Double post

So just musing on potential names and logos for the new team and supposedly Utah is well known for cattle ranches... I wouldn't hate something like the Utah Wranglers or something along the cowboy line

Feel like you could have some fun with that. Go a bit Yellowstone-y?

Totally agree

Heck him not being there yesterday and at the end coming out and saying im sorry I failed yah was the final nail in the coffin

I hope he dont get land for an Arena in Phoenix as to bring another failure to ARI

If ARI wants another team it cannot be under that man, sell to someone who could actually get it done like maybe the Suns owner or something

But then again maybe its just time for the ARI book to be closed permanently

https://www.reddit.com/r/nhl/comments/1aflh2r/utah_hockey_branding_concepts/

Yep the artists have run wild and its gonna be very interesting next year.

Hopefully they make an alternate jersey with the Kachina

Forgot to mention this I think Brady's comments are both a plea and a warning to management

Make a strong competitive team so we can make the playoffs 2025-2026 or I will be forced to request out

I know he said he trusts management but his comments of 6 years is very telling. Its like Eichel eventually enough is enough

If it comes to that OTT gonna be very interesting to watch in terms of what they get back

It's official now: Colton Parayko is the first player to lead all Dmen in both blocks and takeaways in the same season (at least since they started counting them 20-30 years ago).

It's just a shame they massively undercount defensive stats. Knowing Bettman, they do it on purpose to keep Dman salaries lower.

Pretty sure they won't/can't use the Kachina or any reference to the "Coyotes" as all of that is still property of Mureulo.

Boston-Toronto is going to be absolutely NASTY. The Bruins probably win, as always, but it will be a war of attrition. Reaves looks like he's in the best shape he's been in 5 years, so if he can actually skate fast enough to hit people he's a total menace.

Washington-NYR will probably be a gong show in 4 or 5.

I'm starting to suspect that the NHL used the post-expansion buzz from Seattle/Vegas to float the idea of being "open to expansion" for the sole purpose of building a market around finding a relocation option for the Coyotes because they were "stuck" with the Meruelo/Mullett situation. They approved him as an owner, approved the arena situation, then got burned when Tempe vote failed.

All of the "expansion" talk from Utah, Houston, Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Omaha were based on Commissioner Bettman doing his job by trying to build a market through "soft conversations" with potential NHL owners (a pretty small group of likely candidates/markets to be sure) through signaling that they would entertain any "expression of interest".

The NHL could have been as pissed off as they wanted about the Coyotes situation but without a legitimate long-term alternative they would just be kicking the can down the road. And I also think that the owners would never give too much authority to Bettman to simply "revoke" an owner from his team without a major Show Cause type of event; which they didn't have on Meruelo.

Houston - didn't appear to be in play based on Fertitta balking at the purchase price of around a Billion USD$; he wants to buy cheap sell high and without him there is no viable Houston option because he has the arena operating rights thru 2033.

Atlanta - has 2 bidders for expansion but their timelines are at least 3 years away at the earliest.

All of that was simply leverage to get someone like Ryan Smith to step up his offer to the range they needed and the timeline they needed to force Meruelo to sell under the conditions they needed and avoid a legal fight.

Now that this has occurred, the NHL will wait to call Meruelo's bluff on the 5 year "right of first refusal" that he has to bring NHL back to Phoenix area. If he does not then I would be surprised if the NHL pursued expansion again. If he does they would have to consider the impact of expanding with two teams (Atlanta/Phoenix for example) and the disruption that would have to NHL teams.

In any case, having multiple cities/ownership groups interested in the NHL is a good thing since the NHL's job is to create value for its owners.

The catch-22 for Bettman, is that when there is too much unmet demand for franchises that is when competitor leagues start to form and I wonder about something like that popping up with Atlanta, Houston, Quebec, Hamilton, Phoenix (if NHL doesn't return), Cincinnati, Kansas City all feeling like they can host high-level pro hockey along with a team like the Chicago Wolves and other "major league cities" such as Cleveland, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Portland, San Diego, Charlotte, Orlando, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Memphis, Indianapolis, Baltimore, and even Brooklyn. Could be another WHA/IHL type of situation.

If I were one of those potential primary owners I think I would target the CBA expiration as an option to start with a 6-8 team independent league in "hockey-starved" cities that the NHL doesn't serve.

And there should be no debate: there is no way a league can threaten the NHL like the WHA did; but there could be some impacts to the AHL/NCAA/CHL as they all stand in uncertainty regarding player issues and it could be something like the IHL was.

I also feel that there is a large unmet demand from both fans/players in Europe to have an "AHL equivalent" that if a league had 6-8 teams on both continents it could be viable financially as a replacement for the KHL/AHL for NHL fringe players.

Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo did an interview that is interesting to watch:

https://arizonasports.com/story/3546271/alex-meruelo-i-am-the-only-one-bring-hockey-back-arizona/

His position is that the Coyotes would continue at Mullett Arena for another 3-4 years while building the North Phoenix arena and did not see that as a problem until Bettman/Daly called him out in March.

basically in his perspective the NHL forced him to sell due to the arena issue not being resolved. He is convinced that the "Coyotes" are still an NHL team that is on hold and everyone should just stay on the bandwagon because its still the Coyotes. Pretty disconnected owner to what the fans are going through. My view is that he sees players/staff as commodities and that the name on the front of the jersey is what people are loyal to not the names on the back and emotional attachment to their history/legacy.

I think he needed the NHL to move the team to create the urgency from City of Phoenix to get his arena project done.

Dude needs a major crash-course in public relations and consensus building leadership skills.

NYR in 6
FL in 6
CAR in 6
TOR in 7

DAL in 6
WPG in 7
VAN in 7
EDM in 5

Wilson vs Rempe

Timing over/under is 2:36 into 1st period of game 1

Are you taking the over (later than 2:36) or under (earlier than 2:36)?

This Meruelo and Bettman presser is like a parent sitting in the principal's office defending their kid who just got suspended

CapFriendly Community Bracket Challenge

If y’all have already made one I’ll remove this post

Someone asked why I feel NHL playoff format needs a change

R1: EDM vs. LA 3 times in a row be a pretty compelling argument

I just had a respectful and open minded Bedard or Faber Calder discussion - on Facebook.

And now I'm like... oh no, did I just tick the 4th sign of the apocalypse?

I mean, 6/8 playoff series would be the same in a 1v8 format, considering how the current format is more interesting rivalry wise, it makes sense to keep it

For pure Chaos should explore KHL format

R1 is the same as what we currently see R2 you face the Central or Pacific. Basically East vs. West

Its made for some crazy stuff this year in the KHL

That's an intended feature, they wanted teams to see each other more frequently in the playoffs to build new rivalries.

That doesn’t work when the same result of the same matchup happens 3 years in a row

My playoff predictions:

Rags over Craps in 4
Canes over Isles in 6

Boston over Leafs in 6
Tampa over Florida in 7

Winnipeg over Colorado in 6
Dallas over Vegas in 5

Edmonton over LA in 7
Nashville over Vancouver in 6

2nd Round

Canes over Rags in 6
Boston over Tampa in 6

Dallas over Winnipeg in 5
Nashville over Edmonton in 6

3rd Round

Canes over Boston in 7
Dallas over Nashville in 5

Cup Final

Canes over Dallas in 6

Conn Smythe Winner: Aho

My playoff picks:
NYR over Wsh in 4
Car over NYI in 5
Tbl over FLA in 7
Tor over Bos in 6
Vgk over Dal in 6
WPG over Col in 7
Van over NSH in 5
Edm over Lak in 7

Car over NYR in 6
Tor over Tbl in 7
WPG over Vgk in 5
Van over Edm in 6

Car over Tor in 7
Van over WPG in 7

Car over Van in 6

Now I wouldn’t be all that shocked if Carolina and Vancouver lost in round one lol since I usually am not that good with predicting the playoffs… but I don’t know it just feels like Carolinas year this year. Just the same kind of vibes as Colorado a couple years ago. But I could be completely wrong. 3 Canadian teams in the conference finals is also unrealistic I know but hey I have to pick with my heart a little bit.
Also it’s a bit of a hot take to say both the stars and panthers lose in the first round but there’s always one of two upsets. It’s boring to pick all the one seeds and those are the upsets I think are most likely.

My playoff predictions for round 1 are a bit boring since it's all the 1 and 2 seeds winning however, after that it gets interesting

Round 2:
Florida over Boston in 6
Carolina over NYR in 6
Winnipeg over Dallas in 7
Edmonton over Vancouver in 7

Round 3:
Carolina over Florida in 6
Winnipeg over Edmonton in 6

Winnipeg over Carolina in 7

If anything both teams probs are sick of meeting one another

And soon fans will get bored

Oh EDM vs LA again fun lul

Least EDM vs VGK would have gave us something different

Sorry northern neighbours but I don’t see any of your teams getting past round 2. Can’t we all just agree to be happy for Burns winning the cup?!?!