How much trouble are the Coyotes in?

[pjgj13 30]

This has been discussed multiple times. Columbus is further east than Detroit, so if anyone moved it would be them.

Plus, the Wings are the jewel of the Western Conference. There's no way a move to the East would ever be approved by the Western teams. They all jack up the prices for Wings games, due to the Wings support, and would lose a ton of money.

If the Wings were in the east, they would own the conference!!

Just an idea. They should remove both Phoenix and Atlanta from the league. I know that the Nhl wants to expand to the American market, but its obviously not working. Atlanta is a transient city and Phoenix is not a hockey market, bottom line. By removing these teams that would make the league 28 teams. I say you remove the whole divisional system and make it two 14 team conferences. Each team plays everyone in their conference 4 times and each team in the opposite conference 2 times. This would make the season 78 games long instead of 82, allowing for the season to end a week or two earlier, as we all know how stupid it is that the season goes into June. My theory behind this is this. I know everyone is beginning to like some of the division rivalries, which the NHL is pushing, but there are too many division with unintriguing games, example, Toronto VS. Florida. Nobody cares. people can watch 5 of the 6 divisional games at home instead of going to the games. By making the amount of games even for each team in each conference and cross conference games, the league with not have any growning about teams not getting the high profile teams into town as much as other organizations. Moving forward, eliminating the divisions would mean seeding wopuld be different. They could seed the teams 1-8 in each conference. Since each team plays everybody the same amount of times, you dont get complaining that certain divisions are weaker than others. It just makes too much sense.

I say keep the divisions intact but do away with "automatic top 3 seed" for winning the division. In recent years, the winner of the SE division would BARELY make the playoffs (if at all) if it wasn't for this seeding. I have said numerous times, seed all teams in the playoffs 1-16 with no bearing on conference.

[LeftWinger 5,152]

If the Wings were in the east, they would own the conference!!

I say keep the divisions intact but do away with "automatic top 3 seed" for winning the division. In recent years, the winner of the SE division would BARELY make the playoffs (if at all) if it wasn't for this seeding. I have said numerous times, seed all teams in the playoffs 1-16 with no bearing on conference.

...I doubt it, Boston would have something to say about that. But MAN! Could imagine a Division with Detroit, Toronto, Boston & Montreal in it? Sure, Buffalo or Ottawa wold have to move, probably Buffalo to establish an interstate Rivalry with the Isles...

...could you imagine the Hockey Nirvana fans would be in with the rivalies going on in that division? Oh, dandy, what a barnburner! Get it done Bettman! Move Columbus to Victoria (re-establish the Cougars) and then move Philly into the Southeast (heck if the Caps are there, so can the Flyers) and move Buffalo in to the Atlantic...

[evilmrt 636]

As an Arizona resident, I'm going to have to say that I agree that the Yotes are doomed. Everyone here is talking about what city draws this many tickets, etc etc....I think you guys are missing the money picture. This franchise is in major debt, and the only reason they're still running is because of the revenue sharing that goes on in the league. 10 years in the desert should be enough time to foster a hockey culture....but its not happening.

It seems like the only games people go to in Phoenix are when the Wings are in town, and even then you get heckled by the staff at the arena. Even Wayne always has something to say about the Wings fans that show up at games at Jobing.com Arena, and its never positive. So, they turned away the little amount of hockey fans that they did have.

The article from the first post made a good point about going back to Winnipeg: they have a VERY high amount of hockey fans per capita. Overall numbers, to be honest, don't mean a damn thing if the people there are generally uninterested in hockey. So, instead of looking at raw numbers, we should be looking at the total number of hockey fans, and the number of potential fans as well (but be reasonable).

People keep dropping cities for the Coyotes to move to...Winnipeg, Vegas, Seattle or Portland, Kansas City, Hamilton. Of these, it seems like Hamilton would be the strongest choice, but the League needs to prove to the Leafs (if they want to save the franchise) that the numbers are solid enough that it will not have an impact on business. I think it could certainly be done.

One city that I HAVEN'T seen suggested is Milwaukee. It seems more viable than ANOTHER team in Missouri, Las Vegas (why would you even try that when Phoenix didn't work??), or going back to Winnipeg after they couldn't keep the team the first time. Whats wrong with Milwaukee? Wisconsin has a great hockey culture.

[Guest Four]

If Gretzky wasn't Phoenix's coach, they'd be one of my more favored teams.

[vangvace 12]

They could also move them to Kansas City, a site that has a new multi-use multi million dollar facility. Plus they made a push for the Pens, they also would provide a great natural rivalry with St. Louis. It would also keep the divisional alignment as well.

Sprint Center (Kansas City)

http://www.sprintcenter.com/

They're hot on the Islanders right now.

that was before they sucked balls for many consecutive years. i live in arizona and i can tell you that there isnt much buzz for hockey here. up until this year, the stadium would rely probably about 70% on the other teams fanbase to sell tickets- ask anyone whos been to a few different teams game.

Sounds like New Jersey

I'm not a fan of contraction or moving a team. The yotes finally look like they're heading in the right direction. A problem as I see it for all of the smaller market teams is the ticket cost. How can you expect to grow a fanbase when ticket prices are high even when the economy is good? The worst part is that the league has got itself into a vicious circle. Revenue is up so let's raise ticket prices, to raise revenue some more, to raise ticket prices some more, and so on.

[DesertWing 11]

...Move Phoenix back to Winnipeg, they deserve it and MAN would that arena be sold out FOREVER! Minnesota and Atlanta, for the life of me I cannot understand WHY a city cannot support a team, they lose it, so lets give them ANOTHER one!

So first you suggest that the Coyotes move back to Winnipeg. Then you say you cannot understand why a city that can't support a team and loses it would be given another one.

A bit of a contradiction in your thinking, ain't it? :looney: