Article: The Wild Must Start Preparing For An Inevitable Expansion Draft

[Kalisha Turnipseed]

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[Pewterschmidt]

I’m not mad if Bogo gets extended.  Why?  He seems like he’s on the back nine of his career right?  Correct.  But after watching Merrill and Goose play the position poorly AND bring zero physically I'll take Bogo as third pair D.  He’s got Alpha to spare and every team needs that

Edited January 20 by Pewterschmidt

[Willy the poor boy]

According to Russo, Mason "Aint Nothin Ever Stopped Me Yet" Shaw makes his return in IA. tonight.

[Citizen Strife]

Good for Shaw.  He's the definition of not letting any issue stopping you from achieving goals.  It's also good that the Wild kept him on the roster after what has been happening.  

[Pewterschmidt]

48 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

According to Russo, Mason "Aint Nothin Ever Stopped Me Yet" Shaw makes his return in IA. tonight.

LFG SHAWZY!!!

[TCMooch]

Can’t wait to serve up a bunch of our young players and prospects because Bill “In Over My Head” Guerin signed a bunch of over 30 year olds to long extensions and NMC/NTC.

[FredJohnson]

The NHL is eyeing the possibility of adding another team in the upcoming couple of years,

Sweet mother of gawd. The Coyotes need to find a real home first.

[MacGyver]

Tuch was sacrificed to protect Dumba iirc they had a choice of who to protect and they chose poorly.  Rather than growing the number of teams the NHL should be devising ways of growing the fan base. Just putting a team in a city does not mean they will come. Been to Atlanta and failed once already. Get more games on network tv where people can see them. Don't play hockey in June. I won't even watch hockey when it's 70 degrees outside. Summer days are too few up here in the hinter land. 

I have often wondered why Wisconsin does not have an NHL team. They are as ripe with hockey as Minnesota. They would draw from Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, and Winnipeg. I have never even heard them mentioned when it comes to expansion. Just flyover country as far as the NHL is concerned I guess. 

[Cole_Train]

A return of the Houston Aeros? Houston does have some hockey history as some may already know. Even Gordie Howe played in Houston for a time. 
I’m not convinced hockey will work in Atlanta for the third time but maybe a third time’s the charm as they say.
I thought I heard Kansas City was a potential spot at one point but didn’t see that mentioned here. I wonder if they’d return the Scouts or try a new brand of hockey.
A Nordics return would be fun to see again.  I also thought I remembered hearing a group working to bring a team to Hamilton Ontario. 
I know Portland OR probably isn’t in a position to have an NHL team but would love to see one there in concept. It’d be fun to see hockey in the PNW between Vancouver, Seattle and Portland as they’re all pretty driveable between the three cities. 
I hate to see AZ lose their team but wish they’d figure that situation out by now. Losing a team never feels great to the fans. 
 

Edited January 21 by Cole_Train

[mnfaninnc]

My son lives about 2 miles away from the proposed Atlanta/Alpharetta site. I drove by it back in the summer. There is nothing there and the infrastructure for getting in and out of the area isn't there either. I would suggest this is more than 2 years away. 

Atlanta has a pretty good beer hockey league at least compared to Charlotte, but they don't even have an A team right now. The site is a good place outside of Atlanta and several miles NE of the i-285 loop. There are at least 3 rinks in the vicinity which doesn't sound like much in MN, but is pretty good in the South. 

Personally, I like getting out of the city proper and being more on the outskirts of town. Possible logistic problem? The airport is on the SW side of the city so that's a pretty long bus ride to the arena area. Couple that with Atlanta traffic and it's brutal. It's about an hour away in moderate traffic. 

The good news would be for Western Conference teams being able to plan a 5 game road trip with Atlanta, TBL, FL, Carolina, and Washington all together. For the Pacific teams, it gets extended going up past Philly and the NY area teams + Boston. Once again, though, the Eastern Conference gets travel priority, getting to stay in the Eastern time zone with very short travel. 

If it were me, I would think that Bettman would make an announcement about it in a couple of years. I'd also think it would have to be more than 1 team, as we've got great schedule balance in the league right now. I'd prefer to have more divisional games and play one division in the other conference each year, if that's how it balances. 

3 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Get more games on network tv where people can see them. Don't play hockey in June.

I like getting more games on network tv. Exposure is what this league needs, and it needs to be at least as high as the NBA. Disney has the rights to both, and could easily do more with the NHL on ABC.  

I do disagree with the take on no hockey in June. My bet is that you'd watch if the Wild were on, but we haven't had that luck in 20 years. I do like hockey later because I believe the season should start later, sometime in November to let the World Series get done, and the NFL somewhat sort itself out. I think with games in October, you are missing revenue having to choose between the 3. I also think it's good to have the NBA finals done with before the SCFs. That last series should be broadcast heavily on network tv. 

Schedule wise, if Bettman were to announce expansion in 2 years, it would take at least another 2 before a team would be drafted. So, you'd be looking at 4 years in the future. A lot can happen in 4 years, but one thing that would happen is that our 30 something designated players will have their contracts over, The Wall will need protection, and so will most of the draft picks from 2022 and earlier. We only have to lose 1 player, the key will be not pulling a Fletcher. Just know you are going to lose 1 good player, make it the best possible outcome. Losing an overperforming center (to his contract) with a sweetener of a non-eligible player was just plain dumb and firable. I thought Guerin had a much better plan with Seattle. 

[mnfaninnc]

Just looking into the prospects, in the K

• Yurov and Firstov pick up apples

In the A

• Beckman scores
• Lambos picks up an apple

In other news, Lucchini and The Wall have been recalled for today's game. Hunt gets sent back down and Dewar heads to IR. Both callups are on an emergency basis. I think The Wall is backing up today as Fleury hasn't gone on IR. While I didn't believe that Hunt should be sent back down, he doesn't have to pass waivers and that's what happens to ELC guys. I imagine he'll be back up shortly, but he needs to play. I hope he rips up the A over the next couple of weeks!

Why Lucchini over Beckman? Dewar is a C and Lucchini is too. While we could put Duhaime at C, which I think happened late in FL, having the extra C could be important. 

[Up North Guy]

4 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Tuch was sacrificed to protect Dumba iirc they had a choice of who to protect and they chose poorly.  Rather than growing the number of teams the NHL should be devising ways of growing the fan base. Just putting a team in a city does not mean they will come. Been to Atlanta and failed once already. Get more games on network tv where people can see them. Don't play hockey in June. I won't even watch hockey when it's 70 degrees outside. Summer days are too few up here in the hinter land. 

I have often wondered why Wisconsin does not have an NHL team. They are as ripe with hockey as Minnesota. They would draw from Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, and Winnipeg. I have never even heard them mentioned when it comes to expansion. Just flyover country as far as the NHL is concerned I guess. 

Atlanta actually failed twice with the Thrashers and Flames. Also, Milwaukee is being kept out because of Blackhawk area rights.

[Up North Guy]

46 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

While I didn't believe that Hunt should be sent back down, he doesn't have to pass waivers and that's what happens to ELC guys. I imagine he'll be back up shortly, but he needs to play. I hope he rips up the A over the next couple of weeks!

In his first game back in Iowa he got into a pretty good scrap and did well.

[WIWild]

5 hours ago, MacGyver said:

I have often wondered why Wisconsin does not have an NHL team. They are as ripe with hockey as Minnesota.

I assumed that too, but I grew up in the Twin Cities and had 'season tickets' to the MN HS State Tourney. When I moved, I tuned into the WI equivalent and was floored by the lack of support. There were less fans than a regular season MN HS game - and most of those arenas don't fit many people. TBH, I don't remember when I've last tuned into WI Tourney, but nowhere near the numbers of MN.

[Quebec1648]

The NHL already has 32 teams, why do they need more? If you add new teams, how would you balance the divisions? Would they go back to 3 divisions per conference, or would we get something like 9 team divisions?

The current schedule is only 82 games, so more teams means fewer games between opponents, which is bad for competition. I also do not believe there is enough talent to warrant more teams. Fewer teams produces higher quality competition.

Expansion will get the owners more money, but the on ice quality will suffer. 

Best league sizes are 16, 24 or 32. 

[MacGyver]

20 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

My bet is that you'd watch if the Wild were on,

You would lose. Summers I'm up at the lake. Evenings are spent around the fire or over at the neighbors. Don't have wifi up there so no streaming or cable. I might check my phone for scores but that's about it. That's how I like it.  Hockey should be finished by May. But because the NHL is a gate receipt driven entity they need lots of games and long drawn out playoffs. I have become a casual observer of Minnesota sports teams. I have taken all the emotion out of it sometime ago and it's given me a different perspective. Expansion is about the $$$ and not much more. The NHL gets their instant gratification up front from the city and the buyer of the team. If it fails 5 to 7 years down the road so what? They have showed us that's how it works a number of times already. 

Good game last night. The Wild are going to fight their way into the playoffs. They will come in tongues dragging and limping across the line and get that 21st pick in the draft. 

[B1GKappa97]

I'm sick of these expansion teams. No more for a while, geeze. We already lost a top-6 power forward and a top-4 quality defenseman who we haven't been able to replace. 

At the very least, we should be friggin' exempt since as an expansion franchise we didn't get these same benefits!!

[Up North Guy]

22 hours ago, Quebec1648 said:

The NHL already has 32 teams, why do they need more? If you add new teams, how would you balance the divisions? Would they go back to 3 divisions per conference, or would we get something like 9 team divisions?

The current schedule is only 82 games, so more teams means fewer games between opponents, which is bad for competition. I also do not believe there is enough talent to warrant more teams. Fewer teams produces higher quality competition.

Expansion will get the owners more money, but the on ice quality will suffer. 

Best league sizes are 16, 24 or 32. 

Why do they need more? Simple answer: the new franchise fee goes directly into the owners pockets. I don't say that in a derogatory way. they invested their money in order to make more money. This is income that the owners do not have to share with the players as it is not hockey related revenue.

[MNCountryLife]

On 1/21/2024 at 6:09 AM, MacGyver said:

Get more games on network tv where people can see them.

I sure wish they would listen to that sentence.  If people can't see the games they won't be fans.  Period.  They need to be nationally televised as often as possible.  There were a lot of open seats when we played at Florida.  That is awful.    

[MacGyver]

Vegas has it figured out. They broadcast all their games over the air on Scripps tv network. I get Scripps over the air on my antenna but it's the Scripps news channel. So if you are in the Vegas area all you need is an antenna to get the Knights games. 

Currently I don't have any cable or satellite. Dumped them a couple years ago. I got tired of playing the price increase game. I pay $20 a month for the Bally's app which is about all I'm willing to pay. The app can have buffering problems much of the time and is almost impossible to watch. I hope the rumor is true that Amazon Prime will be broadcasting games as soon as next year. I have had Prime for years and their streaming is pretty much flawless. 

[mnfaninnc]

16 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Vegas has it figured out. They broadcast all their games over the air on Scripps tv network. I get Scripps over the air on my antenna but it's the Scripps news channel. So if you are in the Vegas area all you need is an antenna to get the Knights games. 

If Diamond goes under, I wonder what it would take for a local station to seize the opportunity and broadcast all games to be picked up via antenna? Could they generate enough commercial revenue? Would it also be streamed out of market?

This is probably more important in non-traditional hockey markets. In our market, at least the Hornets make it easy to watch something else!

[MacGyver]

I believe it would work here in Minnesota. They already broadcast over the air high school and college games. So there must be advertising revenue to be had. The Wild would certainly draw advertisers to a network. From what I've read Diamond is already in bankruptcy and Amazon has already stepped in as a minority investor. 

[Beast]

Couple things.

I hate the term apple for assists.  Don’t know why.  But, it’s awful.  The hockey community can do better.

Can we just move the Wild to the City awarded a team and start over here?  Give them everybody, from top to bottom.  The recent expansions teams have had more success in a couple of years than the entirety of Minnesota’s professional hockey history.  And we can redo the naming.  

[Beast]

On 1/21/2024 at 11:23 AM, WIWild said:

I assumed that too, but I grew up in the Twin Cities and had 'season tickets' to the MN HS State Tourney. When I moved, I tuned into the WI equivalent and was floored by the lack of support. There were less fans than a regular season MN HS game - and most of those arenas don't fit many people. TBH, I don't remember when I've last tuned into WI Tourney, but nowhere near the numbers of MN.

There are strong youth programs pumping out hockey players everywhere now.  Many places that didn’t have the game until recent decades and can’t grow ice naturally.

California and Florida each have as many NHL players (12) as Wisconsin (13).  Most recent stats I could find.

Many in Minnesota consider hockey a part of the culture.  Wisconsin isn’t in the same universe when it comes to its passion level for hockey vs. Minnesota.  And I’m not talking about Maple Grove and Edina.  You get into parts of northern MN, It’s life.  You skate before you can walk.

A huge section of their population is basically a Chicago suburb.  Another big chunk is basically a Minneapolis/St. Paul suburb.  Fans in thos areas are already invested in thr Blackhawks or Wild.  A hockey team may work there, but I can’t imagine the NHL would want to crowd the market like that.  They’d get a better return where they’re the only show in town, so to speak.

Edited January 26 by Beast