There's a potpourri of hockey topics today:
- Yashin's off the Island: Naturally, all anyone can talk about on Chuck Swirsky's show on The Fan 590 is whether or not the Leafs should sign the one-time Ottawa pariah, now that Alexei Yashin (pictured) been bought out by the Islanders.
- Mirtle has a good thread going on this talk about Jerry Bruckheimer pursuing an expansion team in Las Vegas. Hey, Bruckheimer could give the NHL a lot of advice on how to get people to watch an overpriced, mediocre product.
If expansion to 32 teams is go, how long until the NHL adds a fifth round to the playoffs? We'd like to believe they would shave a few games off the regular season to work in a best-of-five first round between the bottom seeds in each conference while the top teams get a bye, but we know the NHL all too well. - Our initial gut feeling was the Leafs do not have the same kind of political pull to block Jim Balsillie from installing the Predators in Southern Ontario that they did when they kept a team out of Hamilton in 1990 (with the Sabres' help). Now the National Post's Teresa Tedesco is reporting that the league's relocation policies are apparently being scrutinized by the Canadian Competition Bureau. (Link via Mirtle.)
- Oh, and for Barry Melrose, the reason there's no wing in the Hall of Fame for fighters is because Halls of Fame are not for specialists. That's why there are no punters or long snappers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and no "left-handed specialists" in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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2 comments:
That was a fascinating article in the Post this morning. Who knew about the League having to send a letter to the Competition Bureau last year in order to call off the dogs? I sure didn't. The article basically states that Balsillie only needs a simple majority on the Board to move, which is a tap in to an empty net when you consider the money he made for every owner by bidding $220 million for the Preds. Combine that with the fact that the Ontario Predators would probably pay into equalization rather than receive it, and the fact that the League's TV rights holders in Canada will be overjoyed, and it's hard to imagine why this move won't happen.
The momentum towards this move is now pretty much unstoppable. Can you imagine the Preds doing a lame duck year in Nashville for 07-08? I sure can't. Back up the moving trucks, as they are heading for Hamilton.
It certainly is a neat twist.... now if they eventually expand to 32 teams, wouldn't they have to expand to a 24-team playoff tournament? How about cutting the regular season to 72 games to clear the calendar for a best-of-5 first-round between the No. 5 through 12 seeds in each conference?
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