MikeBossy Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Hmmmm read this on Sportsnet https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/donald-fehr-nhl-european-expansion-sooner-better/ From the article: Fresh off the NHL’s undeniably successful expansion into Vegas, and with a foray into the Seattle market potentially looming, it seems the league’s structural reach may soon stretch all the way to Europe, too. The NHL appears to be mulling the possibility of including Europe-based franchises in its collection of clubs, all of which are currently based in Canada and the United States. Asked about the possibility of this European expansion on Monday, deputy commissioner Bill Daly clarified previous comments on the issue and suggested the league is indeed interested, but that current obstacles make it unlikely to happen any time soon. Thoughts? I'd love there to be a North American Champion vs the European Champion for the World Cup. Winner in North America gets the Stanley Cup - come up with a new cup for the European division? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fateless Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 I don't see how this could ever work as one league. Travel alone makes it effectively impossible to achieve without shortening the amount of games in a season, or by not allowing the North American teams to do trans-atlantic flights except for playoffs or something. Doesn't sound like something worth doing. Quite frankly, there's already a large amount of European hockey leagues, some which are somewhat close to the NHL level caliber. So I don't see how this makes sense at all. If anything, they could do something similar to what League of Legends (e-sport) is doing. Multiple leagues that all send their top performing regional playoff teams to the world championships to face off against other regions best teams. But again, its such a drastic change to the fabric of hockey and the NHL that I wouldn't want to see it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerrDrFunk Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Yeah, I just don't understand how this would be feasible where travel is concerned. You think the Canucks have it bad? Imagine the western roadtrips for a team based in Sweden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewbieCanuckFan Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Hockey fans (and more important players there) view the World Championships as the ultimate prize in Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBossy Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 5 minutes ago, HerrDrFunk said: Yeah, I just don't understand how this would be feasible where travel is concerned. You think the Canucks have it bad? Imagine the western roadtrips for a team based in Sweden. Thats why I am saying they don't come over until the Championship series - you could do a 2 3 2 format possibly??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerrDrFunk Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 1 minute ago, MikeBossy said: Thats why I am saying they don't come over until the Championship series - you could do a 2 3 2 format possibly??? The issue with that is, you essentially have to build an entire European league/division from the ground up in one go; as opposed to adding teams gradually. I just don't see how this can be feasibly done without a dramatic imbalance between North American teams and European teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 I can see maybe putting a league in the UK, France, and Italy to develop more talent. That's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 28 minutes ago, MikeBossy said: Hmmmm read this on Sportsnet https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/donald-fehr-nhl-european-expansion-sooner-better/ From the article: Fresh off the NHL’s undeniably successful expansion into Vegas, and with a foray into the Seattle market potentially looming, it seems the league’s structural reach may soon stretch all the way to Europe, too. The NHL appears to be mulling the possibility of including Europe-based franchises in its collection of clubs, all of which are currently based in Canada and the United States. Asked about the possibility of this European expansion on Monday, deputy commissioner Bill Daly clarified previous comments on the issue and suggested the league is indeed interested, but that current obstacles make it unlikely to happen any time soon. Thoughts? I'd love there to be a North American Champion vs the European Champion for the World Cup. Winner in North America gets the Stanley Cup - come up with a new cup for the European division? I could see them wanting to become a much more, global league. I think the only way this would really happen though, would be by buying one of the existing leagues in Europe and then taking a few years to reorganize and expand their facilities, to meet NHL capacities. Teams over there, would play North American teams, probably similar to how the schedule worked a few years back, where we only played Eastern teams once per year, alternating which coast they play on. I believe the NHL has the financial capacity and backing to pull something like this together, but will be surprised if we see it happen in the next 10 years. I think we'll see an increasing number of games get played over in Europe until the NHL believes that this is a viable solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Get a team from China/Japan so you can slap them in the Pacific division so we can get more travel than we already do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xereau Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Imagine the jet lag? Not feasible.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baer. Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Mexican expansion is more feasible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 The only way this would work is if the European teams only played the NA teams in the playoffs or as part of the Stanley Cup finals or something, much like back in the 20s with the NHL vs the PCHL. Still, I can't see teams in Europe being able to compete with NA teams. It would be exactly like the environment right after the 1967 expansion when Montreal smashed the Blues in three straight finals because the West division was so weak by comparison. Kind of makes for an anticlimactic Stanley Cup Final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6string Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Quebec City is kinda Euro put a team there first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBossy Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 2 hours ago, HerrDrFunk said: The issue with that is, you essentially have to build an entire European league/division from the ground up in one go; as opposed to adding teams gradually. I just don't see how this can be feasibly done without a dramatic imbalance between North American teams and European teams. Very valid point - as someone else pointed out in this thread only way to do that is buy one of the European leagues. Or they set up something similar to an affiliated league to start? I also agree this is 10 years min down the road but its fun to dream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckylager Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Has the SR-17 Blackbird been converted into a jetliner yet? Didn't think so. Keep dreaming Daly, you putz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancaster Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Unless the NHL decides to purchase and operate a fleet of Concorde jets, it ain't happening. Having the Stanley Cup as some "secondary" prize en-route to some NHL-Euro championship would tarnish it. Not trying to sound NHL-centric, but the NHL is the best league in the world, so the only way it's sort-of feasible to include teams from Europe is if winners of those leagues gets a wildcard spot for the Stanley Cup or something, but that would require expansion beyond just 16 teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 More likely that the NHL buys up some teams in Europe for development leagues run similar to the AHL. Bettman is an idiot but I'm sure there's at least one person in the NHL office smart enough to look at a globe and realize why European expansion is a bad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 1 hour ago, luckylager said: Has the SR-17 Blackbird been converted into a jetliner yet? Didn't think so. Keep dreaming Daly, you putz. 1/2 the speed of a blackbird but about 2x a 747. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckylager Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 3 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said: 1/2 the speed of a blackbird but about 2x a 747. Still not fast enough if the NHL wants to expand into Europe, especially if we consider how the realignment was in part to reduce travel. Doesn't really matter anyhow, Daly is full of $&!#. Like, just look at the guy, you can tell he's all backed up and absolutely stuffed full of crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantum Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 The only league where it makes sense for them to expand to Europe is the NFL because of the one game a week schedule. I know the NFL has mulled a London, England based team. I just don't see an NHL in Europe thing working. European leagues like the KHL, NLA, and SHL are established and working to filter the NHL talent. This is all talk. If the NHL wants to expand beyond Seattle the cities that deserve NHL teams are Quebec City, Houston, and San Francisco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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