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Rich

By Rich
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The Unknown Poster Newbie

The Unknown Poster

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Posted
2 minutes ago, iHeart said:

Saskatoon with an NHL team isn't that place smaller than Winnipeg?

Yup.  But the NHL was smaller and it almost happened:

Quote

Bill Hunter, the founder of the Edmonton Oilers, had an agreement to purchase the St. Louis Blues and move the team to Saskatoon as the Saskatoon Blues in the 1983–84 NHL season; however, the NHL (which did not want to leave the St. Louis market) vetoed the sale. Faced with the prospects of either having to allow the sale or contract the franchise, the league found an owner (Harry Ornest) willing to keep the team in Missouri and, in an eleventh-hour deal, preserved the Blues in St. Louis, where they remain.[63] Saskatoon again bid for a franchise during the league's early 1990s expansion, but the bid was considered a long-shot and was withdrawn before the league made its final decision.

A proposal from Ice Edge Holdings to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes would have moved a portion of the team's home games to Saskatoon in an effort to maintain the team's viability in its main home in Phoenix, similar to the former Bills Toronto Series arrangement in the National Football League; the group, had it bought the team, was ready to go forward and had leased Saskatoon's SaskTel Centre for five home games in the 2009–10 season.[64] The group was believed to lack the funds to buy the team outright, but remained in contention as potential minority owner until May 2011, when it pulled out of negotiations.[65] Some members of the Ice Edge group later joined the ownership group led by Canadian businessman George Gosbee who ultimately purchased the Coyotes and kept them in Arizona.

On Ice Management, an ownership group backed by auto racer, former Moncton Wildcats owner, and former professional hockey player John Graham, is backing a long-shot bid to bring the NHL to Saskatoon.[66] The Calgary Flames were scheduled to host the Ottawa Senators in Saskatoon, for a preseason game (sponsored by Graham) in September 2013; that game led to speculation that the city may host the Flames if the team's regular arena, Scotiabank Saddledome, which had been damaged in the 2013 Alberta floods, did not complete its repairs in time for the 2013–14 season.[67] In the end, repairs were completed on a compressed schedule, and the Saddledome reopenehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hunter_%28ice_hockey%29d in September 2013.[68] Although neither Graham nor any other bidder representing Saskatoon placed a bid in the expansion window, the city will again host a neutral-site preseason game in 2015.[69]

 

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sweep the leg
sweep the leg

I saw an interview with Doughty and he said that Vegas is maybe the hardest team to play against b/c they give full effort on every shift. That what building a team full of grinders will give you. Get

Tony Fresco
Tony Fresco

Nice company for Patrik    

The Unknown Poster
The Unknown Poster

Just to reiterate   

The Unknown Poster Newbie

The Unknown Poster

Posted
Posted

There has always been that thought of whether Saskatchewan could support an NHL franchise.  Im sure the fans there would be interested but do they have the corporate support as owners as well as sponsors.  And isnt SK shared among the Alberta teams and Jets for broadcast territory?  They'd have to be willing to go along with it too.

Saskatoon is a great city and it would be cool to see.  But as long as Quebec doesnt have a team, Sk is a non-starter.

FrostyWinnipeg Grand Master

FrostyWinnipeg

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Floyd said:

Mosaic game should be St Louis Blues Against the Jets...  anyone else remember the Saskatoon Blues...?  St Louis just about lost its team to Canada back in the day...

May not have got the Blues but they got a damn nice arena out of the gamble.

1 hour ago, iHeart said:

they would have ended up in the central division as well wouldn't they?

Smythe Division.

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

There has always been that thought of whether Saskatchewan could support an NHL franchise.  Im sure the fans there would be interested but do they have the corporate support as owners as well as sponsors.  And isnt SK shared among the Alberta teams and Jets for broadcast territory?  They'd have to be willing to go along with it too.

Saskatoon is a great city and it would be cool to see.  But as long as Quebec doesnt have a team, Sk is a non-starter.

Well EDM, CAL & WPG all sell out so im not sure if they can say we're drawing fan support from them.

They'd probably do better supporting a CFL team then TO :)

 

Jimmy Pop Rookie

Jimmy Pop

Posted
Posted

Quebec City I feel for.  No city "deserves" the NHL, because that's a silly idea to begin with, but their fans deserve a big league team no question.  They check off Bettman's 3 keys registered trademark; arena, fans, ownership.  Unfortunately for them, Winnipeg got a team first.   What's going to change in the not-so-distant future to change their outlook?  Beats me.  And before people say the Coyotes..... if Bettman wanted to move that franchise north it would have been done already.   To me, the Coyotes move to downtown Scottsdale or Houston, or live in purgatory in Glendale. 

 

blue_gold_84 Grand Master

blue_gold_84

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Jimmy Pop said:

Quebec City I feel for.  No city "deserves" the NHL, because that's a silly idea to begin with, but their fans deserve a big league team no question.  They check off Bettman's 3 keys registered trademark; arena, fans, ownership.  Unfortunately for them, Winnipeg got a team first.   What's going to change in the not-so-distant future to change their outlook?  Beats me.  And before people say the Coyotes..... if Bettman wanted to move that franchise north it would have been done already.   To me, the Coyotes move to downtown Scottsdale or Houston, or live in purgatory in Glendale. 

 

You forgot one: money. The ownership group can't afford expansion, which leaves them waiting for a team to relocate. It's no different than what TNSE did: built the arena and be patient.

As for Mosaic 2.0 hosting an outdoor NHL game, the only way I see that working is if it's highly incentivized for whatever team decides to give up a home game.

Floyd Collaborator

Floyd

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, iHeart said:

Saskatoon with an NHL team isn't that place smaller than Winnipeg?

The NHL actually paid a lot of money to keep hockey out of Saskatchewan...  they've been shafting Canada for a long time

blue_gold_84 Grand Master

blue_gold_84

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Floyd said:

The NHL actually paid a lot of money to keep hockey out of Saskatchewan...  they've been shafting Canada for a long time

What money did the league pay to do that? IIRC, then NHL President John Ziegler said the BoG voted and the league took control of the St. Louis Blues franchise from Ralston Purina Co. in the hopes of finding an owner who wouldn't just relocate the franchise. Back then as it is now, relocating a franchise is a last resort once all other avenues have been exhausted.

And FWIW, had Saskatoon been awarded a relocation team, it wouldn't have survived the 90s and would've suffered the same fate as the Nordiques and the Jets 1.0 did. And it would be one more round in the "NHL hates Canada" barrel.

JCon Grand Master

JCon

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, blue_gold_84 said:

What money did the league pay to do that? IIRC, then NHL President John Ziegler said the BoG voted and the league took control of the St. Louis Blues franchise from Ralston Purina Co. in the hopes of finding an owner who wouldn't just relocate the franchise. Back then as it is now, relocating a franchise is a last resort once all other avenues have been exhausted.

And FWIW, had Saskatoon been awarded a relocation team, it wouldn't have survived the 90s and would've suffered the same fate as the Nordiques and the Jets 1.0 did. And it would be one more round in the "NHL hates Canada" barrel.

It wouldn't survive now, never mind the 90's. The idea that anyone is keeping the NHL out of Saskatchewan is laughable.

blue_gold_84 Grand Master

blue_gold_84

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, JCon said:

It wouldn't survive now, never mind the 90's. The idea that anyone is keeping the NHL out of Saskatchewan is laughable.

I believe that was one of the league's concerns back then: viability long-term in Saskatoon. That was why the BoG back then voted 15-3 in favour of not relocating the Blues.

I can't say I've ever understood the notion of some anti-Canada agenda by the NHL.

Floyd Collaborator

Floyd

Posted
Posted

There was a massive lawsuit that the NHL settles out of court plus they gave a better deal to the new Blues owner - so yes they paid to keep NHL out of Canada 

Atomic Experienced

Atomic

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Interesting, by these results, Crosby is exceptionally respected by the players.

Is that surprising?  He's been the best player in the league for over a decade now.

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