Not a Whale of a Chance!
Whalers back in Hartford? As much chance as an ice cube in H-E-double hockey sticks
AP
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will need to restructure the entire league before hockey returns to our capitol city.
So Mayor Eddie Perez had a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman Wednesday. Perez may have this dream of bringing the Whale back to CT, but there is NO WAY this is happening.
The NHL needs to contract teams from weak markets, not add more. It would be an awful idea to try and revive - let's face it - a cult franchise. There is no way Hartford could support - and I use this term loosely - a major sports franchise. It would be a colossal waste of money to build a new arena and an even bigger waste of cash to pay the NHL the ridiculously high franchise fee.
I loved the Whalers.
Brass Bonanza is a fantastic song.
I think that the logo is one of the better ones in sports
CT had it’s chance and we failed.
The only way for this to happen is this:
- Put all the teams in the north and in Canada. Are we a better market then Miami, Tampa, Phoenix, Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta, and Raleigh? Maybe. Those teams need to go. Hockey can’t survive like this. If, and it is a big if, the NHL contracts those seven teams (maybe even Anaheim, LA, and San Jose but those are pretty good franchises), then re-configure the league, then and only then can Hartford be a candidate for a team.
- It could happen if the league holds a dispersal draft between the remaining 24 teams (this includes Hartford) to divvy up the remaining players. The league would be more competitive.
- Shorten the season. Playing hockey in June is just dumb. Go from October to March with the playoffs in April.
- Set the Eastern Conference with Boston, Montreal, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, and the new Hartford team in one division. NY Rangers, NY Islanders, New Jersey, Philly, Pitt, and DC in the other division. The West would have Detroit, Chicago, Columbus, St. Louis, Minnesota, and Colorado in one division. Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, San Jose, LA, and Anaheim in the other.
These ideas keep rivalries together and could make for a shorter, more intense play-off system. And this would weed out the fringe players, leaving only the best in the league and in theory, this should not affect salaries because you have the strongest markets left.
But, this is all in theory. I don’t think the NHL has necessary leadership, like the other three major leagues, to get this done.
So hockey in Hartford, keep dreaming Perez.
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