Oilers to Seattle?

[newarenanow]

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/84220 ... relocation

President and other Oilers brass visited Seattle and checked out info on their new arena for possible relocation.

Oilers and Edmonton came to a deal to build a new arena back in October, but the Oilers prez wants more concessions and is backing out.

I hope Seattle gets a team one day, but not at the expense of Edmonton. So much history and success there in the last 30 years.

[MRandall25]

Edmonton is the last of the 4 remaining WHA teams to still be in their original city... I believe the other 3 were Hartford, Winnipeg, and Quebec

[nocera]

Let's just fold Phoenix, Columbus, Florida and Edmonton and move the best 24 players to Seattle.

[darkstar57]

Kind of reminds me of Lemieux and the owners flirting with KC then getting everything they wanted in the deal for the new arena

[Kaizer]

that would be too weird if it were the oilers.

[newarenanow]

Kind of reminds me of Lemieux and the owners flirting with KC then getting everything they wanted in the deal for the new arena

I think this is exactly what it is, posturing. Especially since there is a pretty good framework in place at Edmonton already for a new arena. I think they just want a better deal.

[mikey287]

Kind of reminds me of Lemieux and the owners flirting with KC then getting everything they wanted in the deal for the new arena

I think this is exactly what it is, posturing. Especially since there is a pretty good framework in place at Edmonton already for a new arena. I think they just want a better deal.

Yup.

[Headshot77]

Let's just fold Phoenix, Columbus, Florida and Edmonton and move the best 24 players to Seattle.

Take edmonton off of that list and this wouldn't be a bad option. That would put the number of teams at 28, meaning even conferences and divisions.

[Troy Loney]

Seattle and Milwaukee are two cities that I think could support NHL teams, Milwaukee just needs to move the Bucks to Texas or something like that. Bring Florida and Columbus up north.

[Pitt87]

Seattle and Milwaukee are two cities that I think could support NHL teams, Milwaukee just needs to move the Bucks to Texas or something like that. Bring Florida and Columbus up north.

The West Coast is tough for NHL... Game times have to support EST, for obvious reasons, and travel is hard. That said, getting to Edmonton is hard, also. I guess its a wash.

They should just have 4 teams that rotate cities every other year.

[MRandall25]

They should just have 4 teams that rotate cities every other year.

That seems like a really good, but also really bad idea...

You create the demand by having hockey in one city every 4 years, but then you handcuff that city's economy.

Not to mention the drain on the players having to move every year to a different city

[mikey287]

Fans will not tolerate watching their purported team tour around the continent like some sort of circus act...no one will play for "that", no one will pay to watch "that"

[Pitt87]

Fans will not tolerate watching their purported team tour around the continent like some sort of circus act...no one will play for "that", no one will pay to watch "that"

I think that is a valid opinion, but virtually all NHL relocations have been successful. Expansions have been an issue, but the boost in Winnipeg was evident this year.

[mikey287]

It depends on how far back you want to go (Winnipeg to Phoenix? Minnesota to Dallas? Both had to be "corrected"). And this isn't a relocation, this is a travelling sideshow that would only serve to hurt the league's image. And hurt it bad. If you have a store that sold widgets and on your business cards it lists four different addresses and only one of them is open at a time...well, you can go straight to hell with that, no one's buying, no one's wasting their time...I can't believe the idea was for real to begin to be honest...it's bad...so bad...

[DelPen]

Just Expand to KC and Seattle:

NW: Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary
PAC: LA, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Jose
SW: Dallas, Nashville, KC, St. Louis
MW: Winnipeg, Minnesota, Chicago, Colorado

NE: Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa
ATL: NYI, NYR, NJ, Philly
CEN: Pittsburgh, Columbus, Detroit, Buffalo
SE: Florida, TB, Carolina, Washington

[newarenanow]

Couldn't find a link, but I heard on XM that the Edmonton government voted unaminimously to break off all talks of a new arena with the Edmonton president. Feel they already game to a mutally agreed upon deal, and a good one at that, but now he is trying to push for more after the deal was agreed to.

[no name]

Just Expand to KC and Seattle:

NW: Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary
PAC: LA, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Jose
SW: Dallas, Nashville, KC, St. Louis
MW: Winnipeg, Minnesota, Chicago, Colorado

NE: Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa
ATL: NYI, NYR, NJ, Philly
CEN: Pittsburgh, Columbus, Detroit, Buffalo
SE: Florida, TB, Carolina, Washington

i don't oppose expansion but make it 4 confrences of 8 teams, not 4 divisions in 2 confrences. And i really would love to see Qubeac in there not KC.

Pitt Phi Was NYI NYR Car NJ CBJ Patrick
Bos Mtl Tor Ott Buf Fla TB *Qub Adams
LA ANH Pho SJ Van Edm Cal *Sea Smyth
Det Min Chi Dal Col Win Nas St.L Norris

Also this article suggest expanision would likely be a 2nd team in the Toronto area.

http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2012/10/16/ ... ckout-2012

[mikey287]

I didn't click the link, but sbnation has no more veracity than this message board...maybe less.

[canaan]

Oiler related: Ben eager and his brother were arrested for assault

[MRandall25]

That's not very surprising.

[Kovy27]

Who the hell is Qubeac?

I wouldn't be surprised to see Phoenix, Dallas, and Florida move at some point.

[canaan]