NHL Expansion? and Various Musings about other things

NHL Expansion?

Rumors are flying that the NHL will expand to Quebec City and Markham, Ontario within the next three years. The NHL denies there is a plan in place, but remember this; the NHL tends to speak in code, which means when they say it's "Not on our radar', as we learned here in Michigan with the political system, that means it'll happen. Not that that's a bad thing. Les Nouveaux Nordiques would give Les Canadiens a natural rival they have lacked since the old Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995.  Markham would give the Maple Laffs some actual competition for the billion dollar Toronto market, and might inspire that team to actually do something to revive that moribund franchise, and would also give Buffalo another natural rival as well.

US Soccer friendly was... too friendly

The USMNT played it's last tune-up before the hexagonal World Cup qualifying begins next week, and their match with Canada did nothing to inspire confidence that they will be ready with a lifeless, goalless draw in Houston that was so boring my wife dozed off while we were watching it, especially when compared to the whipping the Red Wings were laying on the Stars (that ended while the US match was early in the first half). If Jurgen Klinsmann has a plan for Team USA going forward, I'm, at least at this point, not sure what it is, and they had better find out in the next week.

Subban and Benn sign

P.K. Subban of Montreal and Jamie Benn of Dallas signed their new contracts this week. It's about time. I mean, you go through a three-month lockout, so when the lockout ends, you decide to hold out? REALLY? Even though your teams could not formally negotiate with you during the lockout, your representatives couldn't chat with your teams on the sly so that when the lockout ended, negotiating would be more or less a formality?

A-ROIDS named again in PED investigation

In an investigation that is being said to rival the BALCO scandal of the 1990's, A-rod is the leading name linked to the purchase of PEDs from a Miami steroid ring. This is an individual who admitted using steroids back in his Texas days, who apparently was using them again in 2012, not that they helped him against the Tigers in the ALCS.

This is why they are the Laffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs decided to end the lockout by firing G.M. Brian Burke. WHY? Did the Leafs lose a bunch of games while the league was LOCKED OUT? Did he suddenly become a lousy G.M. during that period? Did he suddenly lose the skills that produced a Stanley Cup in Anaheim? Do the Leafs have a big-name G.M  in waiting, like the Red Wings did during the 2005 lockout? OR-are there other agendas involved, such as an internal dispute over a Luongo trade, or have there been incidents away from the ACC, as have been hinted at by the Toronto press? The bottom line, is this seems to be so typical of the Maple Laffs (purposely misspelled), who have come to symbolize incompetence in the NHL, much like the similarily named Detroit Lions have in the NFL.

WE HAVE A DEAL!!!!

The NHL and its Union reached a deal just before dawn this morning, so the lockout delayed 2013 season will be starting about January 18/19th, and the 48-50 game season should run along the lines of my last post the other day. It feels good tobe thinking about games ON the ice, as opposed to games off it.

A 48 Game Season-How It Would Work

Despite a setback tonight in negotiations, I believe the NHL is heading for a settlement within a few days. In fact, future Hall-Of-Famer Teemu Selanne (663 career goals) flatly predicted a settlement on Monday. With this in mind, here is a primer on how a 48 game schedule would work: I originally thought that the teams, if they settled this week, could play pre-season games with "nearby opponents" (examples : Wings-Jax, Laffs-Sabres, etc...) that could be offered free of charge, as a goodwill gesture toward the fans. This is what the NBA did last year, but this will apparently not be the case. That said, something the teams COULD do, is offer intra-squad scrimmages for free, as MLB teams did in 1981 after a two-month strike. Here IS a likely scenario for a 48-games season:

Let me begin by saying that the season will almost certainly follow the template from the 1995 48-game season, which works perfectly from the script the league seems to have been following all along. First of all, January 19th is perfect for this reason, A) It's Saturday, Hockey Night In Canada, and B) January 5th and 12th are NFL playoff nights, and the NHL wants no part of competing with the colossus of american sports. With that in mind, All teams open the season on the 18th/19th, most cases being "rivalry games" Pens-Flyers, Wings-Hawks, Habs-B's-Laffs-Sabres, Kings-Ducks, etc...Then NO teams play on the 20th, and again, it's all about the NFL, as that is the date of the conference championship games. Then games are played until February 3rd, the date of Super Bowl XLVII, when possibly Les Habitants are the only team playing, since they traditionally play on Super Sunday. The season then continues until about May 1st, with the playoffs beginning about May 5th, and continuing until about June 29th.