The NHL In Kansas City? Hasn't Canada Suffered Enough?

Imagine, for a moment, if 3/4 of the major league baseball teams were located in Canada. That's "our" national pastime, isn't it? Imagine also if, anytime one of those poorly-placed teams went belly-up, baseball relocated them.....to another poorly-placed Canadian town.

I don't want to be a shill for our neighbors up north, but what must they be thinking whenever they look at the makeup of the National Hockey League?

Canadian cities in the NHL are few and far between, and in one instance a franchise has been moved from Canada to a curious U.S. city indeed -- Phoenix.

Part of the NHL's financial woes can be traced to an overly optimistic and ambitious effort to place franchises in cities that have, frankly, no business being in the hockey business: Atlanta, Miami, Tampa (Stanley Cup notwithstanding), Columbus, to name a few. This force-feeding of hockey to sunbelt towns doesn't work, has never worked, and probably never will work, at least not to the degree that is needed to keep those franchises, and the league, from being wobbly financially.

It's not just whether those cities can fill arenas. It's, how many people OTHER than those with their fannies in seats are watching. What does it say about the state of the NHL when ESPN basically told the league "NO Vacancy" when it came time to place it on their programming schedule? Desperate for a network contract, the NHL turned to fledgling OLN -- Outdoor Life Network -- and while OLN's efforts to cover the game have been admirable, employing such name announcers as Sam Rosen, Mike Emrick and John Davidson, it ain't close to being ESPN. Actually it IS ESPN -- circa 1982.

I bring this up because there is some scuttlebutt out of Pittsburgh, from Mario Lemieux himself, that it's very likely the Penguins will have to move after the 2006-07 season, when their agreeement with Mellon Area expires. Lemieux, player-owner -- that's also something you'll only see in the NHL, by the way -- says slow progress in securing a new arena in Pittsburgh might force the Penguins to look for another igloo.

The same old "We need a new arena or we're moving" threat.

But here's the rub: do enough people in the Steel City care if the Penguins take their pucks and sticks and flee?

Already there is talk of potential new homes for the Pens. Davidson, during the OLN broadcast of the Penguins-Red Wings game Monday night, cited Kansas City as a possible venue.

Kansas Freaking City?

The NHL tried that already, in case some of you are too young to remember. The Kansas City Scouts stumbled through the National Hockey League from 1974-76, before they were granted clemency and moved -- to Denver, as the Colorado Rockies (NOT the baseball team). That didn't work, either, so the club ended up in New Jersey, as the Devils. The NHL has had its share of carpetbaggers.

So a hockey person such as Davidson, who I respect, would suggest Kansas City? Instead of more deserving Canadian towns?

Well, there's Winnipeg, for one. The Jets became the Coyotes when they migrated to Phoenix. If American cities get second chances in hockey, then shouldn't Winnipeg?
Or how about somewhere in Saskatchewan? New Brunswick? Hey, what about Hamilton, Ontario? The Maple Leafs might not like it, but tough cookies. If major league baseball can convince Peter Angelos, Baltimore Orioles owner, that a team in nearby Washington, D.C. wouldn't be Armageddon for his team, then surely Gary Bettman ought to roll up his sleeves and soothe the fears of Maple Leaf ownership. He owes the league that much, for all the doo-doo he's helped put it in.

The NHL has expanded too quickly and to the wrong cities. It is a lethal combination, especially for a league that has had to resort to gimmicks such as shootouts to determine the outcomes of games.