Was bringing Minnesota and Columbus into the league a bad idea?

[SedinFan*]

No.

It was one of the best expansion the NHL have done.

Minnesota, is the state of hockey and
Columbus have no pro-sports competition.

Couldn't agree with you more. Those two expansion teams were brilliant moves by the NHL. It's just too bad Carolina, Nashville, Florida, Anaheim and Tampa weren't good moves.

 

[SedinFan*]

Screw those south teams, let's contract their ass or move them to Canada where they belong!

I dont agree about moving them to Canada, maybe with the right cap move a team to Winnipeg or maybe even back to Quebec City.

The rest of the southern teams should be relocated to areas that actually care about hockey and support their minor league teams.

 

[futurcorerock]

...god i hate these threads.... I sense a noobie team bashing coming on.

Columbus > Carolina, Atlanta, Florida

They were great ideas given their geography. Columbus is one of the fastest growing populuses in the entire nation and the NHL can coexist with Buckeye Football given the modest overlap.

Minnesota is a given, the state is a hockey state, and it's successes are evident in the overwhelming support of the team locally.

 

[acr*]

Minnesota is self-explanitory. A great hockey area and it was stupid to wait 7 or 8 years to get a team in there(who the heck approved the relocation in the first place?)

As for Columbus, it was a brilliant move. I think it'd be much better for marketing purposes if they were the Ohio Bluejackets, but it still works out. You have the big TV market in Cleveland about an hour or two away(i forget the distance, but I went out there once for my uncle's wedding, the plane landed in Columbus and he lived in Akron, and it was a pretty long drive), yet they have the hockey hungry OSU fans coming in the gates in Columbus. The OSU hockey program was always very successful, and they did a smart thing by putting an NHL franchise in there.

 

[f1nn]

I dont agree about moving them to Canada, maybe with the right cap move a team to Winnipeg or maybe even back to Quebec City.

The rest of the southern teams should be relocated to areas that actually care about hockey and support their minor league teams.

I don't tihnk it is fair to say all southern teams should be moved... the Stars have a great fan base, don't have financial troubles, and have done well in the league... Dallas may not be a hockey hotbed but there is alot of hockey here even tohugh it is in the south.. people say put a team in Portland, good idea.. BUT Portland has less Hockey players than Dallas, heck Oregon ahs less hockey players than Dallas.. So in my opinion Dallas is not a typical southern place and deserves a hockey team

 

[futurcorerock]

Minnesota is self-explanitory. A great hockey area and it was stupid to wait 7 or 8 years to get a team in there(who the heck approved the relocation in the first place?)

As for Columbus, it was a brilliant move. I think it'd be much better for marketing purposes if they were the Ohio Bluejackets, but it still works out. You have the big TV market in Cleveland about an hour or two away(i forget the distance, but I went out there once for my uncle's wedding, the plane landed in Columbus and he lived in Akron, and it was a pretty long drive), yet they have the hockey hungry OSU fans coming in the gates in Columbus. The OSU hockey program was always very successful, and they did a smart thing by putting an NHL franchise in there.

The beauty of the Jackets is that they coexist with Ohio State hockey, and in turn they help promote eachother. Anything with the name Ohio State attatched to it draws attention based on their school and football program. The college diehards could translate to NHL, and the lockout has put many jackets fans in the seats at the Schott

call it pipe dream, but wouldnt it be cool if the Jackets held an exhibition game with the OSU team? Columbus Crew scrimmages the OSU mens soccer team.

 

[futurcorerock]

I don't tihnk it is fair to say all southern teams should be moved... the Stars have a great fan base, don't have financial troubles, and have done well in the league... Dallas may not be a hockey hotbed but there is alot of hockey here even tohugh it is in the south.. people say put a team in Portland, good idea.. BUT Portland has less Hockey players than Dallas, heck Oregon ahs less hockey players than Dallas.. So in my opinion Dallas is not a typical southern place and deserves a hockey team

The "move the teams north" statement is slightly ignorant and biased. The only reason Bettman won't axe those franchises aside from the obvious costs to do so, is that Gary has two, now even three major successes with hockey in the south. Dallas, San Jose, and now Tampa Bay (to be proven)

I still think all three franchises can explode. Believe it or not there is hockey in Atlanta, and there is hockey in Florida. I dont know if Accord posts on the Biz thread, but he could tell you all about florida hockey. They've had NHLers from both states. Dan Hinote being a floridian.

 

[Crossbar]

No not a bad idea to have teams in Minny and Columbus.

 

[PredsFan77*]

I don't tihnk it is fair to say all southern teams should be moved... the Stars have a great fan base, don't have financial troubles, and have done well in the league... Dallas may not be a hockey hotbed but there is alot of hockey here even tohugh it is in the south.. people say put a team in Portland, good idea.. BUT Portland has less Hockey players than Dallas, heck Oregon ahs less hockey players than Dallas.. So in my opinion Dallas is not a typical southern place and deserves a hockey team

move them all, screw those teams in the south. They don't deserve teams, let's move the Stars to Moose Jaw. Better yet, let's go back to the original six! Yeah!

 

[salty justice]

These are good hockey markets in my opinion. A million times smarter than having teams in Atlanta, Nashville, Florida (having 2), and Carolina.

 

[Hawker14]

both teams were good expansion decisions.

 

[Dave is a killer]

They were good expansion moves ... the man who moved the North Stars isn't in the NHL anymore ... bringing Jacques Lemairre back into the NHL though is another question ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Radulov for Czar*]

I still don't see why Nashville is bad for the NHL? We have good attendance, low payroll, very competitive, and made the playoffs last year. It's a shame the NHL is locked out because us Nashville fans don't have a chance to show how much we support the Preds.

 

[Hackett]

Minny is one of the most prfitable franchises in the league and the gaborik jersey is a best seller. this was not a mistake

And neither is columbus. I know that city is big on college sports but its a city with a population around 1 million with no pro sport teams. And the attendance in columbus speaks for itself.

These were great decisions for expansion... unfortuantely.... most of the other options were brutal.

 

[Hackett]

I still don't see why Nashville is bad for the NHL? We have good attendance, low payroll, very competitive, and made the playoffs last year. It's a shame the NHL is locked out because us Nashville fans don't have a chance to show how much we support the Preds.

I've heard rumours that nashville is only staying afloat right now with the season ticket money that they have on deposit. That can be good news.

But you're right, Nashville showed up during the playoffs..... but wasn't their avg attendance around 12-14k.... and how much of that was paid attendance?

Bottom line is that its the bottom 8 teams that are holding the league back right now and according to all reports, nashville is included

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Minny and Columbus were excellent moves...I'm not getting incontraction but we all know which ones should go

I think when Minny lost their team, they missed and them go then they realized...

I think the same thing will happen to Winnipeg/.Quebec City...

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I still don't see why Nashville is bad for the NHL? We have good attendance, low payroll, very competitive, and made the playoffs last year. It's a shame the NHL is locked out because us Nashville fans don't have a chance to show how much we support the Preds.

Because of where Nashville is on a map. Duh.

 

[Sotnos]

How long until this thread turns into a Nashville and Atlanta bashing?

Well, you got a Carolina bash in the next post after yours, does that count?

 

[nyrmessier011]

minnesota and columbus wasn't bad expansion. tampa bay, florida, san jose, atlanta, nashville was...not to mention moving a team to phoenix...thanks Gary

 

[Icey]

Minnesota and Columbus are both good locations with good fans. There are other teams that maybe were no good decisions like Florida, San Jose, Anaheim or Phoenix! But it is like it is...

Minnesota and Columbus were both excellent choices for expansion teams. It also proved that a team does not need to be successful on the ice (Columbus) to be a success.

I also think a lot of people need to learn the difference between an expansion team and a relocation. Phoenix was not an expansion team, they relocated. Carolina is not an expansion team its a relocation. Winnipeg does not want an NHL team back. They have their AHL team and Winnipeg has become the center of the AHL and they are happy, but most in Winnipeg want nothing to do with a NHL team.

San Jose is also one of the most successful expansion teams. They are successful on the ice and overall financially. They had some problems 2-3 years ago, but are recovering and the city of San Jose loves their hockey team. One of the best drafting and developing teams in the league. This is a team that will be sitting pretty when this CBA is hammered out, because drafting and development will be the single most important element for a NHL team.

 

[Sixty Six]

How long until this thread turns into a Nashville and Atlanta bashing?

I personally think Atlanta will be a very good team in the near future, and in my opinion it isn't fair to judge the market until they have a little bit of success. I believe once someone who goes to a game just for fun because team is good, they will see the great game hockey is and hopefully will continue to go. Out of the CBJ/Wild, NSH/ATL expansions, yes the Wild/CBJ expansion is better, but i wouldn't right off Atlanta or Nashville yet. Nashville made the playoffs last year, and i think when the league resumes it will be critical for Nashville to continue to win and then we will truely see what kind of market it is.

 

[Weary]

It was bad for the league to expand into Minnesota and Columbus. It would have been much better if two of the faltering franchises moved there. But that wouldn't have generated those expansion that the owners love so much.

Minnesota is an excellent location for a franchise. Columbus is yet to be tested. We'll have to see how it works there once the shine wears off.

But bringing those teams into the league rather than moving existing franchises was indeed a bad idea.

 

[Onion Boy]

Both are great markets. Minnesota obviously loves their hockey, but Columbus is coming on as well. Hockey in Ohio, at least for me, flew under the radar for a while but has become very popular.

I agree, though, that relocation rather than expansion would have been better.

 

[Sixty Six]

Both are great markets. Minnesota obviously loves their hockey, but Columbus is coming on as well. Hockey in Ohio, at least for me, flew under the radar for a while but has become very popular.

I agree, though, that relocation rather than expansion would have been better.

If i were to move two teams, it'd be Carolina and one of Florida or Tampa, but two of the three recently made the SCF in their markets, so who exactly would you move?

 

[Drury_Sakic]

Its time to move some of those southern franchises...

At least one(the Cains) if not two(the Panthers) should move up to Canada now...

The US dollar is worth less than the Canadian dollar right now(and possibly for the forseeable future under this administration) which makes it a perfect time to move franchises up there, as they will have the ability to make their money streatch a bit further than in the US(that is, if they have canadian based ownership). Quebec or Winny should get a franchise back.

It would be one way the NHL could resell itself to Canada after this lockout...



What better way to give back to Canadians than to give them another franchise?

....

Back to the main topic... Its actually seeming that some of the expansion teams were starting to work out pre-lockout...

Minny and the CBJ were doing quite well before the lockout. The Wild had made the playoffs once, and done well. Minny is a hockey hotbed. The CBJ might have challenged for a playoff spot this year. I don't really worry too much about post lockout blues here... but it will show in some way or another..

Tampa, well they just won the cup. They are/were a team LOADED with talent and were set to defend their cup and possibly repeat! If that did not get the people of Tampa's attention, I don't know what would have.... Now, the memory of that glorious cup run will have faded and the effort forgotten..

The Cains and Panthers might actually gain from a lockout. Both are looking at a core of young talent who they hope to bring their teams back from the dead. One year older are they, but will there be anyone to watch?

Atlanta looked like it was about ready to turn the corner this season. I actually had them going to the ECF. Now, their two best players are overseas. Heatly got hurt..again.. but seems to be OK.... They finally had gotten a good coach in Hartley who will have this team winning in no time.... and Winning is contagous....I mean.. its not like the people of Atlanta won't turn to a Good Thrashers team over a BAD Hawks team and a post season flubber of the Braves....We will see if they manage to turn the corner...


IMO, with the exeption of the Panthers and Cains, the other expantion franchises are setting up to be just fine...