Sodboy13

That's embarrassing, even by roller hockey standards.

Back to the topic of the Pirates affiliating with the Panthers...rumors continue to abound that the Panthers might be headed to Quebec City soon.

If so, the Pirates will make the PERFECT affiliate for the new Nordiques...

There's something coming down the pipe with Broward County in May, I believe, but I can't remember the specifics of it, nor can I remember if it would allow the Panthers to leave without paying the steep penalty that's supposed to keep them in Sunrise until 2028.

I can imagine the alternate logo right now:

a goat in a yard swinging a bat.

With a grimace on his face, teeth bared, a hunk of grass hanging out of his mouth.

Portland Pirates will continue to exist, and affiliate with the Florida Panthers. So, does that mean it's the Coyotes' turn to partner with San Antonio again?

$375 million for the stadium? Doesn't that pretty much buy you a circus tent in the current stadium market? I can't imagine this stadium would be state-of-the-art.

I think Québec City's price tag was $400M (when the US and Canadian dollars were fairly equal), and I believe their arena is going to be slightly larger than the Vegas one, so it seems like the right price range.

It doesn't excuse the actions of the elected officials in deep with corporate interests, either, who basically told the voters, "Look, just look the other way on the sketchy dealings involved to get this publicly-funded money pit built for a few years, and you're going to have your Nordiques at the end of it." Ought to be some heads on pikes coming out of this if an NHL team doesn't materialize.

Still better than Chicago, though, who basically did the same thing without ever promising more than DePaul Men's Basketball.

$400 million arena that will probably only host hockey performed by players earning a $50 weekly stipend. Maybe Québec should angle for the NCAA!

I think it's worth asking whether they could exempt that from their report to the city if they so chose, given that they're allowed to count the Ribeiro buyout as a loss. Mike Smith's got 4 years at $5.5M+ left; he'll fix everything if the team gets too close to black ink.

Funny you mentioned Coyotes numbers. Sarah McLellan of The Arizona Republic has the figures from IceArizona's 2013-14 season:

Operating losses (without one-time charges): $16,458,000

Acquisition costs: $7,878,000

Buyout of Mike Ribeiro: $10,495,000

Total Coyotes losses reported to City of Glendale: $34,831,000.

So, let's look at the official "Destination 2018: Anywhere Else" toteboard, and...

Only $15,169,000 to go!

I can't believe ownership gets to factor in the last two items in their loss reports to the city. Wait, of course I can, because Glendale's been happily playing along with this game of 3-card monte for five years now.

Can the Coyotes lose $15 million more in four seasons? Well, Rocky Wirtz says he goes $20 million in the red on the Blackhawks every year, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Looks like the AHL Bulldogs are on their way out, while the OHL Belleville Bulls are getting sold and relocated to become the new Hamilton Bulldogs.

Plus the veteran rule would still apply even without an affiliation, right? So you'd be really strecthed for building a workable roster.

If the Moose come back, I'd love to see them use the Jets template, with double green replacing the blues and copper in place of the silver.

Wasn't there a story at the time of the Thrashers move that ownership had NHL Moose jersey prototypes ready to go? I wonder if anyone got to see those outside of the True North inner circle.

If the Moose come back, they should go with what worked best last time: more or less recolor the Blues' template and become the best-looking team in the league.

We're now at 7,700 season ticket deposits for Las Vegas, which means we're about 6 weeks away from the NHL buying up the remainder and calling the trial balloon a complete success.

Fun thing I learned from Chris Johnston's Vegas update on SportsNet: The ownership recruited 75 Vegas whales to each buy and resell 60 deposits. That's 4,500 total. Which means, in terms of real people who have expressed interest in going to hockey games, the Vegas bid has attracted 3,200 deposits. This is all starting to feel rather Oakland Seals-y.

Devils couldn't draw in their heyday when they weren't playing in Newark. You think they'll fill a barn now?

Anaheim should consider 7:30 starts if the transportation situation is that bad. The Kings start at 7:30, and so do the Blackhawks, after a 1-season experiment with 7:00 starts failed.

Yep, dammit, the Dodgeresque crowd threw me again. I forget that they're late-arrivers. What would it take to get the Anaheim crowd to show up on time? 8:00 starts? 8:30? A Teemu ceremony before every home game?

Anaheim just isn't a Wednesday hockey kind of town, apparently. Real Sunrise kinda vibe to Honda Center tonight. Again.

That's my hope, too. 8 in the WCHL, 10-12 in the IHL, and 12-14 in the AHL.

I do care about it, because I've been to a lot more AHL/IHL games than NHL ones, and it's becoming fairly obvious that I'll never be able to afford to go to an NHL game in this city again. I've seen the Wolves raise the Calder Cup in person twice, and the Turner Cup once. I've seen good, fun, competitive hockey. I don't want to lay down $20 plus parking and concessions to see systems implementation where the schedule's made up and the standings points don't matter.

If the NHL really wants to push this direct ownership and development above all model (which, side benefit for them at the next CBA: look at all these additional expenses we have!), then just house practice squads and run intrasquad scrimmages in rinks instead of arenas. Develop on-site with the parent club's staff always within arm's reach. And let the markets and owners that want minor league hockey make a league. Good time to do it, too, since the KHL's new anti-import policy could bring a lot of 4-A guys back to North America.

This shouldn't even be an issue. Minor league baseball is both fully affiliated and independently competitive. Hockey can't be because the never-will-bes in San Jose can't sufficiently untwist their undies?

It's fine if they're playing a 68-game schedule in their own league. It's fine if the rest of the league also drops down to a 68-game schedule. It's not fine if five teams are playing 68 games, and the other twenty-five play 76, because of Hockey Reasons.

But think of what it might do to the deeeeevellllllopmennnnnnt

The Ontario Reign have let it leak via season ticket literature that they'll only be playing a 68-game season, as opposed to the 76 games the other 25 AHL teams will play. I am now calling the AHL Pacific the Special Snowflake Division.

Las Vegas now offering, for the low low price of two season ticket deposits, a free replica jersey of a team that may never have a name, logo, or colors. Expect the offer to be upped to an ownership stake and complimentary buffet at the Bellagio by next Thursday.

In two weeks, Las Vegas has found 7,000 of the 10,000 people it wanted to drop down a $150 refundable deposit on potential NHL season tickets. Hey, that seems very, very bad! I bet the league won't be holding any guns to heads about it like they did with Winnipeg, though!

That story's from May 20, 2014. The team announced a few weeks ago that it was folding.