Lots of talk at the NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa over the weekend surrounded the health of several NHL franchises. The big-ticket item will continue to be the status of the Phoenix Coyotes, whom the league still owns going on three seasons now. No question the NHL wants to find an owner soon. And commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters that there are three groups in contention.
But we’ve seen this story before in Phoenix. Either the Coyotes find a stable home in Arizona by the end of the season or the NHL will find someone willing to move the team. That’s not a bluff. No local ownership group stepped up to rescue the Atlanta Thrashers last spring, and they were quickly shipped to Winnipeg. But the NHL had owners in Manitoba willing and able to make such a quick transaction.
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Is there another city out there that could pull that off? Neither Seattle nor Quebec City — both mentioned as candidates — have firm plans for new downtown arenas. Both look better as potential expansion sites down the road. Kansas City has an arena, Sprint Center, and an ownership group — AEG, parent company of The Washington Examiner — but may not be an ideal market for the NHL.
After that it gets dicey. Maybe that’s why you still don’t hear much relocation talk about the New York Islanders, who have been thwarted time and again in plans for a new suburban arena on Long Island. There’s really nowhere else to go. It’s no coincidence that the Islanders announced plans Tuesday to play a preseason game in Brooklyn’s new Barclays Arena — future home of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets — on Oct. 2.
– Brian McNally
