![]() ![]() The final challenge was getting over $9 million per year, which they eventually did. They’d agreed to the permanent no-move clause and front-loaded structure. In the end, the Predators wisely decided that it was time to end the stalemate with Roman Josi. But that’s no longer relevant.įollow the Regina blueprint. There are enough people in the league office (including the commissioner) who remember the lame attempts of 25 years ago. So doing it in an arena as opposed to a stadium could work. The business of the outdoor games is changing, with cities willing to assume some costs. (Quebec City is obvious, but I’d bet the league would be wary of creating the impression that it would lead to expansion.) ![]() John’s, or even Seattle before it officially arrives - give it a shot. If you have an arena - Halifax, Houston, Kansas City, Orlando, Portland, St. It doesn’t have to be a football stadium, either. The lesson in this is that the NHL shouldn’t be afraid to try one or two neutral sites a year, as long as it’s a weekend event - not some lame one-night fizzle. It was a good reminder - the NHL may not be in Saskatchewan, but Saskatchewan is very much in the NHL. At the first intermission, Little blew up our segment on difficult conditions by saying the pluses far outweighed the minuses. The snowy conditions were a challenge, but Bryan Little and Matthew Tkachuk (the between-periods interviewees) refused to let that dampen their enthusiasm. With both the Flames and Jets struggling coming into the game, you could tell they relished the opportunity for something fresh - not their regular league existence. That luncheon got the weekend off to a great start, but the players and fans made sure to keep things going. Macoun gave excellent advice for telling stories. McDonald remembered coming to Regina as a WHL player and foolishly picking a fight with Clark Gillies. The alumni (Shane Doan, Dave Ellett, Kris King, Jamie Macoun, Lanny McDonald and Thomas Steen) were great, too. “I cannot thank you enough,” Bettman said. The commissioner is rarely speechless, but this one got him. They held a statuette modelled after a stance from one of Fred’s hockey cards. In an unscheduled moment, Fred Sasakamoose - the first Canadian Indigenous player in NHL history - stepped on stage with his son, Neil. ![]() “This blanket represents … the strength of our grandmothers and our mothers.” “This is one of the highest honours we can bestow,” Bellegarde said. Tribal Chief Edmund Bellegarde presented Commissioner Gary Bettman, Winnipeg owner Mark Chipman and Calgary President & CEO John Bean with gorgeous “star blankets” in NHL, Jets and Flames colours, respectively. It started with a welcome luncheon featuring two exceptional presentations. The project was euthanized shortly thereafter. The last two games in hockey-mad Minneapolis - Buffalo/Islanders and New Jersey/Quebec - had crowds of 8,016 and 6,222. One month earlier, in the same city, the Panthers played Winnipeg in front of 6,291. Hamilton’s last date was between Florida and Toronto. Of the 50 match-ups, none was held on a Saturday, with just four on Sundays and seven on Fridays. (The other Canadian stop was Halifax, with three appearances.)Īccording to official NHL records, those games were played at 70 per cent of capacity. Cleveland, Minneapolis, Sacramento and Saskatoon had six. Hamilton got the most appearances, with eight. Future league locations Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Minnesota and Phoenix were involved. The NHL was a 24-team league in 1992–93 and a 26-team league in 1993–94. We just played the game and moved on to the next one.” “I remember we played in Milwaukee, Phoenix (twice) and Sacramento,” Hrudey said. Some of you might not be old enough to remember, but the 1992––94 seasons were expanded from 82 games to 84 so that each team could play twice in neutral cities. He replied, “It better not be the same as it was when I played.” I turned to Kelly Hrudey and said, “They should do a few neutral-site games per season.” ![]()
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