one step closer to a team in vegas

[WingMachine91 0]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2986775

looks like by 2010 the nhl will most likely be in vegas

[IceMunkee 15]

I for one am pretty excited about this. What better place to visit and catch a game! Also it opens the possibilty for Detroit to move East. I wonder what the team name would be? Will it be the director family that buys it? I am not super imposed to expanding, I would prefer to move teams instead of expanding.

[Opie 308]

In order for an expansion team to go to vegas wouldn't the league need atleast 2 if not 4 more teams.

That would thin the league way too much!!!!

Move a team like Pheonix, it would still be some what local and not completely change the set up.

Expansion is a bad idea.

[lfd250 1]

they can start any time, they already have the wranglers in ECHL.

[Cicada 4]

lets hope it's a relocation and not an expansion

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Has anybody here ever been to Vegas in May or June. The ice will probably melt right off. It'll make the ice in Dallas and Florida seem like playing in Edmonton.

[Kp-Wings 3]

Be it through relocation and not expansion, this would be a great move.

[Guest jaytan]

I've heard Rick Tocchet's already applied to be the coach.

[WingMachine91 0]

no matter what, wish all u want but there is no way that the wings will go east. they are too important to the western conference for them to move. it will be colombus that moves east. however, lets just get nashville to move to vegas. that will be so much easier and we wouldnt have to expand. but stop dreaming about the wings playing in the east, even though it would be great to have games against the rangers maple leafs habs penguings bruins caps flyers...f***, i want them to move to the east so bad. but it wont happen

Edited August 22, 2007 by WingMachine91

[TheBadOne 0]

If the NHL would rather put a team there as opposed to say Winnipeg, Seattle, or Portland, my head would likely explode.

[Guest DetroitIan]

Sounds good to me. But I would much rather see a team move to Vegas, instead of adding yet another team to the league. But I know Vegas will eat it up. There will be sooo many people betting on their games every night. And if they end up actually being good team, their popularity will explode in LV. I think its a good thing for hockey. But like I said, I would much rather have a weak franchise move. Cause IMO, the NHL has more than enough teams as it is.

[Jwo 7]

Has anybody here ever been to Vegas in May or June. The ice will probably melt right off. It'll make the ice in Dallas and Florida seem like playing in Edmonton.

If people can make a ski/snowboard resort in the desert of the middle east, I am sure they can make a ice hockey arena in Vegas.

Edited August 22, 2007 by Jwo

[Guest jaytan]

They already have. Vegas has had preseason games and minor league teams for years.

As far as the gambling, any pro team in Vegas would be off-limits for betting there.

Either way, though, I think it's a stupid idea. Of course, if they're going to build this arena, they'll be trying hard to get a pro team and we all know the NBA won't touch that city with a TFP these days.

[eva unit zero 271]

I for one am in favor of expansion by two teams, although I don't know if I would want Vegas to be one of the two. I would rank Vegas as the fourth option, after Portland/Seattle (only one would get a team due to proximity, likely Portland), Kansas City, and Houston.

Portland and Kansas City seem to make the most sense out of those cities. Expansion to those two could produce divisions like this

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

-Calgary, Edmonton, Portland, Vancouver

-Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose

-Colorado, Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis

-Chicago, Columbus, Minnesota, Nashville

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

-Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto

-Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

-Boston, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers

-Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay

EDIT: To swap in Vegas for Portland, rotate Colorado in place of Portland, Phoenix in place of Colorado, and Vegas in place of Phoenix. To swap Vegas for Kansas City, rotate Phoenix in place of Kansas City and Vegas in place of Phoenix. To swap Houston in for Portland, rotate Colorado for Portland, and replace Colorado with Houston. No other teams need to move to replace KC with Houston or to replace Portland with Seattle.

Edited August 23, 2007 by eva unit zero

[Ashenden 0]

I for one am in favor of expansion by two teams, although I don't know if I would want Vegas to be one of the two. I would rank Vegas as the fourth option, after Portland/Seattle (only one would get a team due to proximity, likely Portland), Kansas City, and Houston.

Portland and Kansas City seem to make the most sense out of those cities. Expansion to those two could produce divisions like this

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

-Calgary, Edmonton, Portland, Vancouver

-Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose

-Colorado, Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis

-Chicago, Columbus, Minnesota, Nashville

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

-Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto

-Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

-Boston, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers

-Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay

I wonder if people would still ***** if we had the "unbalanced schedule" with those teams in our division.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

i think its expansion....cuz theyre talking about seatle or portland and vegas

[Hank 0]

I think this could be good for the NHL but there could be a darkside.

Bob McGowen had a former 'wise-guy' gangster on his show (forgive me, I can't remember his name).

Anyway, this wise-guy said there should never be a pro sports team in Vegas because it's way too easy to get to these guys to fix games or shed point spreads.

He said how they did it back in the day was, if a guy had a vice like woman or gambling, they'd purposley get them over a barrel. If the guy was really into the ladies, but was married, they'd set him up with a girl and take photos of it. Next thing you know, they have the guy on the payroll. Or maybe the guy was really into gambling so they get him in deep and then say "No problem. We'll wax your debt, but you have to miss a few jump shots", or "Swallow the whistle in the last 5 minutes".

With the players living in Vegas he said it would only make it easier to get to some guys.

This gangster now works with pro teams and their players, counselling them so they know how to stay out of these tight spots. But there's always a few weak apples that can't resist certain temptations.

Who knows if this would happen to the NHL or if the mob would even care about the sport. But this guy seemed pretty adamant that no pro sports team, including the NHL, should have a team in Vegas.

It was an interesting interview nonetheless.

EDIT: I found his name - Michael Franzese. He wrote a book called Blood Covenant.

Edited August 23, 2007 by Hank

[Opie 308]

Man the gambling influence made it from NJ to PHO, and even though Tocchet wasn't throwing games he still got sucked into it. From a pretty large distance at that.

[Captain Zetterberg 0]

I can see it now....

THE LAS VEGAS DESERT RATS

I would personally like to see expansion, just to get a couple more teams in the mix, but it would really stretch the talent.

And for all of those people thinking the WINGS will go to the EAST, forget it. If this was to ever happen, the teams in the West division would never draw a crowd.

[Hank 0]

I can see it now....

THE LAS VEGAS DESERT RATS

I would personally like to see expansion, just to get a couple more teams in the mix, but it would really stretch the talent.

And for all of those people thinking the WINGS will go to the EAST, forget it. If this was to ever happen, the teams in the West division would never draw a crowd.

Truer words have never been spoken. Despite Illitch, Devellano and Holland all saying they're the first to move to the East, Bettman has all but said "no way". The Wings are far to valuable a draw in the West.

What they should do is move the Leafs and another Eastern team to the West to make some travel easier on the Wings.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

This had to happen. Vegas is growing like a weed. Hell, the school my ex-girlfriend went to went from being a community college to a straight up college in less than 3 years. Vegas has the money to pull it off, and players will probably be dying to play there, considering theres no income tax in Vegas.

[Guest Yzer19]

Why in Vegas? Why not in Wisconsin or some other northern place?

[auxlepli 17]

I think this could be good for the NHL but there could be a darkside.

Bob McGowen had a former 'wise-guy' gangster on his show (forgive me, I can't remember his name).

Anyway, this wise-guy said there should never be a pro sports team in Vegas because it's way too easy to get to these guys to fix games or shed point spreads.

He said how they did it back in the day was, if a guy had a vice like woman or gambling, they'd purposley get them over a barrel. If the guy was really into the ladies, but was married, they'd set him up with a girl and take photos of it. Next thing you know, they have the guy on the payroll. Or maybe the guy was really into gambling so they get him in deep and then say "No problem. We'll wax your debt, but you have to miss a few jump shots", or "Swallow the whistle in the last 5 minutes".

With the players living in Vegas he said it would only make it easier to get to some guys.

This gangster now works with pro teams and their players, counselling them so they know how to stay out of these tight spots. But there's always a few weak apples that can't resist certain temptations.

Who knows if this would happen to the NHL or if the mob would even care about the sport. But this guy seemed pretty adamant that no pro sports team, including the NHL, should have a team in Vegas.

It was an interesting interview nonetheless.

EDIT: I found his name - Michael Franzese. He wrote a book called Blood Covenant.

That seems like an easy fix though, take the Las Vegas team's games off the board.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Why in Vegas? Why not in Wisconsin or some other northern place?

Because Vegas can support it. The temperature doesnt reflect it, but Id say a good 50% of the population of Las Vegas are northern or cold-weather transplants. I used to go to Vegas about once a month, and every trip it never failed that Id see somebody wearing U of M apparel, not to mention countless license plates from states like Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Massachusetts, etc and Red Wings and Avalanche car stickers. There are obviously more and more generations of people who can say they were born in Vegas, but if you go there, I can guarantee half of the residents you talk to will be formerly from other states.

[Wing Nut 19 0]

The Veags CHIPS !

Umm.......... OK that just sucks!