And just to clarify, when you say, “Well the Preds did it, so the Coyotes must be too,” it’s worth mentioning that the Preds haven’t “done it” in terms of the owners buying excess tickets, David Freeman talked about possibly doing that down the stretch if that’s what it took to push past 14,000 average paid (which it appears likely won’t be necessary).

I share your concerns that all too often the Toronto media gets way out ahead of the facts on stories like this.

BTW, when he asks how the league will get paid back for what is being advanced to the Coyotes, he obviously doesn’t know what advances are. They are basically pre-payments for what is coming later on in terms of Phoenix’s share of league-wide revenues like endorsements and TV rights. When that money does come in, Phoenix won’t get the share that’s already been advanced to them.

I really want to know what these idiots are going to do with their hardened grudge against Phoenix if the team does end up relocating to Canada. It’ll still be the same financially-challenged franchise it is now, just in a “traditional hockey market.” It’ll still be on the NHL’s “dole.” And it’ll have to share a building with the Leafs because I don’t think I hear anyone in Toronto offering to build another arena.

All of that bitterness and anger has got to go somewhere. I’m guessing Florida or Atlanta.

You know, there are days where I wish the NHL just split the league into Canadian and American Divisions (or even Traditional and Non-Traditional Divisions) so we could enjoy our hockey without these rabid buttmunchers insulting us, tearing us down, and generally behaving like massive tools.

how media scumbags are…the vultures flock to the feast. Negative “news” creates more buzz than good news.

The fact that the Toronto area would “support” another franchise just shows to me that the incumbent Toronto franchise stinks. That’s why the Islanders, Ducks, and even Devils came into existence… if the Rangers and Kings were any good, there would’ve been no need for a 2nd franchise.

I liked the Jets and Nordiques too but why anyone would honestly hope for teams to fail is beyond me. This whole “death watch” of the Predators and Coyotes is ridiculously biased and unfortunate for those teams to deal with.

Quebec doesn’t even have a CFL team for crying out loud… why should they get to jump right to the NHL? Every other Canadian NHL city/hopeful has at least a CFL team, save Ottawa who probably shouldn’t have either.

The other school of thought is people hoping for some kind of league contraction, based on the antiquated idea that the talent pool is too diluted. Show me the 30 worst players in the NHL today and I’ll show you a group of 30 crappier players from 1987-88.