Coming to Your Town: NHL Expansion

NHL expansion is imminent, for better or worse.  As much as all fans of any sport inherently recoil at the notion of expansion, I try to take solace in expansion as a sign that maybe one day ESPN will recognize hockey as an actual sport.  The deadline for the application was Monday and only two cities ponied up the $10 million for the initiation fees–ohhoho don’t you worry, that pretty penny is just the start of the pretty rigorous financial assessment that is to follow for fiscal viability!

To be fair, the last expansion in the NHL was fifteen years ago.  In fact, the last time Canada benefited from an expansion was 22 years ago (and no, the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg doesn’t count).  Don’t get me wrong, Gary Bettman’s money-grabbing, sponsor-pandering antics rival Roger Goodell’s and of certainly this expansion is financially motivated, but it has actually been a little while since there has been some growth in the NHL.  Even the AHL has been doing some repositioning to garner bigger market shares in the West.

Enough history.  On to the money shot.  And what two cities are exceedingly probable to be added to the already outstanding (minus the Panthers) flirty, dirty, thirty little CanAm teams?

Las Vegas & Quebec City

It would be tougher to intentionally have picked two more disparate cities on the continent.  Maybe Salt Lake City v. San Francisco to watch the LDS missionaries awkwardly respond to being offered X in the Castro District.  Maybe.  Instead we get beautiful, ever-so-French, Quebec City…

Provincial Quebec City

With its fellow compatriot in expansion, the perennial birthplace of bad ideas, Las Vegas….

Suck it Detroit. Welcome to NEW Hockeytown, USA!

Am I a Francophile?  Not in the slightest.  But I do object to a metropolitan area bidding for a hockey team when the city’s reservoir is already running low, meanwhile an ice rink requires 15 000 to 20 000 gallons of water.  Assuming that the applications get pushed through, the good news for Canadians is that fully 25% of NHL teams will be from the 51st state.

What is really of interest here is not the debate of league expansion politics or what cities are most deserving, but a far more spiritual dialogue.  What should these teams be named?  I propose the following:

 The Las Vegas Courtesans vs. The Quebec City Poutines

But hockier…
I want that in my mouth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I had to put money down, I think I know what team I would bet would have ice girls!  Yeah, I know I will never live long enough to see a team named after poutine, but one day I know this dish will be commemorated as it should be.

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BrettFavresColonoscopy

Am I hallucinating, or did a uproxx sports cross post get deleted from KSK today?

ballsofsteelandfury

From what I can gather, yeah that’s exactly what happened. I wonder if our dear Ape finally said, “Enough is enough! “.

King Hippo

Wednesday is the perfect day to blow off work and watch Bojack Horseman all morning long. Wheee!!!!

BrettFavresColonoscopy

I’m four episodes in. Excellent.

makeitsnowondem

Oh, well I hope the NHL is gonna like it in my cityyyyyy

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Huuummmm comment don got et.

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/evil-robots-2.jpg

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
BrettFavresColonoscopy

Speaking of things that aren’t going to happen, anyone near Sacramento and bored? I’m flying back in the am but am bored/good for at least one more drink.

laserguru

A few too hundred miles south but I’m with you in spirits.

/dranks.

The Right Reverend Electric Mayhem

THAT, boys and girls, is the DFO/Kommentariat SPIRIT! The man was in the goddamned ER with fucking Necrotizing Mystery Pulmanosis less than a week ago and now he’s soliciting Partners in Drank in the State Capital a few hours before he flies out.

THAT’S GOOD HUSTLE! /Slaps ass. Hard.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Not to mention Sacramento is probably top 5 in my list of “cities where you are most likely to get randomly stabbed in a bar and wind up back in the hospital”.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

At least then I would have known the root cause for my hospitalization.

Sill Bimmons

Anyone who has ever had tourtière at Restaurant Aux Anciens Canadiens dans le Vieux-Québec et/ou les Viandes Fumées de Québec knows that this is where everything in the world should be.

Je vais y mourir.

The Right Reverend Electric Mayhem

Fuck the Quebecois.

/obligatory

Sill Bimmons

boux

King Hippo

I still don’t see the point of my locale (Raleigh) having a hockey team, aside from entertaining the hordes of transplanted Sabres, Ice Stillers, Rangers, Wings, and Bruins fans a few times every winter.

Painted my school’s basketball arena the wrong shade of fucking red and pissed me the fuck off, too.

Horatio Cornblower

As a Whalers fan I don’t really see the point of Raleigh having a hockey team either, and I’d like it back.

Judging from attendance you’re not using it anyway.

King Hippo

I liked the Whalers before they moved, too. They were fun on the Sega Genesis game I had in college.

This past season, they finally quit goosing attendance with giveaways and steep promotional discounts, so the season ticketholders would feel “valued.” Results were predictable.

Once ACC regular season basketball starts, the hockey game writeups quit making the front page of the sports section.

And they put that Karamanos asshole in the HoF.

Horatio Cornblower

Karmanos was horrible and his contributions to hockey negligible. He belongs in hell, not the HoF.

Cuntler

God, the Whalers were horrible. They were the Jaguars of the NHL. So what I am saying is that they should move the Hurricanes to London.

King Hippo

The locals DO have the proper teeth for hockey ,, ppl forget that

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

YOU TAKE THAT BACK THE WHALERS WERE WONDERFUL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD_NiGdfFa8

Cuntler

Well, the 1985-86 team made it to Round 2 of the playoffs. I assume they were inspired by the volleyball scene in “Top Gun.”

http://www.hockeydb.com/stte/hartford-whalers-6045.html

Seriously, you want this back? SMGDMFH.

Horatio Cornblower

Yes Cuntler, I do want this back because it balances out my rooting for the Cowboys and Yankees. No one’s ever been accused of jumping on the Whalers bandwagon.

Besides, that bandwagon is probably stuck in rush hour traffic out by the Brainard Airport exit.

King Hippo

Oh, c’mon multi-billion dollar blockbuster “Mallrats” made The Whale a national sensation.

scotchnaut

[looks as bashful as possible, draws a circle in the sand with his toe]

Umm, could I do the Ottawa Senators season preview?

Cuntler

Nah, he forgot to say “sorry.”

King Hippo

Courtesan is one of my favourite words, Klassy as fuck. Hey, that can mean two things, kinda.

montythisseemsstrangetome

Did they even CONSIDER Wichita,,, smh.

Cuntler

The only good double entendre I can thing of is the Las Vegas Hookers, which would be fitting.

Also, what is happening to the Coyotes?

sunrisesunrise

I think the Coyotes will be relocated to Seattle.

laserguru

I like Hookers, as a team name I meant!

I think the Las Vegas Sharps would be a cool name but they’ll probably go with the Outlaws or some such silliness.

It’s got to be the Nordiques doesn’t it?

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

“Sharps” is brilliant. I love it.

ballsofsteelandfury

I think you mixed up the captions for the team name picture.

sunrisesunrise

I can’t wait for the Gulls season to begin. It will be tough to root for the Ducks affiliate (Sharks fan) but live hockey kicks ass.

Also, it was weird driving into Vegas and seeing about 30 billboards drumming up interest for desert hockey.

ballsofsteelandfury

They’ve been pretty successful with the Kings for pre-season games, so I think they may actually succeed.