OK, a little quick hit today on this holiday Monday
As you may or may not know, the NHL preseason begins on September 20, and there will be 2 neutral zone games taking place in Quebec this preseason…(New Jersey vs. Ottawa, Sept. 28, and Montreal vs. Ottawa, Sept. 30).
For quite some time now, sources I've been telling me that Quebec City will be getting another NHL team. It's just a matter of when. This has been going on for 15 years. It was 15 years ago at the team USA pre-Olympic camp that word came out that the NHL had promised Quebec they would return if a new stadium was built. Following that, the city of Quebec did indeed build a stadium; unfortunately, the Canadian dollar took a bit of a dive. I was also told that it was supposed to be Vegas and Quebec coming in at the same time, but the NHL told the city of Quebec and the potential franchise owners that the invitation was still there, and when the Canadian dollar got stronger, they would be fast-tracked to bring back the Nordiques.
Now, for the first time in, I would say about five years, there is suddenly a lot of buzz again about the eighth Canadian team being the Nordiques. The NHL hasn't said no to any ownership group or any city. That's just not how they work. The NHL allows these cities and teams to put together their proposals and their concepts and do their homework and then come to the NHL, and the NHL will then evaluate…. Teams in Houston, Atlanta, Portland, Oregon, Markham, Ontario, even New Orleans have their own ownership groups now that want to get in on the NHL.
What's the next team you think that should be allowed to enter?