Eklund: Is European Expansion the Wave of NHL's Long-Term Future

Eklund: Is European Expansion the Wave of NHL's Long-Term Future
- Eklund

nope it doesn't


that why they should have the canada cup or the world or what ever they want to call it cup tourney.

man this sounds like the olympics.....

Eklund: Is European Expansion the Wave of NHL's Long-Term Future
- Eklund

stupid and wont work

I'm gonna go with a big NO on this one mmmmmmmmkayyyyyy???

Eklund: Is European Expansion the Wave of NHL's Long-Term Future
- Eklund

no

So if 7 of the 8 European teams lose all their games against the NHL teams, but the 8th team wins 1 game that team gets to be in the playoffs?

Eklund: Is European Expansion the Wave of NHL's Long-Term Future
- Eklund

No and the ideas they are kicking around sound unnecessarily convoluted and dumb.

Dumb idea. Work on evening out the conferences first. 32 teams add one in Canada (Quebec) and one in the US (Seattle).

Ummmm.... No.

LMFAO EK........................................................... you honestly believe any of this... so far fetched it makes zero sense what so ever.

I think the NHL has to take a deep long look at itself before even considering anything beyond N. America.

Blasphemy!

Business must grow, or die

I think he mixed up "N"HL with "K"HL

It's the KHL that is trying swallow up the top teams in other leagues over in Europe.

Forget Europe. They play a bastardized version of hockey over there. Bigger ice, no fighting, soccer like rules. Keep it a 200 X 85 foot game and keep what makes NHL hockey great. The game was fine, before they started introducing all of the gimmicks. They should have left the Winter Classic, as the only outdoor event, instead of getting greedy and wanting to get more money with football/baseball stadium games all over the place. Shootouts and extra point games have had their day too! Get rid of all of the crap and get back to the basics that made the game great.

Why not an implementation similar to the UEFA Champion's League? Allocate a certain # of spots to the NHL, KHL etc. into a tournament which would take place during built-in breaks of the regular season. The top 4 teams in the regular season NHL get spots, and one wildcard from each conference for a total of 6. 6 from NHL 6 from KHL, 1 each for SEL, Czech League, German Ice Hockey League and Swiss league. Home team picks the ice surface.

Eklund: Is European Expansion the Wave of NHL's Long-Term Future
- Eklund

No, but it has to at least explore the issue.

Won't happen though. If guys want to go play in the KHL -- where the Russian mob is everywhere, drunk pilots kill entire teams, and you wear ads on your helmet -- by all means.

The KHL will never be able to match the overall quality and competitiveness of the NHL. Ever.

Forget Europe. They play a bastardized version of hockey over there. Bigger ice, no fighting, soccer like rules. Keep it a 200 X 85 foot game and keep what makes NHL hockey great.
- PrinceLH

This idea is so bad that Meltzer didn't even need to bring up the changes to rules/ice size that would be required to make this happen. But you are spot on with your comments as well.

The kind of setup proposed here is not going to work. Period.

However, a full division in Europe IS doable, but it will have to be a long term project. The money made in Europe would for any franchise not be enough to compete in the NHL. But, with time, more, and maybe enough, money would not be an impossibility.

European teams would have to''tour'' the North American divisions - and stay there for weeks. Also, every present NHL team would have to do a European tour as well.
Schedulewise it is, IMO, doable.

I like this concept, I really do. But the current plan is meh. Get full time, full schedule NHL teams.

Expansion to Europe might have to happen if the KHL continues to grow.

Forget Europe. They play a bastardized version of hockey over there. Bigger ice, no fighting, soccer like rules.
- PrinceLH

So, if the NHL does a European expansion, they would have to adopt both the ice sizes and the no fighting rules? NO. Bring NHL hockey here, many would love it!

I would love for smaller rinks and more fighting to be incorporated into ''our'' game.

If the KHL is allowed to grow more, and get even bigger market shares, what then? What if the NHL one day actually becomes equal or smaller than the KHL?

Not until they invent teleportation.

the only real idea that could work would be to make an all canada division. and all american division. an all europe division and an all russian division and then who ever wins their divisions will compete in a 4 team tournament to see who is the WHL (world hockey league) champion. 15 teams per division.

Canada:

1. vancouver
2. calgary
3. edmonton
4. quebec city
5. montreal
6. toronto
7. halifax
8. ottawa
9. winnipeg
10. 2nd toronto team
11. saskatoon
12. regina
13. prince george
14. victoria
15. manitoba

USA division:
1. pittsburgh
2. philly
3. NYR
4. DET
5. CHI
6. BOS
7. Tampa
8. ANA
9. washington
10. minnesota
11. NJ
12. NYI
13. Buffalo
14. STL
15. LA

Europe division:
1. Sweden
2. finland
3. germany
4. england
5. france
6. italy
7. chech
8. slovakia
9. poland
10. norway
11. austria
12. belarus
13. spain
14. romania
15. hungary

Russia:
15 cities in russia lol

whoever wins respective divisions play for world championship

derp derp gold helmets derp derp

derp derp gold helmets derp derp
- Sammich

Which the NHL should adapt ASAP. :D