rams80

They could play in Prescott as a secondary tenant to the Sundogs.

Isn't that the part of Arizona that's on fire right now?

Please let the Coyotes stay in Phoenix but be forced into skating at a rec rink for lack of a lease. That might topple Bettman.

Meanwhile the Coyotes have grabbed two Quebeckers and Tie Domi's spawn in the draft. (Related, who let Tie Domi breed?) Who knows what to believe at this point.

So Mike Smith seems to think it will either be Seattle or Phoenix and that is why he signed the contract.

Well, it's good to know that Seattle's utter lack of preparation has Quebec City still in play.

It's not really Seattle's fault. Arena dimensions and ice capacity aside, I'm not sure they actually aspired to have an NHL team.

Wow. Just when we think it can't get more absurd, it does.

Well we know their end game now... bankruptcy. The last city I heard that did a similar move like this was Stockton, CA (yeah the same Stockton that became the largest US city to declare bankruptcy). And they didn't take on $15 million in annual wasteful payments to a hockey team AFTER they sold their city hall either. Hopefully the new owners and NHL take this into account. Because they won't be getting $15 million annually from Glendale when they file for bankruptcy protection in a year or two.

It's those damn pensions for public workers I tell you.

For Stockton it was, definitely. For Glendale it'll be the Coyotes if they go through with this lease. Hopefully a bunch of citizens come out and tell them that tonight. Time to give up on the failed Westgate experiment, sell the land and try to make some money back that way.

Sorry, should have added the sarcasm smiley. It will be blamed on the workers. Just watch.

Wow. Just when we think it can't get more absurd, it does.

Well we know their end game now... bankruptcy. The last city I heard that did a similar move like this was Stockton, CA (yeah the same Stockton that became the largest US city to declare bankruptcy). And they didn't take on $15 million in annual wasteful payments to a hockey team AFTER they sold their city hall either. Hopefully the new owners and NHL take this into account. Because they won't be getting $15 million annually from Glendale when they file for bankruptcy protection in a year or two.

It's those damn pensions for public workers I tell you.

I was thinking about something.....could the NHL be using Seattle as a stop-over before moving the team to Quebec City?

The NHL is pretty dead-set on realigning the league for next season, apparently. There's nothing definite about Seattle building a new arena (while QC is getting their arena built right now), and the NHL has said they'll re-visit the league's soon-to-be-adopted realignment plan after three seasons. By then, Quebec's arena will be completed (and possibly given a trial run by a minor league team), we'll have a good idea on Seattle being a worthy NHL market, and other teams with money issues (namely the Devils) would have three years to see which financial direction they're going in.....all the while the league's salary cap restraints (if I remember correctly) are set for the next couple seasons. (Did the league and NHLPA agree to a fixed cap limit for the next few years, in the $64-million neighborhood?)

The league is hell bent on realignment because Detroit and Columbus complained about going out West all the time. Of course, the ironic aspect this fervent desire for realignment is that if Detroit and Columbus were to stay out West, they would likely only play around 4 more games each in the Mountain or Pacific time zone than they would in the East thanks to the NHL's guarantee that each team plays at least a home and home.

Mainly, it's a playoff thing. The travel for West coast games is taxing, while Eastern teams can literally drive to the visitors arena.

If I am not mistaken, your playoff opponent is under the same travel conditions as you. Sorry, bad rationale.

I was thinking about something.....could the NHL be using Seattle as a stop-over before moving the team to Quebec City?

The NHL is pretty dead-set on realigning the league for next season, apparently. There's nothing definite about Seattle building a new arena (while QC is getting their arena built right now), and the NHL has said they'll re-visit the league's soon-to-be-adopted realignment plan after three seasons. By then, Quebec's arena will be completed (and possibly given a trial run by a minor league team), we'll have a good idea on Seattle being a worthy NHL market, and other teams with money issues (namely the Devils) would have three years to see which financial direction they're going in.....all the while the league's salary cap restraints (if I remember correctly) are set for the next couple seasons. (Did the league and NHLPA agree to a fixed cap limit for the next few years, in the $64-million neighborhood?)

The league is hell bent on realignment because Detroit and Columbus complained about going out West all the time. Of course, the ironic aspect this fervent desire for realignment is that if Detroit and Columbus were to stay out West, they would likely only play around 4 more games each in the Mountain or Pacific time zone than they would in the East thanks to the NHL's guarantee that each team plays at least a home and home.

This is the Cleveland Barons all over again, only with a worse arena situation.

And we don't even have the excuse of killing a WHA team.

BREAKING: League-Owned Hockey Franchise Purchased By Alberta-Based Ownership Group, Will Not Move

Well... they did buy the Mallards from themselves if it was a purchase. Very NHL-like. In reality it sounds more like Boston Pizza didn't want to be league owners anymore and preferred to be team owners instead. But I digress...

I was wondering why they would want to own that tire fire. But I can see now they are prepping to divest themselves of a far greater tire fire.

Might have been asked before, but any hurdles on potential new names for a Seattle team? As an example from above - does anyone in the area own the "Totems" nickname?

There is a small time junior league team that currently uses the name. It probably would not take much to get them to slap a "Jr." somewhere in the name.

The hilarious aspect about this efforts to "preserve the realignment" and "keep the poor Eastern teams from heading out west all the time" is that the new schedule format has every team at least playing a home and home with every other team. Honestly, if Detroit and Columbus stayed out west and the Coyotes moved to Quebec, they'd only be playing 2 more games in the Pacific Time zone.

How cute. You think the Coyotes can win without the NHL manipulating officiating in their favor.

Perhaps the NHL is saving Quebec for the Devils?

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=425724

AHAHAHAHAHA That's amazing.

Seriously, though, that would certainly finish off any hope of an NHL team getting its own arena for the next couple of decades.

No, college is a factor because the University of Washington is actually in Seattle as opposed to being palmed off on some unsuspecting small city in the late Nineteenth Century.

Good news. Seattle says they have an ice-o-matic. Though they don't have many seats if this is correct.

The team would have to play at Key Arena, which would only seat roughly 11,000 for hockey. Daly has indicated in the past that it would be a suitable short term home for a franchise.

Deborah Daoust, a spokesperson for Seattle Center and Key Arena, said Tuesday night that the ice making equipment and chilling system are still operational and have been used in the past for events like the Ice Capades and Disney on Ice.

http://www.king5.com...-211315311.html

At least it will be an honest 11,000.

What's baffling is that a city whose first sports passion is hockey and has a ready arena with a brand-spanking new one to come (Quebec) is being put behind a North American city where football, baseball, and soccer come before hockey, while an arena in said city (Seattle) isn't such a sure thing.

I never used to believe that Bettman had an illogical anti-Canada bias, but it's becoming harder and harder to avoid that conclusion.

The NHL will, at best, start as the fourth most popular sport in Seattle. They love the Mariners, Seahawks and Sounders, and I don't see how the new NHL team is going to magically leapfrog any of those.

Not to mention that the NBA might still outrank hockey in fan interest, so long as this is taken as a sign that a new Sonics might be forthcoming.

And that's really the crux of the long term problem with this move. (Short term issue being Key Arena is a terrible place to play hockey). While Seattle is a bigger pie than Quebec, you'd be getting more pie from Quebec because you'd be getting all of it rather than the sliver of pie you get from Seattle. While I suspect the Totems could survive (not going to say "would do better than Phoenix" because Thunder Bay could likely claim that) the league is definitely leaving money on the table here.

And of course, the idea that the NHL can simply recoup the extra money through expansion is bad because, well, George III in the height of his mental illness would take one look at a possible NHL expansion and say "Dude, that's crazy."

*continuing to scan business of hockey forum*

Does anyone honestly believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that if the Coyotes move to Seattle, the NHL already has backchannel agreements for a new arena in town? I mean there are some delusional idiots over there, but I'll believe it when I see it.

When Seattle won the Stanley Cup in 1917, they were the Champions of a 4 team league that beat the champions of another 4 team league. 5 of the 8 teams eligible for the cup were Canadian and therefore sucking wind for manpower because of a little thing called World War One. And no, we were still a couple of weeks away from entering the war.

Yes, "flags fly forever" but let's not pretend the difficulty rating on this Stanley Cup victory was obscenely high.

I think we also need to point out that the provisionally named "Seattle Totems" have a best case scenario of being 4th banana on the local sports scene, and will drop to 5th if the city ever gets its baseball team. Hell, depending on the support Washington gets up there they might drop another rank. Market size or not, does this league really want to put itself in a position where it will lose attendance and ratings wars to the ing MLS?!

In how many American markets with 3+ "top four+" teams (even the hockey hotbeds) does the NHL team have a legit claim in being #1 or #2?

I mean, the Bruins are an Original 6 team, but they'll never be bigger than the Red Sox or Celtics. Nor would the Blackhawks ever be bigger than the Cubs/White Sox and Bears.

Not many, but at least in those markets they are more popular than the local MLS team. The Seattle Totems wouldn't even have that.

Part of me almost wonders if attempting to move the team to Seattle is the NHL's attempt to trojan horse a temporary contraction through. "Oh look the arena isn't ready so we're going to have to suspend operations." Mind you, this theory means they believe they can convince a labor judge that Quebec is completely unviable and unready as a market, which in reality strikes me as unlikely barring the presence of a very corrupt judge and the exchange of a significant some of money.

I think we also need to point out that the provisionally named "Seattle Totems" have a best case scenario of being 4th banana on the local sports scene, and will drop to 5th if the city ever gets its baseball team. Hell, depending on the support Washington gets up there they might drop another rank. Market size or not, does this league really want to put itself in a position where it will lose attendance and ratings wars to the ing MLS?!

It was confirmed on the Hotstove tonight that if the Coyotes do not have a deal in place by July 2nd, the team is moving to...

Seattle.

At this point, Bettman and the legislators are throwing b#tch slaps at Quebec. How did Seattle jump to the forefront of NHL relocation?

Because preserving the dumbass realignment has become more important than ensuring the league actually has 30 healthy teams.

At least we've found the one American polity whose credit rating is crashing faster than Illinois'