Yet again the idea of a second NHL franchise being awarded to Toronto seems to be rearing it's head.
The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail is reporting:
NHL governors are talking informally about placing a second hockey team in Toronto alongside the Maple Leafs, The Globe and Mail has learned.
“Why shouldn't we put another team in the best and biggest market in the world?” one of several NHL governors who spoke with The Globe anonymously said of the Greater Toronto Area.
According to this governor, one idea floated is for prospective owner Jim Balsillie to be rewarded with an expansion team in Toronto after helping to restore financial ballast to the Nashville Predators.“I've heard this exact scenario,” a second governor said.Calgary Flames co-owner Harley Hotchkiss, a former chairman of the NHL board of governors, is also aware of the Balsillie movement.
“I've heard bits and pieces of this scenario, although not in that kind of detail,” he said. “Our priority is to have the existing franchises
solid.”
Richard Peddie, president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said the organization would not automatically reject the idea of a second team in Toronto.
“When and if the league brings expansion to the table, we'll listen and decide what is best [for hockey],” he said.There's more discussion in the full article which can be found here:NHL floats notion of second team in Toronto
Whatever the outcome of this, and it's been discussed many times before, it seems like Hamilton is a no no. The NHL board has exprtessed concern that any NHL fanchise in the city of Hamilton would take fans away from the nearby Sabres. I just wonder how many Candian hocke
