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…
With its fellow compatriot in expansion, the perennial birthplace of bad ideas, Las Vegas….
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
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.
Am I hallucinating, or did a uproxx sports cross post get deleted from KSK today?
From what I can gather, yeah that’s exactly what happened. I wonder if our dear Ape finally said, “Enough is enough! “.
Wednesday is the perfect day to blow off work and watch Bojack Horseman all morning long. Wheee!!!!
I’m four episodes in. Excellent.
Oh, well I hope the NHL is gonna like it in my cityyyyyy
http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/sidney-rice-wardrobe-malfunction-1.jpg
Huuummmm comment don got et.
http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/evil-robots-2.jpg
http://www.gamersbin.com/attachments/f15/13727d1330776973-funny-gifs-45.gif
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.
A few too hundred miles south but I’m with you in spirits.
/dranks.
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.
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”.
At least then I would have known the root cause for my hospitalization.
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.
http://s3-media4.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/T_7H8T5HcG8EpbEIKOP4kA/o.jpg
Welp. I know who shall be my guide the next time I go to Quebec City! Sill can save me the sound of air being sucked through the teeth of a thousand taxi drivers when I try to give directions to the hotel where my colleagues are waiting for me in a butchered French when I realize speaking the words I know how to read proves impossible!
Fuck the Quebecois.
/obligatory
boux
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.
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.
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.
Karmanos was horrible and his contributions to hockey negligible. He belongs in hell, not the HoF.
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.
The locals DO have the proper teeth for hockey ,, ppl forget that
YOU TAKE THAT BACK THE WHALERS WERE WONDERFUL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD_NiGdfFa8
Umm… lets not forget the utter lack of awesomeness coming from the Golden Seals! They suffered a worse fate than the Whalers to Raleigh; they moved to Cleveland.
Arguably one of the most esoteric interpretations of a seal…
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.
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.
Oh, c’mon multi-billion dollar blockbuster “Mallrats” made The Whale a national sensation.
[looks as bashful as possible, draws a circle in the sand with his toe]
Umm, could I do the Ottawa Senators season preview?
PS-I cannot conceive of a more Canadian way to have said that
Nah, he forgot to say “sorry.”
Courtesan is one of my favourite words, Klassy as fuck. Hey, that can mean two things, kinda.
Did they even CONSIDER Wichita,,, smh.
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?
I really thought about the Hookers, and I was rather impressed by how appropriate it would be and then I was saddened by how much that will never happen!
I think the Coyotes will be relocated to Seattle.
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?
“Sharps” is brilliant. I love it.
See, I would assume the Nordiques, but I have a deep fear that since the Avalanche merger there would be old school franchise stalwarts that would dig their heels in. And if anyone were to be codgery pricks about franchise legacy it would be the Québécois!
I think you mixed up the captions for the team name picture.
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.
They’ve been pretty successful with the Kings for pre-season games, so I think they may actually succeed.
I never realized how much I expected to be inundated with billboards for tits or yogacontorsiondancemagic until I was absolutely floored by sign after sign begging for hockey. There is a fair I chance I made a lewd gesture at the thought while I was driving to myself about how unlikely that dream was ever going to come Las Vegas.
http://www.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/maurice-jones-drew-is-busting-out.gif
Turns out I was super wrong!