As for the Seattle news, this has obviously been coming for a very long time, so it’s hardly surprising. However, it is excellent news for the NHL! Though nothing is official, this is definitely going to happen and I am glad to say that because this balances the conferences and Seattle just feels like an NHL city. I think their rivalry with Vancouver is going to be excellent for all concerned!
Seattle is going to get an NBA team as well, but that’s going to take some time. That provides their new hockey team with a golden opportunity to really establish a foothold in that market. I hope they can take advantage of it.
The next question then becomes what about Houston and Quebec City? I believe those markets are very likely going to end up with teams and I think it’ll be through relocation. I don’t ever wish to see any city lose its team, because that hurts kids. However, Miami still isn’t drawing and neither is Phoenix. Also, I would keep an eye on the Calgary Flames. That is a very, very contentious Serena situation and I wouldn’t be too terribly surprised to see them leave for Houston. I sincerely hope it doesn’t happen, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it did.
If Seattle gets a team the question becomes who moves to the Central division? Phoenix is the closest to the rest but now they have a 'rivalry' with Vegas I guess.
I'm not sure if Houston can support an NHL franchise. It's a great city of fans, but there are so many existing sports options that I think it'd be difficult to justify. Southern teams have done best when they don't have NBA to compete against, like Tampa and Nashville. I guess moving the Coyotes there would be a more stable situation for them and make it easy for them to go to the Central.
Quebec City is the best long-term destination for Florida, and you don't even have to realign the divisions too.
Preds in 5
Wild in 6
Knights in 7
Sharks in 6
Lightning in 6
Bruins in 6
Caps in 6
Penguins in 5
*****************
*****************
Very disappointed the Hurricanes could not pull of a 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs this year. I bet our new owner is going to do some serious house cleaning in the off season because the length of playoff drought by the Hurricanes has blame equally bestowed upon ownership, coaches, players, and management.
I love the Stanley Cup playoffs, no other postseason like it. Shame that my Blues decided to choke away the second half of the season and the last few weeks in particular.
Vegas goes up 2-0 in the series after winning in an insane 2OT thriller. Man, if they pull something significant off this will have repercussions for years with any future NHL expansion teams and how they get their roster put together. It would take damn near perfect planetary alignment to get a roster cobbled together from cast offs of other teams AND a coach to make it work and get them into say a conference finals in year 1 of existence.
Kinda sucks that the #1 and #2 teams have to meet up in Round 2 rather than in the Western Conference Finals... But it should be a hell of a good series.
I'm really looking forward to the Sharks/Knights series as well...
(04-23-2018 03:43 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote: Jets take on the Preds for Round 2...
Kinda sucks that the #1 and #2 teams have to meet up in Round 2 rather than in the Western Conference Finals... But it should be a hell of a good series.
I'm really looking forward to the Sharks/Knights series as well...
I thought the NHL re-seeded each round with highest playing lowest....
(04-23-2018 03:43 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote: Jets take on the Preds for Round 2...
Kinda sucks that the #1 and #2 teams have to meet up in Round 2 rather than in the Western Conference Finals... But it should be a hell of a good series.
I'm really looking forward to the Sharks/Knights series as well...
I thought the NHL re-seeded each round with highest playing lowest....
Nah, they've had that weird format a few years now where the higher point division winner plays the bottom wild card with that winner playing the winner of their division's second/third place matchup, with the same happening in the opposite division except with the second wild card. It's why the Caps/Penguins happens every friggin year.