Around the League Thread | Pre-Season Approaches

[StreetHawk]

Looks like expansion is going to be on the horizon. NHL must have done the leg work with the parties in ATL and HOU (Fertittia, unless there's another group looking to do what the 2 ATL groups are doing and building a new arena outside the county where the NBA team is located) to be bringing that up with the BOG.

So, earliest, would be 26/27 season if an expansion team awarded to HOU sometime during the 24/25 season (2026 draft).

So, every team should be on notice to prepare for a potential ED for 2026 or 2027 (unless both locations are building new arenas and the HOU one won't temporarily play in the Toyota Center).

 

[JT Milker]

How did I miss that the leafs signed OEL to a 4 year contract??

 

[Vector]

“All I can say at this time is everyone knows why I couldn’t be there. I am waiting calmly for things to be sorted out.”

 

[StreetHawk]

“All I can say at this time is everyone knows why I couldn’t be there. I am waiting calmly for things to be sorted out.”

Just weird. Agent should be the conduit between player and team. You know that Lehner needs to do a physical, same as last season. So, given what he's dealing with, you need to make sure he's ready for it (contact him in early Sept) and if not communicate that to LV and PA if needed to get their support.

 

[sting101]

F expansion. Just how watered down and how many years do you want teams to never get star players for? Not just that Atlanta are you kidding me? They had enough cracks at it. About as thrilling as forcing hockey into Arizona all these years when you got markets that would lap it up.

8 x 4 works. Its balanced and even the other major sports aren't even at 32 yet outside of football. NBA 30 MLB 30.

Bettman needs to stop being so greedy short term on behalf of these billionaire owners. How about expand to the Olympics to grow the game internationally and get a handle on the season start times to be able to take advantage of growing the World Championships talent pool? Instead he just acts like a whiny little bitch when he doesn't get his cut for the owners. How about think a little longer term and about player legacy's you clown. How upset are the stars of today that havent had best on best and chances to represent their countries proper.

I was of the thought that the Yotes would have made the most sense going to Houston by geography rivalry and fiscally but Utah is a fast growing populous and has lots of corporate money so it's not terrible and should be good for a city that has the demographics and winter sport history to embrace it. No doubt they inherited a lot of good young players and will be in the playoff mix this year. That's an exciting and refreshing start and Seattle is a good choice too. How about let it perk for awhile

But Money hands just cant stay off the crack......gross

 

[StreetHawk]

Sting101, I agree. Looking back at the nhl expansion from 21 to 32 teams the early expansion was really about which cities/applicants could or would pay the expansion fee. SJ was the settlement for Minny, but in other leagues NorCal team is a big revenue generator. Doesn’t seem that way for the nhl.

Did the nhl make the right choices for their cities? Probably not. But money back then wasn’t like money today. And they took the ones who were going to pay vs being more strategic with their locations.

NHL stayed away from nba cities. But now, those are the only places left and the nhl eyes big expansion fees and thoughts of those markets helping with rights fees. TB recently sold at a valuation of $2 bill and Atl and Hou are larger markets which I would bet is roughly the number the nhl targets as the expansion fee.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I’m torn on expansion. I think the NHL finally figured out with Vegas and Seattle that setting up a team to be competitive right away was the magic elixir to help an expansion franchise be successful. Their plan for years of “lol give us money for a team, build your own arena, and we’ll give you a team of scrubs and watch you suck for a decade” was clearly not a successful one, and it’s a combination of luck and smart drafting / trading (which not every franchise is blessed with) that sorted out which teams got to stay and which ones didn’t.

I think there are still places that can work - but the NHL was pretty methodical with Vegas and Seattle. They should be so when considering new places.

I also think at some point, if the league continues to grow, you need to adjust the qualifying line for the playoffs. When there was 21 teams, 16 teams made it. Now we are at 32 and we still have 16 teams in - half the league doesn’t hit the playoffs. I think it’s on the edge of fine right now, but if we are adding more, it should probably go up to 18-20.

 

[Three On Zero]

I’m torn on expansion. I think the NHL finally figured out with Vegas and Seattle that setting up a team to be competitive right away was the magic elixir to help an expansion franchise be successful. Their plan for years of “lol give us money for a team, build your own arena, and we’ll give you a team of scrubs and watch you suck for a decade” was clearly not a successful one, and it’s a combination of luck and smart drafting / trading (which not every franchise is blessed with) that sorted out which teams got to stay and which ones didn’t.

I think there are still places that can work - but the NHL was pretty methodical with Vegas and Seattle. They should be so when considering new places.

I also think at some point, if the league continues to grow, you need to adjust the qualifying line for the playoffs. When there was 21 teams, 16 teams made it. Now we are at 32 and we still have 16 teams in - half the league doesn’t hit the playoffs. I think it’s on the edge of fine right now, but if we are adding more, it should probably go up to 18-20.

I may be in the minority but I liked the “play in” rounds, I wouldn’t mind 20 teams and adding a few play in rounds. Top 3 in each division get a bye while the play in and wild cards play a shorter series

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Only 10 more years until the Fanatics partnership is over and I can buy a jersey again.