European Expansion

[Jeff McVay]

Found this in the May 22 1971 Sporting news. Guess it didn't quite workout even in 1975.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

Its funny that years before the first lockout (94-95) I predicted the NHL would expand to Europe/Russia before they go to cities such as Nashville, Atlanta (again) and the state of Florida. I wasn't even aware of Pollock's vision. And Bettman had a different vision.

 

[alko]

Found this in the May 22 1971 Sporting news. Guess it didn't quite workout even in 1975.

Where can we see old Sportnig News?

Btw. How was the situation after Canada Cup 1976?

 

[Theokritos]

Found this in the May 22 1971 Sporting news. Guess it didn't quite workout even in 1975.

Merged with two older threads.

 

[Jeff McVay]

Where can we see old Sportnig News?

Btw. How was the situation after Canada Cup 1976?

I have access to them through a Baseball Group SABR.ORG

 

[Jeff McVay]

Merged with two older threads.

Thank you and sorry.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

It seemed like there was a decent amount of chatter in the media about possible expansion to Europe 15 to 20 years ago. I also remember suggestions that the "European champion" (not sure how that would be determined) might eventually be given a playoff spot and compete for the Stanley Cup. It would be interesting to know if the idea was ever seriously explored among the board of governors.

 

[Sanf]

Slightly OT, but one of the Finnish representatives in that 1973 meeting was Göran Stubb (as director of HIFK then). He still today is the Director of NHL´s European scouting and his name is often seen when talking about europrospects even today. And even before that 1973 meeting he was the main player in bringing Carl Brewer to HIFK and Finland. He became director of HIFK hockey in 1961 when there wasn´t single indoor rink in Finland. Overall very impressive career as hockey influencer.

 

[Theokritos]

It seemed like there was a decent amount of chatter in the media about possible expansion to Europe 15 to 20 years ago. I also remember suggestions that the "European champion" (not sure how that would be determined) might eventually be given a playoff spot and compete for the Stanley Cup.

I think the idea was entertained throughout the mid-1990s, possibly kicked-started (or actually revived from the 1970s) by the Global Hockey League in 1990. Their founders Michael Gobuty and Dennis Murphy, both with an WHA background, had planned to set up franchises in England, France, Germany and Czechoslovakia in addition to the 10 North American franchises they were targeting, but the league folded before getting started. Then, in the mid-1990s, the IIHF replaced the traditional European Cup with the "European Hockey League" in an attempt to create a more regular international competition for the top clubs in Europe and with the expressed vision that it should develop into a regular international league like the NHL was. There was the more or less vague sense that the NHL would get involved somehow and enhance the whole thing with, well, who knows with what? Its name and brand? Marketing and organization expertise? Player loans? I'm not quite sure, but I'm pretty confident there were some talks between the NHL and the IIHF about it during those years. I will have to look up some old newspaper sources I have somewhere. What I do remember is that the IIHF dreamed of an annual match between the European club champion and an NHL representative (preferably the Stanley Cup holder) along the lines of the Intercontinental Cup in soccer (an annual game between the European and the South American club champion). Allegedly the IIHF and the NHL discussed this topic at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. It finally became reality in 2008 with the Victoria Cup (kind of: the NHL didn't send the Cup holders) but it didn't last beyond two editions.