NHL Hockey thread

[Jaron]

Sharks

[PRC]

Sharks

Canucks

[jimmy olsen]

Apparently, there are 2 buyers in line to invest in the Thrashers.

And I heard this morning, coming from an unnamed source, but very high placed in the NHL,

Is this perchance the ambassador of Portugal?

[Barrister]

Sifting through fact, fiction & fantasyPossible return of NHL spurs rumour, innuendoBy: Gary Lawless

Posted: 04/18/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Print E–mail  3 1Share4Report Error What is fact? What is fiction? What is speculation?

Some days it takes a scorecard to keep up with all the hard news, rhetoric and speculation spinning around when it comes to the potential return of the NHL to Winnipeg.

Between television, radio and print media across North America, people talking on the street, bloggers and message boards everywhere -- there is a lot to digest.

Sometimes keeping all the information in its proper box is difficult. Speculation bleeds over into fact. Fiction, sometimes more popular than fact, gets taken as gospel.

With this in mind -- here is what the Free Press knows to be true, not true and some really good guesses.



Fact



The Phoenix Coyotes and Atlanta Thrashers are for sale.

Both franchises are being considered for relocation by the NHL should local ownership not step forward.

True North Sports and Entertainment continues to speak with the NHL about the potential of buying one of these franchises and bringing it to Winnipeg.

If and when the NHL elects to relocate a franchise and should talks with True North advance to a certain point, Winnipeg's marketplace will be tested.

Free Press hockey writer Tim Campbell first broached this subject in the spring of 2010 in his report on the nuts and bolts of bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg. Campbell was granted exclusive access to True North chairman Mark Chipman for the project.

Campbell wrote that credit card numbers and multi-year promises would be required from Winnipeg fans as well as multi-year commitments in corporate sponsorship areas.

The results of such a market test will provide True North, the NHL and Winnipeg with a gauge on the community's ability to support a franchise.

True North, as evidenced by its major press box expansion at the MTS Centre, continues to work and bring itself closer as an organization for potential membership in the NHL.

Winnipeg is the only market that has a building, organization and ownership group that is 'plug-and-play' ready for next season.



Fiction



A deal to bring the Phoenix Coyotes back to Winnipeg is already done but the NHL is waiting until after the Coyotes season is over to announce it.

True North has an agreement in place with the NHL to buy the Coyotes that includes a $60 million promise to renovate and add 2,500 seats to the MTS Centre.

True North will house an NHL franchise for one or two seasons in Winnipeg and then move it to Southern Ontario.

Jerseys, supposedly with a team name, logo and colour scheme, are already made and hanging in some secret location within the MTS Centre.



Speculation



The NHL will ask the City of Glendale to dip into one of its rainy day funds and aid Matthew Hulsizer's purchase of the Coyotes from the league.

The NHL will come to a form of resolution on the Coyotes before the Stanley Cup final begins.

The NHL has another buyer looking into buying the Coyotes and keeping them in Phoenix.

Should the NHL come to terms with a buyer to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, the league will then immediately begin to discuss a sale of the Atlanta Thrashers with True North Sports and Entertainment.

A mysterious buyer, referred to in Atlanta radio reports as The Balkan, is close to finalizing an agreement to purchase the Thrashers, Atlanta Hawks and the rights to Philips Arena.

So, if you're scoring at home -- from this standpoint the game remains tied with the outcome still to be determined. It may be late in the ninth inning and Winnipeg may or may not have the winning run on board.

Either way, the winning run still needs to be plated. So stay in your seats.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/sifting-through-fact-fiction--fantasy-120048049.html

Article debunks the arena expansion element, and again summarizes where we are at.

[Valmy]

Either way, the winning run still needs to be plated. So stay in your seats.

Awwww a baseball analogy

[crazy canuck]

The Hawks are not putting up enough of a fight to make this revenge satisfying.  Its like having a boxing rematch against an opponent who was hit by a train and has been wheeled into the ring, dumped on the canvas and lies there while you pound on him. 

[Barrister]

The Hawks are not putting up enough of a fight to make this revenge satisfying.  Its like having a boxing rematch against an opponent who was hit by a train and has been wheeled into the ring, dumped on the canvas and lies there while you pound on him.

I dunno - I turned the game on last night just to have something in the background, and wound up watching the whole thing.  It was lively.  Being up 3-0 it's unlikely the Canucks will choke now, but, of course, they are the 'Nucks.

[Neil]

The Hawks are not putting up enough of a fight to make this revenge satisfying.  Its like having a boxing rematch against an opponent who was hit by a train and has been wheeled into the ring, dumped on the canvas and lies there while you pound on him.

It's alright.  The Canucks are throwing in enough goonery and cheapshots to make up for Chicago's lack of just about everything that made last year's team so much better than the Canucks could ever hope to be.

[C.C.R.]

The Hawks are not putting up enough of a fight to make this revenge satisfying.  Its like having a boxing rematch against an opponent who was hit by a train and has been wheeled into the ring, dumped on the canvas and lies there while you pound on him.

I told you before:  These are not the same Blackhawks.  The entire depth chart was traded last July & replaced with used puck bags.  They shouldn't have even made the playoffs...

[Valmy]

I told you before:  These are not the same Blackhawks.  The entire depth chart was traded last July & replaced with used puck bags.  They shouldn't have even made the playoffs...

Why?  Are the Hawks actually losing money despite being in Chicago?

[PRC]

The Hawks are not putting up enough of a fight to make this revenge satisfying.  Its like having a boxing rematch against an opponent who was hit by a train and has been wheeled into the ring, dumped on the canvas and lies there while you pound on him. 

Don't count your chickens before they hatch!

[C.C.R.]

Why?  Are the Hawks actually losing money despite being in Chicago?

Supposedly they lost a hefty chunk money for a few years -- the few years right after old owner Bill Wirtz (who was despised here) died, his son Rocky took over & bent over backwards running a marketing blitz & team upgrade that culminated in last year's Stanley Cup win.  I obviously don't have access to the Blackhawks' books to know how far in the Red or Black they really were running, but I can buy that it wasn't sustainable in the long term.  Or at least it's easier to swallow with that 2010 Stanley Cup banner hanging in the rafters.  It's one more Blackhawks' Stanley Cup win than I ever expected to see in my lifetime...

[Valmy]

Or at least it's easier to swallow with that 2010 Stanley Cup banner hanging in the rafters.  It's one more Blackhawks' Stanley Cup win than I ever expected to see in my lifetime...

Heh it is certainly one more than I ever expect to see the Caps win.

[Barrister]

What's with you negative nellies?

I expect to see my team win a Stanley Cup before I die, and I don't even have a team yet.

[crazy canuck]

I dunno - I turned the game on last night just to have something in the background, and wound up watching the whole thing.  It was lively.

I expect to see my team win a Stanley Cup before I die, and I don't even have a team yet.

Ok, a hockey fanatic who thinks a non existent team is going to win a championship found a game "lively".  What exactly am I to make of that?