therinkrat

Dec 28, 2006

Rumors, Relocation, and Hartford.

You have to love the rumors surrounding the impending relocation of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Of course, that is only if you aren’t from of the Steel City. If that happens to be the case, you might have as much luck if you were to try and figure out the financing situation yourself. My suggestion would be either a 50-50 raffle or lemonade stand based on how well they seemed to work for my Bantam team back in the day.

Relocation is an exciting prospect indeed. But to which city should they move? Winnipeg? Houston? Kansas City? Portland, Oregon? Or maybe even Vegas, baby, Vegas?

If Jerry Bruckheimer is as involved in the Vegas bid as the rumor-mill makes it sound, they would easily have an advantage among American cities vying for the Pens. Although the last rumor I got from the same source had Howard Hughes moving the Kings from Los Angeles, and that was 6 months after his death. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see a zombie Hughes watching his Vegas Kings from his luxury suite, but I’m not going to buy my season tickets just yet.

And what happened to Hartford? No, I don’t mean the city itself, although the question is just as valid. I’m talking about Harford as a potential relocation spot, as a home for the new Whalers. Who is going to fulfill my need for awful all green uniforms without the Whale? Minnesota? Dallas? Nice try, but they haven’t really nailed that ‘puke’ shade of green like Hartford was able to do for all those years. No one is making a Chevy Nova based on Minnesota Wild green, now are they? Sure when Hartford unveiled its ‘We are the Baltimore of New England’ campaign it may have deterred some possible investors, but if you can’t count on billionaires to take financial risks then something it wrong with this country.

Let me just over-simplify things to get down to my point. The majority of the adult NHL fan base is comprised of two types of individuals: people from Canada and people that like to fight and drink. And no, they are not mutually exclusive, and of course there are a multitude of other fans, but they don’t do anything to help my argument. The point is this, if Pittsburgh does move, it is either going to Las Vegas or heading back home to the Great White North. That’s it.

Anyone that discards Winnipeg or Quebec City’s chances simply because they already let a team go has probably never heard of the Atlanta Flames, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota North Stars, or the California Golden Seals. The NHL needs to do what is best for the league and the future of the league, but you would be hard pressed to make a strong case against putting more teams in Canada. It is where the majority of the fans are and where the majority of the players still call home.

But Vegas is tempting, for so many reasons, and for a league that needs some good publicity worse than K-Fed, it could be the perfect fit. One might say that the NHL needs Las Vegas more than Vegas needs a professional team, but in any case it wouldn’t be bad for either side. The question isn’t whether the city would be able to support the franchise; the real question is whether Vegas will have enough water to make the ice.

All that said. I think the Pens will stay. No city is dumb enough to give up those prodigies. Not even Hartford.

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