(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...James Gunner had a post this morning wherein he quotes a spurned Jets fan who’s all up in arms over the NHL bending over backwards to keep the Pittsburgh Penguins where they are when SURELY Winnipeg is CLEARLY a more deserving city than, say, Pittsburgh.
Whatever.
I think that the reason why the League is so all-fired hot to keep the Pens in the ‘Burgh despite the economic hardships is pretty simple:
The Cup.
No Cup-winning team in the post- Great Depression NHL has moved after winning the Cup. It is my opinion that the League is trying to keep the Pens where they are for as long as possible for just that reason–I mean, would you want to be the Commish that blithely allowed a past Cup champ to move without so much as a by-your-leave?
Didn’t think so.
As far as the most rabid of the proponents of moving $US_TEAM to Winnipeg or Hamilton are concerned, there’s a giant conspiracy to keep Canadian cities from having an NHL team–a conspiracy that has little basis in fact as far as I’m concerned, given the state of the Canadian dollar up until a couple years or so ago. At its lowest, the Canadian dollar was worth what, half what a US dollar? 60 cents on the US dollar? Canada is lucky (and I am thankful–though I know no Canadian will ever believe me) that they only lost 2 teams!
Snark aside, I just want to go on record as saying that I understand how some folks are feeling rather shit on right now (because the Pens are getting consideration that their team(s) didn’t get). But the Big Picture tells me that there is no freaking anti-Canada conspiracy going on in the NHL. The Pens may well wind up moving, barring some sort of a Yuletide Miracle. It may be a “lateral” move to KC, it may well be a northward move to Winnipeg–who knows?
But the League should keep trying to find an owner for the team who’ll keep the Pens where they are, and to Hel with the whiners.
The league’s going to be criticized no matter what. If they let the team move, then people will complain that it’s another team that might move south, or that the league didn’t do enough to keep them there; and if they do everything they can to keep the team in Pittsburgh, people will complain they should have done this for Que/Win/Hfd, etc. years ago.
I agree the biggest reason the Pens are even still in Pittsburgh are their cup wins. I am also thankful the Oilers and Flames didn’t leave the NHL during the Canadian dollars lowpoint.
I think what Jets fans are arguing is that things are different now. There’s a salary cap and some measure of revenue sharing as well as a new building.
At least for the sake of Jets fans the Coyotes haven’t accomplished squat since they left Winniipeg. It’s Quebec who really got kicked in the nutsack with the loss of the Nordiques and the Expos.
Damn Canadian dollar!
It wasn’t long ago that players didn’t want to play for Canadian teams due to the Canadian dollar and high taxes. I fyou were an American playing in Canada, you got hit hard for the taxes without any of the benefits.
The only conspiracy I might buy is the suggestion that God’s Team nudged Bettman to make Balsillie an offer he had to refuse, because they don’t want another team on their doorstep, this one even closer than Buffalo.
My money is you will see the Las Vegas Vandals/Posse/Rattlers/Kangaroo Rats (or some such) before you see the reincarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.