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Report: Balsillie gets deal in Hamilton


insanity_gallops

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Copps Coliseum will need some MAJOR rebuilding and it may take a full year's makeover to install those boxes and club seats. I'm not sure if the NHL wants the Preds to be a lame-duck in Nashville while Copps is readied for their arrival. The team that gets screwed the most is Buffalo which needs the corporate support of the west side of the Niagara River which will now be split.

As for the divisions I wonder if the NHL will be retooling the divisions along with the discussion of retooling the schedule after 07-08. Its not like baseball where you need an even number of teams in each league in order to avoid an interleague series going on each day. Boston in the Atlantic would be cool, however I'm not sure the NHL wants to split-up the Boston-Montreal and Boston-Buffalo rivalries.

I can even see the NHL returning to the 2 division per conference format.

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I still think Hamilton would remain in the West. I'm sure the league would also like every team coming through its biggest media center too. The NE division works out really well with the orig 6 teams, to the Canadian rivalries to Buffalo.

Hamilton and Detroit could become a good city rivalry, as well as it would help out Detroit who already travels a ton.

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Interesting thought: Would the Leafs and Sabres be MORE or LESS likely to try to block a move to Hamilton/Kitchener if the league promised that the new team would play in the Western Conference?

Also, what "location" would the team sport? Would they be the Hamilton ###s, even after the eventual move to the Kitchener/Waterloo area, or would they be the Ontario ###s? You certainly wouldn't call them the Kitchener ###s or the Waterloo ###s, not unless you want one of the biggest "where's that?" teams in professional sports.

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Interesting thought: Would the Leafs and Sabres be MORE or LESS likely to try to block a move to Hamilton/Kitchener if the league promised that the new team would play in the Western Conference?

Also, what "location" would the team sport? Would they be the Hamilton ###s, even after the eventual move to the Kitchener/Waterloo area, or would they be the Ontario ###s? You certainly wouldn't call them the Kitchener ###s or the Waterloo ###s, not unless you want one of the biggest "where's that?" teams in professional sports.

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I still believe that if Winnipeg ever gets a team they should be named the "screaming beavers". I would cheer for them then...

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http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=210000&hubname=nhl

The National Post reports that Canada's Competition Bureau is looking into the NHL's relocation policies in the wake of the purchase of the Nashville Predators by Jim Balsillie.

Sources told the Post the federal independent law enforcement agency notified the NHL's executive offices in New York last month.

The paper also reports that Balsillie, who signed a letter of intent to purchase the Predators for US$220-million last month, has also been contacted by the Canadian competition watchdog. Balsillie will meet with the NHL's executive committee on June 19 and the league's full board of governors June 20 to obtain approval for his offer.

According to the Post, the Competition Bureau is reviewing sections of the NHL's constitution that state existing hockey teams have the individual right to veto the relocation of other clubs within an 80-kilometre radius of their own market.

It is widely speculated that Balsillie move the Predators from Nashville to Hamilton, Ont.

Last week, he re-activated an agreement with Waterloo billionaire Jim Balsillie, giving him exclusive rights to bring an NHL team to Copps Coliseum.

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