Nashville Predators moving to Canada? NOPE! Sorry, Canucks (and KC!)...

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Wasn't there talk once upon a midnight dreary about giving Detroit a second team?

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Little corporate money and little disposable income by the general public in the Maritimes means a hockey team would have a tough go of it.

Bob Cook:
I, too, thought K-W was ridiculously underpopulated when I heard the Pens-to-K-W rumours a while back. But after looking at populations, jobs, economic boom, and proximity to all five cities involved (Hamilton, Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge), it would most definitely work.

Hell, I know people in that region that have Sabres season tickets. I know people who have Jays season tickets. So there are those willing to drive an hour to 90 minutes for a game.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

You mean the Hockeytown, USA, that didn't sell out its playoff games? You mean the economically challenged city/state that is Detroit/Michigan?

No way.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

I want The Cup in the Parliament building, not the front hall of Tomorrowland, dammit.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

You mean "The Castle", don't you? Your favorite place to watch Canadian election results on C-Span.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

A team in K-W would be a distinctly regional Canadian team.

I think it's a no-brainer. Southwestern Ontario is the most populated area of the country, most of the corporate head offices are here and it's a hockey-mad region.

And besides, Hamilton, there's Mississauga, Burlington, and Oakville, three of the more affluent cities in Canada.

To quote Damien Cox in his blog today: "The NHL does not need new a new franchise in Canada. Based on many different indicators, it needs three. Or four."

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

I only have the numbers going back to 1989, so it's the last 6 years of the Nordiques and the last 7 years of the Jets. The Nordiques outdrew them every single year. Winnipeg's best year was an average of 13,550, and three of the seven years they drew fewer than 13,000. The Nordiques only had one year below 14,000.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

i think the only way the NHL puts teams back into canada is if the owners group together and readjust their expectations.

so what if a team in hamilton or maritimes (or whatever canadian city or region) doesn't have the same revenue stream as the one in new york or dallas? so what? so you figure out a way to make all teams on the same playing field for free agents - which means revenue sharing - and you accept that while the rangers will make, say, $50 million in profits, the maritimes team will make, say $10 million.

those are random figures of course but i'm just saying that recalibrating their expectations - and abandoning the illogical position of keeping hockey in american cities where few gives a shit - is in the long-term interests of the sport.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Winnipeg just seems like a nonstarter. It's population isn't that large, the corporate community isn't as strong, and its population is barely growing. Quebec is a little stronger in all concerns, but wasn't it revealed the guy leading the charge to get the NHL back there had file two different business bankruptcies?

As far as other Canadian cities, I doubt the NHL is going to even get the chance to turn down Saskatoon again. It appears the biggest underserved market in Canada is the eastern suburbs of Toronto, but Oshawa and Whitby are too close. I guess you could put a team in Barrie, which is outside the 50-mile (80-km) radius and draw from Toronto's northern burbs.

Montreal, in theory, could support a second team, but there is no viable 'burb or area outside the 50-mile radius that is viable.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Winnipeg also has the advantage of having a new, already paid-for rink with suites.

Of course, the NHL will probably still demand a newer rink paid for with 100% public funds, which is as much a block to new franchises entering Canada as anything.

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

I'm guessing Yellowknife is off the table?

 

Re: Nashville Predators moving to Canada? Sure seems like it...

Churchill, baby!