
On the list of things we really don’t care about: The Coyotes situation. Please. Let the Canadian media deal with it, we say. They’re the ones who have truly destroyed the perception of this team out of their own sense of schaudenfraude to get a team back to Canada. Which we’re pretty much for. Except for the one detail: They want a second team in Southern Ontario, and a third team in Ontario overall. Because the Islanders and Devils have such a good thing going, right?
We’re not denying that this franchise needs a change. The Phoenix experiment hasn’t worked, and while it’s partially due to the climate, it’s almost certainly due to terrible ownership and management, which have seen this team go without a playoff appearance since 2002. It also has to do with the arena being in an atrocious location, worse than the Meadowlands as far as getting there.
But Southern Ontario? When all the writers get over the fact that OMFG! ANOTHER CANADIAN TEAM FOR US TO OVERANALYZE AND ENSURE NO MARQUEE FREE AGENT WILL EVER COME HERE ENSURING A LONG AND VICIOUS CYCLE THAT WILL EVENTUALLY FRUSTRATE CUSTOMERS, all that will be left is a junior version of the Senators, and no one can tell me that the Sens are a marquee franchise. They typically draw the worst at the gate of all six Canadian teams, have the lowest local TV ratings, and are overall just a meh franchise. This potential Hamilton team would be even worse off.
Why not Winnipeg? Why not Saskatoon? Sure, it’s only a 15,000-seat arena, but who cares? Besides Gary Bettman? No one! There are fans there! There were fans in Phoenix before they moved from America West – and that was considered a bad place for hockey – and look where they are now! A team in midwestern or western Canada would have it’s own identity, have a ton of local territory, and be something the league could be proud of.
Go where the fans are, boys.
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