Gretzky to bring a team to Seattle?

[topshelf]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck- ... 13902.html

Personally, I don't feel the NHL should expand. I have no problem with a team moving to Seattle, but if the league brings one team in, it will have to bring two to balance out the conferences. That means roughly 40-50 players getting time in the NHL that wouldn't be skating had those teams not been formed.

Thoughts?

[columbia]

Put a team in Portland too and they can end the silly imbalanced conference set-up.

[dodint]

Move Phoenix. Done.

[Idoit40fans]

Its a little premature to say move Phoenix. They have some sustained stability so maybe they get something going attendance-wise. Expansion to 32 has seemed inevitable for a while and when the new divisions came about it became even moreso.

[littlemoonboot]

Being from there, I have so many feels about this.

[DocEmrick]

I'd like to move to Washington too

Spoiler:

[mikey287]

I didn't click the link, but the Seattle scuttlebutt has been around for a while. NHL wants to beat the NBA back into a huge metropolitan area that supports a WHL franchise. Lots of hoops to jump through. Should be interesting how it plays out...seems like Seattle is #1 on the NHL's list though...

[shafnutz05]

Seattle is one of the more progressive sports markets out there....hell, the Sounders draw over 40,000 people per game. It's certainly ripe for an NHL franchise.

[brwi]

Ladies and gentlemen, your Seattle Hipsters!

There used to be a lot of rumors about Paul Allen(Microsoft) wanting to put a franchise there, but I don't know about this latest effort. Hopefully it would be a re-lo and NOT expansion and frankly, I hope it doesn't happen. The NHL has much better franchise stability these days and really don't want to see a team move.

[pcm]

Why not expansion? I think the league could handle the talent dilusion. There are lot more young legs ready to play in the NHL, which is also forcing out a lot of older more established guys. Adding 25 or even 50 jobs in the league is not going to significantly impact the quality of play. Plus it would mean Martin Brodeur would have a job...

I'd pretty excited for an expansion draft.

[the wicked child]

I don't really want to see expansion, but frankly the re-alignment of the divisions pretty much necessitates adding two teams out west to balance things out.

[no name]

32 teams is gonna happen sooner or later, might as well start now. I see no problem with it and balancing out the confrences needs to be done. Actually it might of happened a year ago, but with the connor mcdavid draft coming up they didn't want an expansion team stealing him from another team. I think you are going to have

add Seattle
If Phoenix fails they move to Portland

a East team will relocate to Quebec
and a expansion team added to the central (Houston, Milawakee, KC) might be a few I am forgetting.
or
If team in the East doesn't relocate you expand Quebec, then you might have to move Detroit or Columbus back to the central.

if all that falls into place then you might have to juggle realignment again.

Would love to see the NHL goto 32 teams then be locked in place for the next 20 years. The first expansion with FLA seent he trap take over the league since teams with diluited talent learned the only way to win was to clutch and grab. The NHL realizes they got to fight against it.

[Kaizer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your Seattle Hipsters!

There used to be a lot of rumors about Paul Allen(Microsoft) wanting to put a franchise there, but I don't know about this latest effort. Hopefully it would be a re-lo and NOT expansion and frankly, I hope it doesn't happen. The NHL has much better franchise stability these days and really don't want to see a team move.

Paul Allen isnt going to do it without a city funded arena. Since were still paying for the kingdome that was blown up 17 years ago, no arena will be built without a team guaranteed.

[mikey287]

The league is diluted enough as it is, so I wouldn't be in favor of expansion on those grounds. The league is not close to its best game play in its history. Adding 50 more clowns will just...whatever...

The game will get better if we reduce roster sizes, slow the game down to allow skill to permeate. But that won't happen.

I don't care about the "imbalance" really - one of the more successful eras in the league's history was with 21 teams...it's a shame the NHL will have missed out on three unreal prospects coming into the league in 2015, which would really give the expansion teams a boost...

[Pavel Bure]

Just read this as he was bringing Teemu to Seattle.

[DelPen]

An expansion draft in the Cap era would be awesome. Imagine all the bad contracts left exposed? Wonder how NMC's would work?

With 30 teams now, losing two players per team total to add 15 players for each team is reasonable.

Pacific: Vancouver, Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary, LA, SJ, Anaheim, Phoenix
Central: Winnipeg, Chicago, Colorado, Minnesota, St. Louis, KC (or OKC?), Dallas, Nashville

Northeast: Pittsburgh, Columbus, Detroit, Buffalo, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Boston
Atlantic: NJ, NYI, NYR, Philly, Washington, Carolina, TB, Florida

8 groups of 4 that actually make sense geographically.

[count2infinity]

Seattle deserves a team, for sure. Beyond that, I'm not sure where to put one for the other team to make 32. KC? Quebec and move a team to the western conference? Hamilton?

[Gaucho]

Atlanta Toronto.

[DelPen]

Seattle deserves a team, for sure. Beyond that, I'm not sure where to put one for the other team to make 32. KC? Quebec and move a team to the western conference? Hamilton?

Well no real need to have 32. The Patrick Division had 6 teams for 10 years before the other three divisions got to 6 teams. Funny time in the NHL when 4 out of 5 teams in 3 divisions made the playoffs and 4 out of 6 in the Patrick.

[llipgh2]

My friend lives in Seattle. He said funding for a new arena (for basketball and hockey) was on the ballot twice and lost twice. He doesn't see it going to ballot a third time. If a new arena is built, it would have to be almost exclusively private funding.

The main reason the Sonics left was because they couldn't get a new building. From what I've been told the current place is rather dated.

Paul Allen was interested in hockey, but only if there was a new arena.

[Idoit40fans]

Hi, this is Paul Allen. Im being called away to London for a few days. Meredith, Ill call you when I get back. Hasta la vista, baby.

[Big Easy Pens Fan]

Move Phoenix. Done.

Arizona maybe.

BEPF

[littlemoonboot]

Hi, this is Paul Allen. Im being called away to London for a few days. Meredith, Ill call you when I get back. Hasta la vista, baby.

IF ANYONE ASKS WHY PAUL ALLEN WAS LEFT IN A MAYFAIR AREA BATHTUB FILLED WITH ICE AND HIM WITHOUT A KIDNEY AND A SUSPICIOUS NOTE THAT SAYS "CROSBY CUP, A LOCK OF JAGR MULLET HAIR AND SEATTLE TEAM OR ELSE" IT WASN'T ME I JUST PROMISED THEM I WOULDN'T TALK

[DocEmrick]

My friend lives in Seattle. He said funding for a new arena (for basketball and hockey) was on the ballot twice and lost twice. He doesn't see it going to ballot a third time. If a new arena is built, it would have to be almost exclusively private funding.

The main reason the Sonics left was because they couldn't get a new building. From what I've been told the current place is rather dated.

Paul Allen was interested in hockey, but only if there was a new arena.

Well, if the state gets things right they'll soon have more than enough tax revenue to build whatever anyone wants to.

[columbia]

:ignite: