If MLSE stands to make money off of the Hamilton Predators, then they are going to be much less opposed.

The Predators will stay in Nashville. Bettman wants it that way, although he won’t admit it.

Canada provides the players. Just look at Anaheim. That’s why they won the cup. Bettman wants a World Series of Hockey with all NHL teams in the US. That’s his dream.

Balsillie is a bastard. I wouldn’t trust this guy as far as I could throw him. His behavior in the Pittsburgh deal was atrocious. The man was ready to take away one of the best supported teams in the USA, all while talking out both sides of his mouth. Next thing, I want the Preds to stay in Nashville. Why? Because the Preds have huge grassroots support in Nashville, but they really lack the corporate support. This team really does have a chance to succeed in the area, and if they keep putting the on-ice product that they have in recent years, they have a chance. The faith Leipold had in the team and the success was pretty amazing, and look how they turned out. I think we should show Nashville at least an ounce of the same kind of faith. Thousands of kids in Nashville and the surrounding area now know exactly what hockey is and they really want to play it because of those ‘dirt’ expansion teams like Nashville and Atlanta.

The NHL will never have the same kind of TV support that college football and basketball have, if only because hockey in the US isn’t a part of the cultural fabric, and it won’t be for a long time. But in the North, Midwest, and heck, even SoCal, teams are showing that they can make money and make an impact for hockey in there communities. Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Minnesota, and Detroit can all put butts in the seats, and can claim fans JUST AS devoted as any Leafs, Habs, Sens, Canucks, Oilers, or Flames fans. Carolina, Anaheim, Tampa, all have shown that they can win and then put butts in the seats, and really, for those who say attendance is down because of where the clubs are located, and point you to Detroit (!) and Boston, two of the biggest clubs who couldn’t sell seats, even when the Wings were winning.

In another twenty or thirty years, when all of the sudden the adult population of the US will have been exposed to hockey at a young age, then who knows.

But I guess I’m the only Canadian whose sad to seen our beloved game being restricted to a bunch of uppity-assed elitists and not exported as much as humanly possible. Oh well, I guess I do pick all the lonely causes: being conservative, capitalist, Christian.

But alas, this rant is over.

The Problem is the league I maintain.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sp.....7-sun.html

The owner doesn’t want the franchise in Ontario.