The NHL has found a pretty good vehicle to break some news before the Stanley Cup final – commissioner Gary Bettman’s pre-series press conference. That’s where the league confirmed on Friday that the Caps would, indeed, play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 1, 2011 in the annual Winter Classic. But we also learned Washington would host a Winter Classic in “the next two-to-three years,” according to Bettman. Whoa. Didn’t see that one coming. Check out our story on a Winter Classic in the District – or close enough if it’s at FedEx Field – right here.
The Heritage Classic will also return. The forerunner of the Winter Classic, this is the game where Jose Theodore and the Montreal Canadiens played an outdoor game in Edmonton on Nov. 22, 2003 at Commonwealth Stadium. It’s also the game where Theodore dressed like this. Awesome. That was the NHL’s first foray into outdoor games. This time – pending expected approval from the league’s Competition Committee – the Canadiens travel to Calgary on Feb. 20 at McMahon Stadium, home to the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders. Bettman wasn’t sure if the game would become an annual – or even bi-annual – event in Canada.
This summer – Aug 18-19 – at the Toronto Maple Leafs’ practice facility, the NHL will hold a research and development camp. The brainchild of former NHL great Brendan Shanahan, the league will examine possible rule changes, equipment updates and “any other modifications and tweaks that may or may not make sense,” Bettman said. “In order to keep our game as vibrant and as exciting as it is we want to make sure we do everything possible in looking at all the possibilities – even if we conclude that things are just fine the way they are. Obviously it’s one thing to talk about rules and rules changes and it’s another to actually look at them on the ice.”
Bettman said that the city of Glendale, Arizona – home to the Phoenix Coyotes – is negotiating with three prospective buyers to keep the team in the state. The Coyotes were on the verge of leaving town immediately if Glendale did not promise to indemnify the league – it’s current owner – for any losses incurred by keeping the team in town in 2010-11 . The city hopes to finalize a deal within “days or weeks,” according to Bettman. That will allow the league to close on a sale to one of those three ownership groups.
One of the places the Coyotes could have fled, if needed, was Winnipeg. That Canadian city lost the Jets to Phoenix in 1996. Bettman admitted on Friday that Manitoba could still get an NHL team in the future. He also mentioned Quebec City as a candidate. The Nordiques left that town in 1995 for Colorado. But since the league is not looking to expand at present both cities will have to wait patiently for a current franchise to decide to relocate. The NHL had an offer from a Canadian-based partnership – True North Sports and Entertainment, Ltd., led by Toronto billionaire David Thomas – to buy the Coyotes if negotiations with Glendale had fallen through earlier this month. That reportedly remains on the table if no buyer is found by the end of the year to keep the team in Phoenix.
“I’d like to try and fix something that I wish might not have happened in the first place,” said Bettman, who reminded the asembled media that neither Winnipeg nor Quebec City had prospective ownership nor an NHL-caliber building when they were sold to out-of-town buyers in the mid-90s. “Not unlike what we did in Minnesota.”
That state lost the hometown North Stars, who moved to Dallas in 1993. The expansion Minnesota Wild arrived in 2000 and play in a new downtown arena in St. Paul.
NHL Notes
» The NHL also said it will announce its 2010-11 schedule on June 22 during its annual Awards week in Las Vegas. The regular season will begin on Oct. 7.
» Bettman said the league is exploring ways to improve the All-Star game format, though all ideas are just brainstorms for now and he gave no specifics.
» The salary cap is also expected to rise by about $2 million – an unexpected bump and contrary to some published reports in recent months. I’ll have a post later about that and how it could help the Caps this offseasons.
» The NHL will visit Russia for the first time since 1990 when the Coyotes and the Carolina Hurricanes play exhibition games against two KHL teams this fall.
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