https://www.nhl.com/oilers/news/feat...eg/c-343192364
WARNING: Do not click and read unless prepared to vomit profusely.
Selected clippings:
- "... is designed to dovetail with an accelerating on-ice resurgence for the Oilers. And that resurgence has included a trip to the 2022 NHL Western Conference finals, the club's highest full-season point total since the glory days of the team's 1980s dynasty, and the continued dominance of star captain Connor McDavid, currently the NHL's best player.
-"The Oilers are not an Original Six NHL team, and only joined the league in 1979 after starting its existence in the former World Hockey Association. But despite the relative youth of the franchise in a historical hockey context, the Oilers have since soared to become one of the sport's most revered and valuable brands."
- "That brand power and lineage of success also made the continued health of the Oilers a key priority for the NHL and Bettman. For years, Bettman and his deputies routinely trumpeted the need to replace the Northlands Coliseum. And Bettman also helped engineer the transitions of the franchise ownership from prior regimes, and through sometimes-rocky periods for the franchise, until the arrival of Katz."
- "Edmonton's stature within the league was further buttressed in 2020 when the city and Rogers Place were selected one of two hub locations for the conclusion of the NHL's pandemic-impacted season that year. That hub city experience has help allow both the Oilers and the league overall to emerge from the pandemic in stronger-than-ever positions."