempe talks: http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/02/03/coyotes-arena-drama-awakens-arizona-state-university-ends-tempe-talks/

 

- Arizona State backs out of deal to bring Coyotes to Tempe:  http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/18616499/arizona-state-sun-devils-back-deal-bring-arizona-coyotes-tempe

islanders out of brooklyn -- back to nassau? or...?

 

REPORT: BARCLAYS CENTER PLANS TO CUT TIES WITH ISLANDERS

 

Bloomberg reports that Barclays Center in Brooklyn is planning to part ways with the 44-year-old NHL franchise after the 2018-19 season.  Sooner, if the team can find a new venue in which to play.

 

more:  https://sports.vice.com/en_us/highlight/report-barclays-center-plans-to-cut-ties-with-islanders

 

Interesting.  I posted a July 2016 article that reported the Islanders were unhappy with the Barclays Center and were considering building a new hockey arena adjacent to Citi Field in Queens: https://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,27918.msg812327.html#msg812327

 

You'd think a dual-tenant arrangement between the NBA Nets and the NHL Islanders would be perfect for a modern arena like the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.  (It is practically the modern standard for a new arena to be easily convertible back-and-forth from basketball to hockey configurations.)  But, as I understand it, the Barclays Center didn't do this and was designed primarily for basketball use.  To accommodate the ice surface, they basically had to shoehorn it in.

 

The b-ball capacity of 17,732 gets reduced to 15,795 for hockey, some of the seats have obstructed views and the scoreboard is off-center to the ice surface.  This odd arrangement is even noticeable on TV because the whole left end of the ice surface doesn't have any "on the glass" seats - the most expensive and desirable seats for many hockey fans.  Instead, there is a blank left-over space that has been filled in with some Honda ads and two Honda vehicles!

 

That $280 million renovation of Nassau Coliseum in Long Island (the Isles former home) that you posted HERE looks really promising.  The problem for the Islanders is that the new hockey capacity at the renovated Nassau would be only 13,000 - down from the 16,170 when the Isles played there.  13,000 is a bit too small for an NHL franchise.  The smallest arena capacity in today's NHL is 15,294 for Winnipeg in their downtown facility built in 2004.  And the standard NHL size is in the 18,000 to 20,000 range.

 

So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.  I think a new arena next to Citi Field is the Islanders ultimate goal.  But single-tenant arenas are a tough sell these days, especially if taxpayer assistance is sought.  The renovated Nassau Coliseum could be a short-term home or a stop-gap.  However, if everything falls apart for the Islanders - i.e. no new arena, kicked out of Barclays, playing in a 13,000-seat Nassau - a brand new 18,259-seat arena is sitting available in Quebec City, Canada:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Vid%C3%A9otron

 

 

if i remember right, the islanders were invited to assist in the construction of barlcays and they declined at that time. so now they are getting kicked out because barclays makes more booking events that it does for holding the hockey team games.

 

however, mikhail prokhorov, the russian billionaire who owns barclays, along our own cleveland forest city, also controls nassau coliseum, so seems likely they can work something out with ownership and the islanders will move back there. that is, if they dont leave the region entirely. i dont see anyone stepping forward for a new hockey focused arena at citifield. who knows though? we will see.

The NHL played their final outdoor game for the 2016-17 season this weekend in Pittsburgh.  They previously held the Canadian Heritage Classic in Winnipeg in October 2016 before the now-traditional New Year's Day game.  This New Year's Day game was part of a special Centennial Classic event with Toronto hosting Detroit this season.  The Winter Classic outdoor game normally held on New Year's Day was held the day after with St. Louis hosting Chicago:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_outdoor_games

 

Saturday's final outdoor game for 2016-17 between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins was part of the Stadium Series of outdoor games begun in 2014 by the NHL.  The Winter Classic games began in 2008.  The Canadian Heritage Classic games began as a one-off in 2003 and was restarted in 2011.  Although these outdoor games aren't the rarity they used to be, they're still a great event.

 

Saturday's game at Heinz Field featured the football field transformed into a representation of Pittsburgh's yellow painted suspension bridges with the ice rink in the middle:

 

Plus, the special uniforms looked especially good:

 

And they brought out real penguins too:

^Love the Stadium Series. Really wish Columbus would get to host one at The Shoe.

^Love the Stadium Series. Really wish Columbus would get to host one at The Shoe.

 

Ever since Michigan Stadium hosted Detroit vs. Toronto in 2014, it seems like its only a matter of time before there's an outdoor game in Ohio Stadium.  A Detroit/CBJ game would be a natural for The Shoe. 

 

I would suspect the NHL has been waiting for the Jackets to have a few respectable seasons before hosting an outdoor game here.  Well, now the Jackets are set to reach the playoffs this season - and have a young enough roster to continue this for years to come.  And if you look at that previous wikipedia link, Columbus is one of only 7 franchises yet to appear in an outdoor game (Arizona, Carolina, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay are the others).

The answer to a future Vegas Golden Knights trivia question is ... Reid Duke:

 

The Vegas Golden Knights are officially open for business.  Since the NHL trade deadline ended on March 1, Vegas is free to make deals that don't involve current NHL players or players signed by NHL teams on minor-league teams.  Meaning that Vegas could sign free-agents playing on junior league teams, on college teams, or on international teams.

 

Vegas signed 21-year-old free agent Reid Duke to an entry-level contract.  He has played three seasons for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League - a junior league team that was previously coached by the now-assistant GM in Las Vegas:  http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/18838567/reid-duke

A bit more Arizona/Phoenix NHL arena news to chew on from this week:

 

-  Gary Bettman lobbies for Coyotes arena closer to downtown Phoenix:  http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/18849303/nhl-commissioner-gary-bettman-says-arizona-coyotes-cannot-remain-glendale

 

Now, it's obviously up to the leaders and voters of Phoenix, if any new downtown arena gets built.  But the NHL commissioner makes sense to ask for the NHL Coyotes to be included with the NBA Suns if any new arena does get built.  NBA/NHL dual tenant arenas are practically the standard practice in almost every city with an NBA and NHL team.  If fact, the Phoenix Mayor called for this in his 2016 State of the City speech:  http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/04/18/phoenix-mayor-new-downtown-arena-suns-coyotes/83003502/

This season marks an 'End of an Era' in many ways for the Detroit Red Wings:

 

- The Red Wings 25-season playoff streak has ended.  This was the longest active streak in the NHL (Pens now have the longest active NHL playoffs streak at 11 seasons) and it was the longest active streak in the four major North American pro leagues (San Antonio Spurs now have the longest at 20 seasons).  More at http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/130695/red-wings-streak-of-prosperity-reaches-its-end

 

- The Red Wings longtime owner, Mike Ilitch, died in February at age 87.  The Little Caesars Pizza founder bought the Red Wings in 1982, when the franchise was so bad they were called "The Dead Things".  During Ilitch's ownership the Red Wings won four Stanley Cup championships and had the aforementioned 25-season playoff streak.  More at http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/columnists/2017/02/10/ilitch-detroit-pizza-red-wings-tigers-hockey-forbes/91475642/

 

- This is the final season for the Red Wings longtime home, Joe Louis Arena.  The Joe opened in 1979 and saw the Red Wings become one of the dominant NHL franchises of its era.  Detroit is finishing up the new Little Caesars Arena that will open for the 2017-18 season and anchor a new mixed-use downtown district.  The Little Caesars Arena construction is being well-documented over in the Detroit development thread at https://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,22927.msg845044.html#msg845044 and https://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,22927.msg845305.html#msg845305 and https://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,22927.msg846079.html#msg846079

^Went to my last game at The Joe two weekends ago. Always sad to see an era end like this, but it needed to happen. The Joe has a lot of memories tied to it, but it's nothing special architecturally, and has a lot of drawbacks compared to modern arenas. Its time has come.

 

The Red Wings reddit has largely decided to call it either the Pizzarena or the Dough Joe. Both of which sound better than Little Caesar's Arena.

 

More frustrating is seeing the end of the Red Wings' streak. Though to be honest, they didn't deserve to continue the streak last year, and were in serious trouble a few years before that, too.

NHL announced the league won't be participating in the 2018 Olympics being held in South Korea.  This would be the first time the NHL didn't shut down and send its players to the Winter Olympics since 1994:

 

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/19069690/nhl-announces-league-not-participating-2018-olympics-south-korea

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2017/04/03/nhl-not-participating-2018-pyeongchang-olympic-games/99992698/

2016-17 was a pretty enjoyable season (and not just because the Jackets made the playoffs).  Last season, zero Canadian teams made the playoffs.  This season, 5 of the 7 Canadian teams made the playoffs.  Two of those Canadian teams were led by a group of very young players.

 

- Edmonton (who made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years!) was led by 20-year-old Connor McDavid and 21-year-old Leon Draisaitl.  2015 #1 overall pick McDavid led the league in points (100pts - 30G-70A).  Draisaitl had 77pts.

 

- Toronto was led by two 19-year-old rookies, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, and a 20-year-old virtual rookie, William Nylander.  2016 #1 overall pick Matthews led the team in scoring with 40G-29A-69pts.  Marner and Nylander each added 61pts.

 

The 2016 #2 overall pick Patrik Laine also got 36 goals and 64 points for Winnipeg.  Perhaps because of this infusion of young scoring talent, overall scoring in the NHL was up this year.

The NHL held their 2017 draft lottery over the weekend to determine the first-round drafting spots for the 14 teams that didn't reach the playoffs plus the Las Vegas expansion team.  In recent years, the NHL phased in lottery rules that opened up the top three spots to all the non-playoff teams as a way to curb regular season tanking.

 

This season, for the first time, all three top spots went to teams outside the original bottom three.  New Jersey moved from #5 to #1 -- Philadelphia made the biggest jump from #13 to #2 -- and Dallas moved from #8 to #3.  The biggest losers were the bottom three regular season finishers (Colorado, Vancouver, Arizona) and the Las Vegas expansion team which was given a #3 spot.  All four of those teams dropped three spots.

 

Below are the draft lottery results, with the teams original drafting spots shown the parenthesis:

 

  1 [5] - New Jersey Devils

  2 [13]-Philadelphia Flyers

  3 [8] - Dallas Stars

---

  4 [1] - Colorado Avalanche

  5 [2] - Vancouver Canucks

  6 [3] - Vegas Golden Knights

  7 [4] - Arizona Coyotes

---

  8 [6] - Buffalo Sabres

  9 [7] - Detroit Red Wings

---

10 [9] - Florida Panthers

11 [10]-Los Angeles Kings

12 [11]-Carolina Hurricanes

13 [12]-Winnipeg Jets

---

14 [14]-Tampa Bay Lightning

15 [15]-New York Islanders

 

MORE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_NHL_Entry_Draft#Draft_lottery

OH YEAH

Man Philly moving from 13 to 2 isn't right.  I don't know that I like a "lottery" that can allow that to happen.  I haven't thought this through completely, but it seems typically we want to aim for parity and allowing the chance for someone outside of the top 10 to take one of the top 3 spots doesn't help achieve that.  Once a year simply isn't frequent enough to have this all even out in the end, so we are really chasing the "lottery" aspect of this and saying some people are going to strike it rich.  Oh well

Preds advance to Stanley Cup Final, even after losing #1 center (and former Blue Jacket) Ryan Johansen to a scary injury a few days ago (acute compartment syndrome).

 

Nashville has the best blue line in the league (at least top 4) combined with great goaltending from Rinne....they've been a tough out these playoffs.  They've lose a total of four games in the playoffs against Chicago, St. Louis, and Anaheim.  The Preds were the 2nd wild card (8 seed).

 

It seems like the Penguins will come out of the East - we'll find out tonight (Game 6 in Ottawa).

The Preds will face tonight's Game 7 winner in the East (Sens or Pens) in the Stanley Cup Final.

 

Nashville's path to the Cup Final has been interesting to watch.  They started as the favorite of many after the off-season Subban trade.  Then started badly, got better, but didn't really dominate.  And ended up being "good enough" for the last playoff spot in the West.

 

Nashville's struggles mirrored the play of their starting goaltender Pekka Rinne.  He started badly, got better, and then seemed to alternate a good month with a bad month in the net.  But in the playoffs, Rinne's been lights out and the best goalie of any team.  Rinne's been the Preds starting goalie since 2008-09, when he was one of a new wave of tall butterfly style goaltenders.  The 6'5" Rinne will turn 35 next November, so Rinne's time with the Preds is going to end soon.  But this is probably the best team Rinne's had around him.  If he can keep out his current hot streak, Nashville might just win the Stanley Cup (even w/o Johansen, which is a big loss).

Nashville will face Pittsburgh

 

The Pens survived a Game 7 double-OT thriller over the Sens.

The Pittsburgh/Nashville Stanley Cup Final starts tonight.

 

If Pittsburgh wins, they would be the first team to win back-to-back Cups since the NHL instituted a salary cap in 2005.  The Detroit Red Wings nearly did it in 2009, only to be beaten in the final by a Pittsburgh team led by a 21-year-old Sidney Crosby.

 

Since 2009, no defending champ has even made it back to the final in the next season.  The last back-to-back champs were Detroit in 1997 and 1998.

 

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/05/28/penguins-can-become-first-repeat-champs-of-nhls-salary-cap-era/

The Pens did it.  Back-to-back champs.  The first in the salary cap era and the first since Detroit in 1998.

 

And the window doesn't look like its closing for Pittsburgh either.  Their Big Three of Crosby, Malkin and Kessel will be 30, 31 & 30 next season.  They won with a 23-year-old goaltender.  And they'll even get some cap space relief when former starting goalie Fleury is either taken via expansion draft or traded.

Nashville couldn't top the mighty Pens.  But they did push em to game 6.  And for entertainment value, Nashville went all out for this Stanley Cup Final like one would expect from the Country Music Capital:

 

 

They also had some huge outdoor viewing parties:

 

And they introduced a new catfish tradition to the NHL - technically a take-off of the Red Wings octopus tradition - but when you've got the offensive line of the Tennessee Titans leading an arena with beer and catfish, why quibble over the origin:  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2712936-tennessee-titans-offensive-linemen-share-beer-with-catfish

They booed for the entire Stanley Cup presentation. Totally classless.

They booed for the entire Stanley Cup presentation. Totally classless.

 

Are you serious? That's a breach of NHL fan etiquette.

Yep, they booed from the final whistle to the end of the cup presentation. They booed when Crosby was awarded MVP, booed as each player to their turn with the cup. Came off as a bunch of hillbillies...Tennessee is gonna Tennessee I suppose.

Yep, they booed from the final whistle to the end of the cup presentation. They booed when Crosby was awarded MVP, booed as each player to their turn with the cup. Came off as a bunch of hillbillies...Tennessee is gonna Tennessee I suppose.

 

So much for Southern hospitality haha.

 

I love the traditions in hockey. It doesn't matter if you were trying to kill that guy during the game. As soon as the Cup game ends you line up and you shake hands with the opposing team.

 

The soccer jersey swap is also pretty cool. You see that in other sports too, it's just not as prevalent.

If you think the booing was classless you didn't watch the game or series.  It was more directed at the refs than anything else.  The officials blew a play way too early with a puck rolling in the crease - I assume the ref thought Murray had it covered up? - which the Preds tapped in.  It would have been a 1-0 lead but it was waived off because the whistle blew.

 

In Game 5 (I think?) Crosby was on top of PK Subban and slammed his head into the ice several times.  Both players were called for off-setting penalties.

Big couple of days for the Vegas Golden Knights.  The expansion NHL team made their selections in yesterday's expansion draft.  The day before that they unveiled the team uniforms.  Below are pics of the away and home jerseys, plus a mockup of the Vegas home uniforms with full hockey equipment:

 

As for the Vegas expansion draft...

 

This expansion draft was constructed to be very friendly to the incoming Vegas team. (This is what a $500 million expansion fee buys!)  The protection rules left a number of good players unprotected and available for Vegas to select.  But the Vegas GM also unannounced that he would pursue "side deals" with teams, if they wanted to protect any unprotected players of their roster.  He also said that he would be willing to take on various players to provide salary-cap relief.

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets worked out a combo salary-cap relief / player protection deal that gave Vegas a 2017 1st-round pick (24th overall) and a 2019 2nd-round pick in exchange for Vegas taking on the contract of a player with a career-ending injury having a $5.25 million/year cap hit and for Vegas not to select certain unprotected players.  The NY Islanders and Winnipeg Jets worked out similar deals involving giving Vegas their 2017 1st-round picks and many others had deals giving Vegas prospects and lower round picks.

 

At the end of the expansion draft, Vegas drafted their required 30 players (one from each team).  Here's the team-to-team selection breakdown:  http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/06/21/vegas-golden-knights-name-their-team/

 

Here's what their roster looks like after yesterday's expansion draft:  https://capfriendly.com/teams/goldenknights

 

And here's the draft pick haul they acquired for the upcoming 2017 draft:

 

- 3-1st round picks (their own at #6, the #13 from Winnipeg after swapping CBJ's #24 with them, and the #15 from NYI)

- 3-2nd round picks

- their own pick in the 3rd, 4th and 7th rounds

- 2 picks in the 5th and 6th rounds

 

Vegas also acquired two additional 2nd-round picks, an additional 3rd-round pick and an additional 5th-round pick in 2019 - plus an additional 2nd-round pick in 2020.  And they're likely not done, because they've got more players than they need to field a full NHL roster.  So those extra players can be traded for even more picks and prospects:  http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/06/21/vegas-has-15-d-men-but-wont-keep-them-all/

Is Quebec ever going to get their franchise back? I get the market size reasons but it's insanity that Vegas has a team and not Quebec. I think this league struggles getting people to watch it on a broader scale because it has so many passive markets now.

 

The passion of hockey in French Canada makes the NHL unique among the four big North American sports. Doubt this can be replicated in another desert city.

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/07/05/mcdavid-signs-8-year-extension-with-oilers-will-have-highest-cap-hit-in-nhl-history/

 

20-year-old Connor McDavid signs an 8-year, $100 million extension with Edmonton.  Its the highest annual cap hit ($12.5 mil/year) in this salary cap era and will be a huge burden for the Oilers in future years.  But when the player is only 20, was the highest scorer in the league last season (30G-70A-100pts) and was just named the league MVP, they had to do it.

Is the NHL ever going to come back to Cleveland? Monsters were 2nd in attendance in the AHL this past season.

Is Quebec ever going to get their franchise back? I get the market size reasons but it's insanity that Vegas has a team and not Quebec.

 

https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2017/3/24/14933874/quebec-city-nhl-expansion-bid-centre-videotron-quebecor-vegas-golden-knights-remparts-gary-bettman

Is the NHL ever going to come back to Cleveland? Monsters were 2nd in attendance in the AHL this past season.

 

Much like Columbus will never seriously be considered for an MLB or NFL franchise, Cleveland is "surrounded" by NHL franchises - Columbus, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit all within 2-3 hours.  Also, I think Cleveland would become the smallest metro area to have a team in all four of the major sports leagues, if I'm not mistaken.

 

With Vegas being added, the NHL has a 15 / 16 imbalance between the conferences right now.  I'd guess they would like to add one more - in the west - to make it 16 / 16.  Seattle seems to be the front runner, but they might also consider Houston, Kansas City, or Portland.  I say that not knowing the interests of those cities, but just from a geographical perspective.

^To follow up on that, Houston has had strong AHL support for years on top of being a large metro area and Seattle has long been a well considered candidate, but always lacked a suitable arena. Kansas City has a relatively newer arena that was thought to get a relocation team (Islanders) a few years back, but nothing ever came of it. Not so sure about Portland.

 

Since it's unlikely that Cleveland and especially Cincinnati would ever get an NHL franchise, I'd love to see the Blue Jackets establish a true embrace of the state. Love that the Monsters are the AHL farm club for the Jackets, but would love to see Cincinnati join in and become the ECHL affiliate. You'd have the entire farm system lined up in Ohio with...

 

CBJ(NHL)-->CLE(AAA/AHL)-->CIN(AA/ECHL)

*Ironically the league level would run reverse to metro area size

 

Not only would that be great marketing (easily set up ticket packages and bus travel to see the big club in Columbus), but you could really grow awareness of the Jackets and hockey in general. To top it off: play the preseason split between Cincinnati and Cleveland.

 

Or if Cincinnati brought back the AHL and rebranded as "The Stingers," that would be just fine too.

2017-18 season started last week:

 

- The Pittsburgh Penguins had their opening game on Wednesday, where they unveiled the 2017 Stanley Cup Championship banner.  The back-to-back Stanley Cups are the first since Detroit won it in 1997 & 1998.  The Pens are going for three straight Cups, which hasn't been done since the NY Islanders won four-in-a-row from 1980 to 1983.  Last season's title was #5 for the Pens, which is reflected on the huge Stanley Cup rings received by the team earlier in the week:  http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/10/03/penguins-receive-phenomenal-2017-stanley-cup-rings/

 

- The Detroit Red Wings opened their brand new Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.  It's really great and has been well-documented in the Detroit developments thread at https://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,22927.msg873019.html#msg873019

 

- But 2017-18 is also getting something that the NHL hasn't had since 2000 - a new expansion team.  The NHL's 31st team, the Vegas Golden Knights, played its first regular-season game on Friday.  VGK has won their first two games (both on the road) in a pair of thrilling 2-1 victories.  Vegas' first home game is tonight at 10PM on NBCSN.

^ Speaking of tonight's home opener for the Vegas franchise.  This was set to be an over-the-top Las Vegas-type production for that city's pro sports milestone moment.  But given the recent horrific mass shooting that occurred only a few blocks away from where tonight's game will be held, the team will instead tone down the opening ceremony for a more community-minded event:

 

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/10/10/more-than-anything-vegas-golden-knights-home-debut-is-chance-to-heal/

 

That was quite a franchise home opener for Vegas last night.  From the opening ceremony that honored the first responders of the mass shooting, to the 58 second moment of silence for the victims, to the emotional pre-game speech delivered by a Vegas player.  Very classy tribute and remembrance.

 

https://www.nhl.com/news/celebration-of-heroes-hockey-helps-las-vegas-heal-after-tragedy/c-291812060?tid=277548856

 

 

^ And then the team continued its amazing start by going out to a 4-0 lead and winning 5-2.  The third straight win for Vegas to become the first expansion team to start 3-0-0:

 

 

The expansion Vegas Golden Knights are the feel-good story of this season.  Normally, expansion teams are made of other team's cast-offs acquired in the expansion draft.  But the expansion draft of last summer was set up this time to expose some very decent players on each NHL team for Vegas to choose.  And they got some very decent players thru that draft, plus thru some side deals set up by their experienced GM.

 

The Vegas Golden Knights stand at 20-9-2.  Only 1 point behind LA for first in the Pacific Division.  Vegas is the fastest NHL expansion team to 20 wins, and they're five points above the Western Conference playoff line after 31 games.

 

And Vegas has done this despite some extreme goaltending injuries.  They acquired future HOF veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from Pittsburgh in the expansion draft to serve as their #1 goaltenders.  But Fleury got injured during his 5th start after going 3-1-1.  Then his backup Oscar Dansk (a former CBJ minor-league goalie) won the next 3 games, and got injured.  Then their #3 goalie, Malcolm Subban (younger brother of P.K. Subban) went 7-2-0, and got injured!  They were down to using their #4 goalie before Fleury returned this week - in a win over his former team, the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins:  https://www.nhl.com/news/pittsburgh-penguins-vegas-golden-knights-game-recap/c-294038142

 

So Vegas got some amazing goaltending from their first goalies (with a 1.78, 2.13 & 2.33 GAA from Fleury, Dansk & Subban) until their fourth goalie fell short with an awful 3.79 GAA.  But Vegas still managed a 6-6-1 record during the #4 goalie's time due to some offensive firepower acquired during the draft:

-

- Jonathan Marchessault, a 30-goal scorer in 2016-17, was foolishly left unprotected by Florida, and has 10 goals.

- James Neal, a quality veteran that Nashville couldn't protect in the expansion draft, has 15 goals.

- Erik Haula, a decent veteran that Minnesota couldn't protect, has 11 goals.

- But the surprise of their expansion draft might be former CBJ center William "Wild Bill" Karlsson, who has 15 goals.  Wild Bill was a good player for the Jackets - but his 15 goals in this season's 31 games matches the 15 goals he scored for Columbus over our last two full seasons! (15 goals in 162 CBJ games)

 

Even the Vegas head coach has good story.  Gerard Gallant was formerly with the Columbus Blue Jackets during their early years.  He was an assistant from 2001 to 2004 and became the CBJ head coach for 45 games during 2004.  Then after the 2004-05 lockout season, Gallant was head coach during the entire 2005-06 season and for 15 games into the 2006-07 season before he was fired.  --  Gallant didn't get another head coaching opportunity until the 2014-15 season with the Florida Panthers.  Gallant led the previously woeful Panthers to 1st in the Atlantic in 2015-16, and was eliminated in the first-round of the playoffs.  Gallant was shockingly fired only 22 games into the 2016-17 season because of some friction with new team ownership, and was thus available to be the first Vegas head coach this season.

The Vegas Golden Knights feel-good story keeps going.  On Tuesday, Vegas hosted Tampa Bay (the best in the East and the entire NHL).  With the game tied 3-3 in the final minute Tampa committed a penalty, sending Vegas into a power-play.  It looked like Tampa would kill off the power-play in regulation and send the game in OT.  But Vegas had a face-off with only few seconds left.  Vegas won the face-off and scored the game-winning goal with only 2.3 seconds remaining!

 

Game highlights:  https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/tbl-vs-vgk/2017/12/19/2017020525#game=2017020525,game_state=final

 

Vegas went to 22-9-2 for 1st in their division and in the West after the win.  Vegas also has an amazing 14-2-1 home record.

Cha ching!

 

At this season's midway point, these are two facts in the Western Conference standings going into Saturday's games: http://www.espn.com/nhl/standings

 

- Vegas Golden Knights are first in their Pacific Division and 1st in the entire West

- Chicago Blackhawks are last in their Central Division

 

:o  :)  ???  :D  ::)

Vegas is now first in the entire NHL going into today's games!  After 46 games Vegas is an amazing 31-11-4 with 66 points.  That's one point more than Tampa Bay, who has 65 points in 46 games:

 

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2018/01/21/expansion-golden-knights-are-officially-in-first-place/