Rapporter Les Nordiques

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

That would require that the NHL Board of Governors approve a relocation. They're not about to kiss half a billion dollars goodbye by doing that.

When, and only when, they have collected their pound of flesh for the two expansion franchises, they'll look at allowing existing franchises to relocate to any markets that are still available.

This is the end game – the real reason why Gary Bettman poured tens of millions of the owners' dollars down the bottomless pit of Phoenix, among other things. A cool billion in expansion fees covers those losses many times over. You may be sure that the owners gave Bettman his marching orders to do exactly that.

I imagine it would hurt Carolina's chances of being sold/relocated if LV and QUE are out of the running here. Will there be a third party that shows up and buys the team for a fraction of the expansion fee and moves them to Seattle or Kansas City or somewhere else? I kind of doubt that given how no one else stepped up in the expansion process. It hardly seems fair to force 500m out of the two expansion teams and then just sell the Hurricanes to a party that is not as interested in owning an NHL team, AND for much cheaper. I would be infuriated if I was the perspective owner of QUE or LV and the NHL did this, talk about a slap in the face.

It will be interesting to see how they go about this. Will one of them just be allowed to buy CAR while the other gets an expansion team? I would think that LV would be pretty pissed off if QUE was allowed to get a team for cheaper and more loaded with talent. Even if they add a relocation fee to the Carolina sale to make the QUE and LV bids equal, there's still the matter of one team gets to build around Faulk, Hanifin, Fleury, Lindholm and the Staals, and the other gets to build around what they find in the scrap heap.

It seems to me that the NHL should focus on making the teams they already have stable and profitable before they add more teams, especially considering there's a good chance LV becomes another PHX/CAR/FLA instead of the SJ/ANA/TB that they hope it will.

[VladtheImpaler]

They could also set a relocation fee that would be equivalent to expansion. QUE would agree, since they would get a ready-made team with some stars, way ahead of where an expansion team would be...

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

They could also set a relocation fee that would be equivalent to expansion. QUE would agree, since they would get a ready-made team with some stars, way ahead of where an expansion team would be...

You're right that Quebec would likely be happy to pay a higher relocation fee to acquire a team with some star players, but it would look pretty bad on the league only because they've recently charged a relocation fee of $60m to True North.

That's some pretty drastic discrepancy going from $60mil to $500mil in 5/6 years.

[jayswin]

Does anyone know how the relocation fees are set? Is there an actual formula they stick to or is it a new negotiation every time?

If it's a new negotiation and they don't have to stick to anything and I'm Quebecor I'm saying "look, you've likely got three serious new hockey ownership groups in the next 6-8 years in Quebec, Vegas and Seattle. Seattle's not quite ready.

We also know that a team will likely relocate in the coming years, so you'll likely only see two expansion fees. So instead of getting $500mil X2, plus $80-$100mil on a relocation fee (just spitballing the number based on Winnipeg) we'll give you $350mil for relocation now.

You guys get a troubled franchise that needed to move out of the way, and immediately bringing more revenue to the owners in it's new home in Quebec. Then you get $500mil from Vegas, $350 from us immediately, then another $500mil when Seattle's ready, rather than $500mil X2 from us and Vegas and then a $100mil relocation fee later down the road from Seattle".

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by jayswin

You're right that Quebec would likely be happy to pay a higher relocation fee to acquire a team with some star players, but it would look pretty bad on the league only because they've recently charged a relocation fee of $60m to True North.

That's some pretty drastic discrepancy going from $60mil to $500mil in 5/6 years.

Things changed when they sold that LA basketball team for $2B.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Things changed when they sold that LA basketball team for $2B.

Of course, but is a troubled hockey franchise worth a $500mil relocation fee when the team itself is only going cost half that or less?

I don't doubt the NHL will get as much as they can and good on them, but I highly doubt we're going to see a relocation fee dwarf the actual team purchase unless it's the new owners pushing for it.

Which again, kind of makes sense for Quebec to get an actual NHL hockey team rather than a thrown together ****ty line up of everyone's castoffs.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Of course, but is a troubled hockey franchise worth a $500mil relocation fee when the team itself is only going cost half that or less?

I don't doubt the NHL will get as much as they can and good on them, but I highly doubt we're going to see a relocation fee dwarf the actual team purchase unless it's the new owners pushing for it.

Which again, kind of makes sense for Quebec to get an actual NHL hockey team rather than a thrown together ****ty line up of everyone's castoffs.

No you won't get $500M as a relocation fee but you could get the difference subtracted from the purchase price as it seems that $500M is the bottom value set for a NHL franchise in a new location.

[FlamesAddiction]

Maybe a dumb question, but can't the league make a relocation fee anything they want? Could they not just make it the same as the expansion fee?

Ok, maybe 2 dumb questions.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

They could also set a relocation fee that would be equivalent to expansion. QUE would agree, since they would get a ready-made team with some stars, way ahead of where an expansion team would be...

But why would LV agree? QUE could be in the playoffs in year one while LV struggles to get 20 wins. The fair thing to do would be to dispand the Hurricanes and make all their players available in a separate draft between the two expansion teams.

[TX_Flame]

Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix

But why would LV agree? QUE could be in the playoffs in year one while LV struggles to get 20 wins. The fair thing to do would be to dispand the Hurricanes and make all their players available in a separate draft between the two expansion teams.

Similar to the SJ expansion process. North Stars and Sharks drafted players off the North Stars roster and then both participated in an expansion draft.

[Strange Brew]

We haven't seen expansion in a salary cap NHL yet. I believe the new teams could get competitive relatively quickly. By definition you aren't saddled with any bad contracts unless you choose to take them on in a draft. I believe that at a $500 million fee, we will see an expansion draft that is relatively favorable to the expansion team(s), coupled with first picks in every round of the draft.

[troutman]

http://www.tsn.ca/dreger-report-expa...eting-1.419995

Sources tell The Dreger Report the NHL's executive committee is planning a “special” meeting in New York City between now and the end of January. Expansion will be the primary agenda item as the league and its designated leadership continues to work through the information compiled from Las Vegas and Quebec City, the two official expansion applicants.

Details of the meeting are limited. It's highly unlikely the executive committee will emerge with a formal decision, but the fact the NHL has called this meeting suggests it is inching toward a conclusion. The meeting is designed to be somewhat secretive, so the NHL won't provide a post-meeting progress report or announce its direction until the process is finalized, which could still be months away.

[troutman]

Quebecor refused to buy an NHL club.

https://translate.google.ca/translat...%2F&edit-text=

Jeff Fillion has released a bombshell this morning on Radio X waves by stating that Quebecor refused to buy the Arizona Coyotes since the price was too high.

It's Maxime Truman blog Danslescoulisses who shared information Fillion on social networks, the latter claiming that the leaders of Quebecor had the opportunity to buy the Coyotes before the expansion process of the NHL.

We could have hockey in Quebec now, but Pierre Dion would have preferred to refuse the offer of Gary Bettman due to the high price asked by the Commissioner of the League.

[nik-]

Seems likely. I'm sure there's a "Canadian market" premium for any prospective buyers.

[troutman]

My french isn't very good, but the Facebook comments contain many "BS" statements doubting this report.

[Enoch Root]

They couldn't find a way to get Alberta to give them the money

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I imagine the price is probably higher than what the team is worth. The league has to recoup some of the losses it had over the years of running the team.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

They couldn't find a way to get Alberta to give them the money

Alberta has no money to give away these days, sadly...

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

I imagine the price is probably higher than what the team is worth. The league has to recoup some of the losses it had over the years of running the team.

Plus Bettman has to compare it to the free money for expansion.

[troutman]

I've seen this gossip in a couple of places - not sure if accurate, but interesting if true:

http://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/b...ry-soon?ref=jo

Radio host on 98.5 FM Ron Fournier, a former National Hockey League official, made some shocking comments today when he revealed what he claims to be the NHL's plans for the not-so-distant future.

First the big bombshell from his comments was the revelation that the NHL is already talking about plans to relocate the Carolina Hurricanes, something both the league and the Hurricanes have denied at every possible opportunity. Fournier not only stated that relocation would happen, but furthermore that it was coming in the very near future adding that the situation for Carolina is critical.

The obvious destination would appear to be Quebec City, however Fournier stated that he believes Quebec will get a team within the next three to four years, so it's unclear if the league currently has other ideas for a possible Hurricanes relocation. While Seattle is also a possible destination, they do not currently have an arena, and everyone expects their bid to be for an expansion franchise, not relocation.

The second piece of big news from Fournier this morning was the revelation that according to his sources the NHL will be abandoning it's two conference system in the future, instead moving to a three conference system where each conference will feature 11 teams. The NHL will boast 31 teams when Las Vegas enters the fold and a successful expansion big from Seattle would put them at 32, indicating that NHL may have plans for yet another untapped market in the near future.