NHL 2022-2023: FA July 13th - LET IT BEGIN

[KevShmev]

That's the NHL playing the long game.  That's why the only game on Sunday was at 10 pm EST,  that way almost no one was watching when the rigging was executed.

[Snow Dog]

The team isn't going to move to the East if that happens.  Teams like Red Wings and Blue Jackets have no intentions of wanting to go back to the Central since both teams are on EST.  The team may move to somewhere like Houston, or Salt Lake City, etc. and keep the team in the West due to conference alignments.

I'm not so sure about that. I think the league would consider stable ownership and a viable market ahead of conference alignment. Houston could make sense if the fans show up, but I can't see Salt Lake City getting a team. Nothing about Utah suggests there's an interest in hockey.

I keep seeing SLC as a suggestion for the Coyotes to relocate, but in a way, based on past experience, I'm with you.  I grew up in the SLC area and it was primarily a basketball city since the Jazz were the only major sport in town.  There's been a couple of minor league teams that have come through dating as far back as the 70s (the Salt Lake Golden Eagles were just a step below the NHL, and the Utah Grizzlies were as well until the owners downgraded them to the next league below), but incompetent ownership for both have hampered their popularity and exposure.  In the 2000s, there was what seemed to be a growth in the sport thanks to the Olympics in 2002 and more ice hockey facilities were built, but I haven't lived there for 15 years and can't speak to how it's progressed (or regressed) since then.

Another big question mark would be an area for them.  The Maverik Center (which hosted the Olympic hockey games) is great for hockey and there's not a bad seat in the house.  But it only holds 12,000 people.  By comparison, Winnipeg's arena is the smallest in the league currently and holds just over 15,000.  There's also the Vivint Arena where the Jazz play, but that building is absolutely abysmal for hockey.  A good portion of the seats have at least some form of sight line obstructions, the worst offenders being the cheap seats upper level where in places the closest 2/3 of the attacking/defending zone is blocked by concrete wall and can't see any action at the net.  It's purely a basketball arena, and hockey did not do well there.

The SLC locals who love hockey are rabid about it and would love to support a team, but my experience was that they were few and far between.  I'm not sure that there would be much interest among the casual watcher.  If their prices to attend were right and they had a good product to watch, they could gain some traction.  But where the Coyotes have long been a mess, I don't see that happening much.  They'd probably get some interest initially where it'd be the new show in town, but unless they deliver, and deliver fast, I'd expect that to fall precipitously off the nearest cliff.

[jammindude]

Is anyone even considering Portland? It would keep the team in the west and make a great west coast rivalry.  It’s a great sports town

[TheCountOfNYC]

Houston would also keep a team in the West. The league wouldn’t even have to realign divisions as a move from Arizona to Houston would keep the team in the Central division.

[Anguyen92]

Well, as fascinating as the Coyotes saga has been, another saga going on has been whose the new owners for the Ottawa Senators.  There's some interesting groups that wants it.  There is the Neko Sparks group (that Snoop Dogg and First Nation representatives are a part of).  The question with that group is that people are having concerns if Neko Sparks is a credible guy or not and if there may be way too many cooks in the kitchen in that group.  There's also a group that involves The Weeknd as a minority owner and groups involves a couple of local people.  Ryan Reynolds may not be part of an ownership group that owns the Sens since the group he was a part of, Remington, pulled out of wanting to place a bid due to wanting exclusivity on property stuff that the banks and league did not want to give.

Going to be interesting to see how this goes.  The sale will go for around $900 million to $1 billion dollars.

[jammindude]

Houston would also keep a team in the West. The league wouldn’t even have to realign divisions as a move from Arizona to Houston would keep the team in the Central division.

I get that Houston would technically keep a team in the west, but Houston is only west to you East Coast people. We are from the REAL West.

I just think there’s enough hockey fans in the Pacific Northwest that we could do with the Portland rivalry. And another team on the I-5 Corridor might be kind of cool.

EDIT - let’s put it this way. IMO “west” should be confined to Pacific and Mountain time zones. Central and Eastern times can be “East”

[jingle.boy]

… and with the Coyotes currently in the Central, the ideal scenario would be to have a new location in the Central or Mountain time zone. If you want a “west” Conference the way you describe it, there’d only be 9 teams. 

[TAC]

Bring back the Kansas City Scouts!!!

[Nick]

That's the NHL playing the long game.  That's why the only game on Sunday was at 10 pm EST,  that way almost no one was watching when the rigging was executed.

Sunday morning I checked to see what time the game was going to be on and... JFC, sometimes I wonder how they make these decisions. That was so dumb.

[KevShmev]

That's the NHL playing the long game.  That's why the only game on Sunday was at 10 pm EST,  that way almost no one was watching when the rigging was executed.

Sunday morning I checked to see what time the game was going to be on and... JFC, sometimes I wonder how they make these decisions. That was so dumb.

From what I understand, the NHL asked ESPN to move the game to 7 pm on ESPN2 or move the Red Sox/Cardinals game to ESPN2 so their game could be on ESPN, and ESPN wouldn't budge. Big shock.  This is what happens when the NHL gets back in bed with a network that doesn't give a crap about hockey.

[pg1067]

Is anyone even considering Portland? It would keep the team in the west and make a great west coast rivalry.  It’s a great sports town

Houston would also keep a team in the West. The league wouldn’t even have to realign divisions as a move from Arizona to Houston would keep the team in the Central division.

I get that Houston would technically keep a team in the west, but Houston is only west to you East Coast people. We are from the REAL West.

I just think there’s enough hockey fans in the Pacific Northwest that we could do with the Portland rivalry. And another team on the I-5 Corridor might be kind of cool.

EDIT - let’s put it this way. IMO “west” should be confined to Pacific and Mountain time zones. Central and Eastern times can be “East”

I can't speak intelligently about Portland as a sports town, but aren't the Blazers the only game in town (along with the Single-A Hillsboro Hops, I guess)?  It's certainly got the population to support a team, but is there any interest?

As the NHL as it currently exists, 16 of its teams are in the eastern time zone, with the other 16 spread across the central, mountain and Pacific time zones.  If you want to limit the Western Conference to the Pacific and mountain time zones, then you'll have 22 teams in the Eastern Conference and only 10 in the Western Conference.

The biggest cities in the Pacific time zone that don't have teams are San Francisco, Long Beach, San Diego, Portland and Sacramento/Fresno.  San Francisco and Long Beach are pretty well covered by the Sharks, Kings and Ducks (although it's possible that the Bay area could support a second team).  In the mountain time zone, you've got El Paso, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs/Aurora and a few Arizona cities (mostly suburbs of Phoenix).  SLC doesn't make the list on its own, but the metro area is probably big enough.  I suppose it's possible that the Denver metro area could support a second team (reincarnation of the Colorado Rockies?).

In short, there simply aren't many decent options for those time zones.  I know it'll never happen (especially since the league added two teams in the last 10 years), but contraction would be a better option.

[jammindude]

I guess limiting it to those two time zones is unreasonable. But I would still like to see West teams be as West as possible.

Portland has a lot of support for the WHL Blackhawks…so there are hockey supporters.

The other weird idea I had that probably wouldn’t be a popular one is another Canadian team. I would like to see an NHL team in Kamloops. But that’s an idea that would probably crash and burn which is why I’m not in charge. It’s just another area that is not very big, but loves their hockey.

[SchecterShredder]

Kamloops isn't even close to big enough to support a pro team lol. The only "larger" markets in Canada without teams are Quebec City and Regina. You'd fare better with a 2nd team in the greater Toronto area than you would adding a team in BC someplace.

I'm not sure a city like Portland could support an NBA and NHL team. The seasons overlap so much that it's hard to fill the arena every night when you're relying on fans of one sport to show up to support the other sport, too. The cities with multiple pro teams typically have huge populations. I think they'd add another California team in the San Diego or Oakland area before going to the pacific northwest.

I read an article yesterday suggesting they go back to Atlanta. For all of the NHL administration's faults, of which there are many, I sure hope they have the good sense to ignore nonsense like "let's put a team back in Atlanta".

[pg1067]

Currently, the 16 westernmost teams are in the Western Conference.

Another Canadian team would be fine.  The Kamloops metro area has a population just under 115,000, so that's probably not viable.  Saskatoon or Regina would be a better option, but I think there are even fewer viable markets in western Canada than in the U.S. (of course, I defer to our Canadian compatriots in that regard).  Of course, the question for any potential market is whether there's a viable ownership group and either an existing NHL-quality arena or the ability to get one built.  Portland is certainly logical in terms of market size, but who knows if those things exist.

I read an article yesterday suggesting they go back to Atlanta. For all of the NHL administration's faults, of which there are many, I sure hope they have the good sense to ignore nonsense like "let's put a team back in Atlanta".

LOL!  Third time's a charm?

[TheCountOfNYC]

In defense of the Thrashers, their arena owners basically kicked them out when they saw that concert revenue was more profitable and decided they wanted to open up more available dates to book shows. Plus how hilarious would it be if Winnipeg and Atlanta basically swapped franchises?

[Anguyen92]

This Hurricanes/Panthers game doesn't want to end.  We are going to 4OT.  We have went a full game length without someone scoring.

[gmillerdrake]

This Hurricanes/Panthers game doesn't want to end.  We are going to 4OT.  We have went a full game length without someone scoring.

This is crazy. These guys are gassed.

[gmillerdrake]

Heck of a game. Florida had a lot more quality chances in that last OT. Not surprised they won it. Nice shot by Tkchuck also.

[DragonAttack]

Tkachuk with the game winner with 12 seconds left in the 4th OT at 155 AM EST….sixth longest game. Insomnia has weird rewards at times…

[Anguyen92]

Bobrovsky with 63 saves this game.

He's quite a hot and cold goalie, but if there's any time for him to be red hot and play like a $10M AAV goalie, now is the time.  He is right now, the number one cop in town.

SERGEI BOBROVSKY! #1 COP IN TOWN!

[jingle.boy]

I'm amazed I made it to the final goal, but I dozed off for a good chunk of 3OT.  I didn't even watch much of the regular time, but when I saw it was heading in to OT, I settled in.  Lots of great chances on both ends - both Freddie and Bobs were fantastic.  It took a perfect shot to win it.

[Nick]

I missed the second period and 1st OT, but otherwise watched till the end. Happy that someone mercifully ended it before intermission.

[Stadler]

We're not talking enough about Paul Maurice, in my opinion. 

[jingle.boy]

We're not talking enough about Paul Maurice, in my opinion.

He's doing a good job the last month, for sure.  But Florida is only in the playoffs because Pitt couldn't get a couple of points out of two games vs Chicago.  Additionally, if Buffalo wins their last 1:1 matchup against Florida at the end of March, they're in.  The Panthers had a lot of good fortune roll their way over the last 3 weeks of the season. 

And If he was such a great coach, how did his teams in Winnipeg routinely shit the bed?

Despite Gary's hate for him (and I generally don't care for him), Pete DeBoer deserves some recognition too.  He's undefeated as a head coach in Game 7s, and has reached the conference finals 5 of the last 8 years with three different teams.  Like him or not, that's pretty impressive.

[Stadler]

We're not talking enough about Paul Maurice, in my opinion.

He's doing a good job the last month, for sure.  But Florida is only in the playoffs because Pitt couldn't get a couple of points out of two games vs Chicago.  Additionally, if Buffalo wins their last 1:1 matchup against Florida at the end of March, they're in.  The Panthers had a lot of good fortune roll their way over the last 3 weeks of the season. 

And If he was such a great coach, how did his teams in Winnipeg routinely shit the bed?

Despite Gary's hate for him (and I generally don't care for him), Pete DeBoer deserves some recognition too.  He's undefeated as a head coach in Game 7s, and has reached the conference finals 5 of the last 8 years with three different teams.  Like him or not, that's pretty impressive.

I can't speak to Winnipeg.  I know him from Hartford and Carolina.  And he made a lot out of.... not a lot in those stints.

As for the rest, how Florida made the playoffs is immaterial; they made it. If Buffalo did this or did that is irrelevant, because they DIDN'T.   I know he made some comments at the start of the Boston series about taking it to the B's, and my stepson and I laughed about it (stay in your lane, Paul!) but sunovabitch if his team didn't ACTUALLY take it to the B's.  Gudas in particular has played like a behemoth in the playoffs.  I think that's in part on Paul.

[gmillerdrake]

We're not talking enough about Paul Maurice, in my opinion.

He's doing a good job the last month, for sure.  But Florida is only in the playoffs because Pitt couldn't get a couple of points out of two games vs Chicago.  Additionally, if Buffalo wins their last 1:1 matchup against Florida at the end of March, they're in.  The Panthers had a lot of good fortune roll their way over the last 3 weeks of the season. 

And If he was such a great coach, how did his teams in Winnipeg routinely shit the bed?

Despite Gary's hate for him (and I generally don't care for him), Pete DeBoer deserves some recognition too.  He's undefeated as a head coach in Game 7s, and has reached the conference finals 5 of the last 8 years with three different teams.  Like him or not, that's pretty impressive.

Yeah....my distain for him is just a competitive distain. I'm sure the dude is a good guy, and he is a good coach and he's done a good job in Dallas. Like I said, my dislike for the guy came from the way he behaved in the pressers when the Blues played them in 2019 when we beat the crap out of their team every game that series. Him smirking and being cocky about the 'hand pass' goal was the starting point of me detesting him....but it was fun to watch him whine about being beat up every game.



Florida is just hot at the right time and playing well as a team. Belief and determination to lay it all out there for one another is just as important as skill at this point, probably more important. Just ask McDavid and the Oilers. Prime example of an organization that hasn't figured out it takes a TEAM to win the Cup.....not flashy plays and a couple players with good stats.

Even last night....for most of the OT's Tkchuck got beat up pretty good with some nice checks because he was just making the 'smart' plays and sticking to their team game.....then....boom....right place, right time and a heck of a snipe.

[Anguyen92]

So, Jingle.  Dubas is out as Leafs GM.  I'm getting the feeling that there's a "Sky is falling," vibe going on with the Leafs (although that feeling can come at any moment with that team).  Is that the case right now or is it an over exaggeration when it comes to where this team is going heading into 23-24 season?

[gmillerdrake]

So, Jingle.  Dubas is out as Leafs GM.  I'm getting the feeling that there's a "Sky is falling," vibe going on with the Leafs (although that feeling can come at any moment with that team).  Is that the case right now or is it an over exaggeration when it comes to where this team is going heading into 23-24 season?

The one person who did his job is fired. I get it but he assembled a team that ‘should’ still be playing hockey.

[jingle.boy]

Shanahan’s presser was really flicking weird. Hard to go in to it all, but I’m not sure it’s a ‘sky is falling’, so much as SOMETHING has to change. The Board of MLSE wasn’t getting rid of Shanahan, so for some bizarre reason, Shanny made the decision to not renew Dubas (even though as recently as Monday, he was ready and willing to). For some reason, he changed his mind during the week, and there’s gonna be a lot of falling dominoes now. Apparently Spezza resigned.

Hot take: I’ll bet that Matthews is traded before his NMC kicks in on July 1st. Though personally, I think moving Nylander is the better move.

[TAC]

Hot take: I’ll bet that Matthews is traded before his NMC kicks in on July 1st. Though personally, I think moving Nylander is the better move.

Moving either would be fucking crazy. If they have to move someone, I'd move Tavares.

[jingle.boy]

He’s got a full NMC, and 3 young kids growing up in his home town. A) no way he’d waive it; B) what team wants his $11M AAV given his production?  The team would have to retain somewhere between 25% and 50%; C) he won’t waive his NMC.

I never did like that contract, and the team is stuck with it for 2 more years.

[TAC]

He’s got a full NMC, and 3 young kids growing up in his home town. A) no way he’d waive it; B) what team wants his $11M AAV given his production?  The team would have to retain somewhere between 25% and 50%; C) he won’t waive his NMC.

I never did like that contract, and the team is stuck with it for 2 more years.

I figured all that. To me, Nylander gives them a whole 'nuther dimension. I feel like he's a sneaky difference maker. The only person I'm trading Matthews for is McDavid, and even then, I'd have to think about it.

[jingle.boy]

Problem is, if there isn’t a STRONG sense that they can extend him come July 1st (and now they don’t have the guy that could easily re-sign him) how do you let him potentially walk for nothing next summer?

Nylander is an FA next season. He had a great season - his stock has never been higher. He’s gonna cost in the $9M range to extend. Or, you move him now and get maximum value for him. Marner is still under contract for 2 years, and a way better and more important player. Plus, when the team needs to re-sign Marner, Tavares’ contract is up, and I’d guess you get a 34 year old Tavares at 1/2 the price he’s signed for now. A lot of that savings goes to Marner.

I really don’t know what possible trade exists involving Matthews that the Leafs could break even, let alone ‘win’. But I also wouldn’t want to see him walk for nothing in return.

[TAC]

That all makes sense. I wasn't aware of all of the contract implications. I didn't realize there was a decision to make on Matthews. I have a hard time imagining him wanting to play anywhere else. I'd assume he's taking some heat from the media?

[jingle.boy]

With an unknown situation at GM, who knows what the players are thinking …. Or Keefe for that matter. There’s a lot of question marks that are going to pop up given it was NOT Dubas that made the decision to not return. Shanny ostensibly fired him - Shanahan freely admitted in his presser that Dubas said he wanted to come back as of yesterday.