tigerslionspistonshabs

They definitely need a ballpark. Downtown. Olympic Stadium's location is terrible. The previously proposed location just east of the Bell Centre would've been perfect, but there's plenty of other places. Montreal is a pedestrian city. Not driver-friendly whatsoever. It must be easily accessible by foot, metro line or bus, which Olympic wasn't very easily. There's one stray subway line going north.

It's orange because they wore their orange unis for the home opener.

I`m fairly certain that they were ``promised`` a future team when the Bulls left for Hamilton. I think it was contingent on them replacing their arena.

NHL- Habs. My grandfather came over from England in the 50's, and got really into hockey and the Habs. Not sure what exactly sparked the Habs' fandom, because he lived and worked in Detroit and the Wings were dominant at the time. Anyways, that passed down to my dad, who is probably as hardcore as it gets (can name every play in every playoff game from 1965 forward) and then to me. The Red Wings have always been my team B just because of proximity, the rich history and my love of all things Detroit. NBA- Pistons. Local team and it also helped that they were starting their early 2000's rise just as I was really getting into basketball. MLB- Tigers. My NL team is the Pirates. I took a trip to Pittsburgh in 2014 and fell in love with the city. One of my favorites. NFL- Lions. Not sure how, but... NCAA- Michigan.

Yea that's a sloppy banner...logos off-center and too small.

The Bobcats have no accolades to hang a banner of.

Went to my first Piston's game in about 3 years yesterday, and noticed some modifications on the banners. All Eastern Conference Championship banners (even the ones from the 80's) have the current PISTONS font. Before this change happened, they all featured the logos from those respective teams. The 1989 and 1990 Title banners have the old 80s logo (as they should). The 2004 banner, for whatever reason, has their current logo, which they've only been using since 2005-06. These have obviously all been changed recently. Makes no sense to me.

Well, the time to ask for upgrades would be right after another pro team just left the city. Like, hey, we're happy to be here, but make our arena better or we might think about leaving like that other team.

I see your Hossa and raise you a Chris Chelios

Seattle needs an arena.

And for one last giant kick in the kahonies, after being so terrible for 16 years, they moved to Denver and won the Cup instantly. And continued to be one of the league's best teams for 10 years.

Shane Doan would retire unless he went to one of the SoCal teams.

I think any Phoenix-area related option is a band-aid on a massive open wound. And not a good band-aid. One of those ones that you can't open the package without ripping the band-aid. And then it barely sticks to you. And then you have to go to the store to get a proper band-aid, but you're dripping blood all over the place and people are staring at you...

Also- the Phoenix teams take the cake for oddest arena names. Talking Stick and Gila River.

Build a new Suns arena? Isn't theirs barely 20 years old?

Forgot this even happened.

So a 34 team NHL, assuming the Coyotes and Panthers survive beyond 2019. Jesus 34 teams? How about they start weeding out the markets that have been struggling all these years and do some relocation. I mean right off the bat they have 2 teams that NEED to move.

I think it's a case where both teams get supported.

I always thought the NHL would thrive in Portland. The Pacific Northwest is pretty much untapped other than Vancouver.

I've never been a fan of the NHL's expansion practices, but they'd be leaving expansion fees on the table if they made Quebec City wait for a relocated franchise. QC and Las Vegas want a team so badly that they'd be willing to pony up those millions for a expansion team. Plus, there are plenty of viable markets open should Arizona/Florida/Carolina/INSERT TEAM HERE pack up and leave. Here in Portland, a columnist with the Oregonian last year reported about Paul Allen's interest in the NHL, but only if it were a relocating franchise. He apparently wasn't interested in ponying up $100M in expansion fees for a new franchise. I'd suspect that's a common sentiment from other potential franchise owners. I thought the story was that Paul Allen wanted nothing to do with hockey.

So a 34 team NHL, assuming the Coyotes and Panthers survive beyond 2019. You sound surprised. I think the best scenario is to wait and see ultimately what happens with the Coyotes and Panthers before expanding. I think that relocation is inevitable for both. I'd move both teams now and cut losses, but I mean that's just too logical. BUT THEN THE DIVISIONS WONT BE EVEN OH NO WHAT A DISASTER. /s They can put a team in Honolulu to even it out. Problem solved.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/13007905/commissioner-gary-bettman-says-nhl-begin-expansion-process-soon-june-owners-approval I think the 'E' ball is in full motion. I definitely think that Quebec City is getting a team, for a few reasons. 1. Arena's just about done, in line with the expansion rumblings. 2. It's hard to say no when you look at Winnipeg's success. 3. And lastly, and most importantly to King Bettman, it serves as a distraction/choice of reason when also giving Las Vegas a team, which will ultimately be an epic failure. Seattle is still in the background, but they seem to have too many arena issues. I could possibly see a 2 stage expansion- 1st stage (2017-18) Quebec and Las Vegas; 2nd stage Seattle and somewhere else (2019-2020).

As much as I love to see hockey (or any sport) thrive in non-traditional markets, it's just not going to nor will it ever in Phoenix. Move the franchise somewhere it will be successful.