Sens' owner convinced of European expansion

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3627230

I'm not familiar with the ins/outs of this, and I know hockey is an international game as well, but I'd initally think putting a focus on making the game more popular with people at HOME in U.S. Canada is more important than expanding the league in European countries. And travel costs would obviously be out the wazoo.

[jawbreaker 0]

Bad idea. Difference in time is too big. Travel. NHL should try to be more popular in USA, and Euros should develope KHL. But if you want to make hockey more popular then Canada - Russia Summit Series would be a great thing.

Latest Canada - Russia game (2008 finals) was one of the most exciting that I have seen in a long time. Now imagine Crosby, Iginla, Thorton vs Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk in a 4 - game series... sweeeet

[Reds4Life 51]

They should move bad US clubs (Nashville, Florida, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles) to Canada.

NHL clubs in Europe is very bad idea.

[DEVILSWATERBOY 10]

I tis probably a bad idea but if Bettman doent like it it would probably work

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Very interesting article. Perhaps this is a bit selfish on my part, but I don't want to see European expansion. I can understand how a global league would be attractive to all these countries that are losing their top players to the NHL, but at the same time if you want your best players to play at home you need to develop the game more and make it more attractive for players to stick around. Obviously, they do a hell of a job developing their talent, but now they need to work on their financing, marketing and other logistics of competing against the NHL. The KHL, while not as elite as the NHL does a very good job of paying its players lucrative amounts and has even started to win back some of its players.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to see the league start playing more and more games over in Europe, during times that aren't favorable for North America (which is where the league is headquartered to being with), and taking away more chances for Shelly and I to go see them play. If the NHL wants more of a worldwide presence, I'm not necessarily sure its in their best interest to play more games worldwide. The idea of a World Cup of hockey every 4 years (not being played in the same year as the Winter or Summer Olympics or the Soccer World Cup) is a great start as well as continuing to have Winter Olympics presence and the Summit Series.

[GoalieManPat 1,007]

There is no possible way to have a European division. There are just to many games in a short amount of time. The only way you could possibly do it is have the NHL champ and the European champ meet in a playoof. Even they how do you decide home/away. The away will be at a huge disadvantage due to travel. So much expansion is what hurt the league in the first place.

[VM1138 1,921]

This is terrible on so many levels. Travel. Time. Loss of best players. Decrease in talent pool. Influx of teams nobody cares about. Killing rivalries. Killing the sport in the US.

If this is an inevitability, we've got to pull out all the stops to develop amazing talent in North America or we're crap out of luck.

[Dabura 12,232]

It's a terrible idea. If the NHL should be courting anyone, it's Canadian markets.

[pavyaz19 1]

They should move bad US clubs (Nashville, Florida, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles) to Canada.

NHL clubs in Europe is very bad idea.

NOOOO! the Kings need to stay in LA so I can see the Wings here twice a year. you can move the rest to canada (back to canada) though.

[miller76 463]

Terrible plan. Just this week, the Rangers, Senators, Lightning, and Penguins have received nearly a week between next games due to the fairness in allowing these players to re-adjust to the time differences, jet lag and so on.

[Konnan511 1,736]

They should move bad US clubs (Nashville, Florida, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles) to Canada.

NHL clubs in Europe is very bad idea.

Give me 5 cities in Canada that could support a hockey franchise without infringing upon territorial rights of the other cities in canada. I think it's 100 milles or something like that, where you can't be within another NHL franchise, obviously the NY teams were grand fathered in.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I love the discussions about the World Cup, although it is secondary in importance to the Olympics. Still, it should happen every 4 years like it used to. It's basically more hockey in the offseason.

The European expansion is laughable. I've yet to hear anyone give a valid proposal of how the league would get around the travel and jet lag problems. The Ottawa owner has lost his mind.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Give me 5 cities in Canada that could support a hockey franchise without infringing upon territorial rights of the other cities in canada. I think it's 100 milles or something like that, where you can't be within another NHL franchise, obviously the NY teams were grand fathered in.

Territorial rights?

Don't the Rangers infringe upon the territorial rights of the Devils. How about the Pens and the Flyers? They're not that far apart from each other geographically either. If there are better cities where teams can be moved to, than I'm all for it, no matter where they're located.

Anything is better than trying to sell the game to some jackasses who think NASCAR is a more entertaining sport, or for that think that it's a sport at all.