Currently in that 6.8M$ renovation plan for Colisée Pepsi the talk is the boards needs to be changed (have been asked by the QJMHL Remparts) and will be done to an NHL standard.
They also need to improve/modify the ice condition. One of the posibilities is to redo the cement base while replacing the old freezing system. Another proposition is to do so by changing the air climate system which is frankly outdated.
In my honest opinion, it would require both as far as ice quality is concerned.
I know they changed the main part of seatins a few years ago when the World Hockey Championship was held in Quebec and Halifax but they would also need to replace the other part of seats which are still the old wooden seats.
Since money is a big part of this project, some newspapers are suggesting that the boards and seats could be reused in the new arena to cover some expenses.
As for the pressbox, I honestly can't say how much is it used. Right now only 4 medias I know use it, which is Quebec800AM sports radio and Telus for their video/internet games for the TV/radio part and both local journals (Le Soleil and Journal de Québec) have one journalist covering the junior league games. The pressbox is also on both sides of the ice, which I guess is the case everywhere else, but right now it is not being used at 100%.
Another thing is the benches, right now they are facing eachother in a diagonal way rather than being on one side with a middle section. Referees and penalty boxes are on home side. As far as I know this is not the NHL standard but I don't know if it could be used as it is until the new arena is built. This could require some more cash spent if it was needed to be done.
As for other installations, right now, with roughly 4-5 games left till playoffs in the Q, last 3 games i've attented were at 14k+ attendance which is 90%+ of the Colisée capacity and services are OK. There are restaurants that aren't open but I guess they would be if the NHL was in the building with minor renovations.
This is a pretty good in-depth article about the amount of work needed to get MTSC up to NHL standards.
http://jets.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=613230
I guess, that NHL would/should be somewhat less demanding for the Old Colisée on some of the stuff. I mean in Winnipeg's case, the team is in the MTS for 10-15+ years. In Colisée they would be only for at most 3 seasons while the new building is up and running. I know people in Winnipeg are complaining a lot about restrooms and I see that as a problem in Quebec, but on a personal note, I would be so thrilled to have the team back in first place, that stuff like that which can be improved during another summer can wait.
From what I saw in Winnipeg pictures, their pressbox does not seem ''suspended'' over the ice. While in Quebec, the pressbox is mainly a steelframe suspended over the the ice. When your are seated in the highest seats, you clearly see the back of it and even people walking on it. I don't know how much of a technical difficulty that could make for adding another ''level'' to that.
When I was speaking of seats, in this 2007 picture, the blue and red seats have been replaced by new blue seats (a tad bit darker than the old ones) but the white one's all the way up are made of wood.
The scoreboard has been changed as well and has a hexagonal design with main screens being on 4 sides.
