what do you think of the possible NHL expansion into Europe?
I rесkοn іf іtѕ done correctly іt wіll bе a gold mine fοr thе NHL. Of course іt wіll hаνе tο bе a seperate league I mean hοw саn уου justify having lets ѕау thе Red Wings flying аll thе way tο Finland fοr a game аnd thеn thеm flying back tο Toronto? NHL Europe wουld bе fаntаѕtіс even іf. I ѕау thе NHL Europe winner аnd thе NHL North America Cup winner meet. Expansion іn North America tеrrіblе,,expansion Europe іf done aptly GREAT!
I reckon it would be fantastic! All of you in the US get to have these really huge competitions with practical whole other countries with the distance between states, which is fantastic! The rest of us (ie here in London) are stuck wishing there was something more than the FA cup.
yes, expensive at first maybe, but I agree with you – GOLD MINE!
NO
Solution 20 team league 10 in Canada 10 in U.S
I’m all for it as long as new teams in Europe doesn’t mean less players on this side of the pond. It would absolutely have to be run non-centrally of the NHL as I see many obstacles.
The first obstacle is the NHL itself. They aren’t just so well-versed in doing more than in succession a 6 team league. The expansion that has occurred since 1967 has caused so many changes that they are still reeling from.
I’m curious about how the labor laws will be equalized between Europe and Canada/United States. There might be intractable Players Union issues to consider.
Will both “leagues” compete for the Stanley Cup? Or will a new professional “world” championship trophy be made? Either way, will it be a format that baseball once used – prior to interleague play – where the leagues vie for a championship without playing against the other league all season? Or do they go head-to-head during the regular season? How will that impact the scheduling and rivalries?
I’m also concerned with the possibility of a further dilution of talent.
Initially this isn’t as weird as it first sounds.New York to London England is 8 miles farther than Miami to Vancouver. If Miami and Vancouver can play each other why not New York and London?
A European tour wouldn’t be any more tiring than a west coast tour for eastern teams now. In fact if played correctly could be less hard, since most major European Cities are quite close. For example London and Berlin are closer than Washington and Chicago. Six teams in Europe, Twelve teams in Canada and eighteen in the USA seems to make sense.
A lot would depend on whether they would remove franchises here. More expansion is a horrible thought at best. The talent is getting sweet watered down (lets face it, on most teams we can identify 4 or 5 guys who should be career minor leaguers at best but with talent being spread so thin they end up with NHL contracts). So bottom line is they would need to facilitate a Euro group into the 32 teams already franchised (who stays, who goes? and imagine the asking price an owner would demand to sell knowing the potential value of the new franchise) Logistics would be another huge hurdle to overcome. Reckon of the enormous travel bills teams would be forced to pay and the tax issues that could complicate things. Most fans dont realize that players have to pay the local taxes on game checks for each city they visit (assuming that particualr city has city taxes) and now compounding that with unknown tax rules. It would require teams to hire yet another self to deal with that. And you mention the Wings (and Chicago faces the same), they have a brutal travel schedule as is with all the travel to the west coast and adding even more travel? There surely is a lot of money to be made but a lot of hurdles to overcome and would the increased dollars versus increased expenses make financial sense(also keep in mind the need to balance the dollar against the Euro, that dollar gap is what ruined hockey in places like Winnipeg and Quebec when the Canadien dollar was weak)? Figure a larger crew needed to travel, possibly the need to provide chefs (some guys wont do well with the unknown food, they have that issue with the imports now and provide chefs at home), more time needed in between games to recover from long travel schedules and to even accomodate that longer travel (less games or longer seasons?) and what if a player suffers a major injury in another country? Added insurance costs and possible added medical costs plus the legalities caught up with injuries incurred oversea’s (question any team that has an Olympian player and what the contract clauses are, it can be nightmarish). It is conceivable and maybe even better than seeing that lack of support in some current NHL cities but there are a lot of issues that can get in the way of a fantastic thought.
they should work on expanding hockey here in north america previous to they go to europe.
it would be awsome because there would be more teams to get thiere asses kicked by the devils
I reckon it’s a cool thought, but a logistical nightmare. New York-London might not be too terrible, but how about the Phoenix Coyotes against the London Badteeth? That’s a huge trip and a huge toll on players vacant back and forth between even more timezones. It would get worse the deeper in Europe teams got. I reckon with many of the premier players in the NHL heading to Europe to play, and much of the NHL talent coming FROM Europe, this is something that will have to be considered if the NHL wants to grow and be a major contender for ratings and money. I also judge there needs to be more teams…there is so much talent that isn’t playing in the NHL austerely because there aren’t enough roster spots.