Re: Quebec Devils??? So I guess the crap is hitting the fan in Phoenix. The mayor and the city council members are all blaming each other about having blown 50 million bucks on the Coyotes over the past two years, and appear shocked that the NHL managed to play them like a cheap fiddle for the past couple of years. Meanwhile the Coyotes are still in a good position to make the playoffs, so I guess the Coyotes -> Quebec City announcement is going to have to wait a couple more weeks.
Re: Quebec Devils??? It will likely slip out sooner rather than later if it's actually going to happen. In order to get the whole thing down is going to involve a lot of people, tough to keep a secret for long.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Yep! As a once and hopefully future Nordiques fan, I can't decide whether I want them to miss the playoffs so we get the announcement asap, or go deep in the playoffs so they'll have more to build on next season.
Re: Quebec Devils??? I don't think it matters too much either way. I do wonder how the Coyotes might fair when released from their purgatory. They will have more money to spend but I think the team has really relished it's us against the world attitude and used it to go further than the talent level would normally be expected.
Re: Quebec Devils??? There's also the Dave Tippett issue - those in the know (not me, unfortunatley, as I haven't been following the Coyotes) think he has done a masterful job with limited resources. But there is speculation that Quebecor wouldn't bring him to QC with the team because he doesn't speak French.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Almost 100% he won't be brought in unless he does some serious immersion. Quebec will advertise itself as the Francophone alternative to Montreal's anglophone organization. And we all know what happened in Montreal.
Re: Quebec Devils??? What I was seeing from the QC posters though was that they're not as sensitive about the language thing as they are in Montreal, because practically everyone in QC is francophone and there's no reason for them to have an inferiority complex about it. And the last Nords coach (Marc Crawford) was an English speaker... although apparently he spoke French fluently because his wife was a French teacher. In any case, the QC posters at HF were saying that rather have a good coach who doesn't speak French than a poor one who does. I wonder where Patrick Roy comes in with regard to this.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Yeah, but right now I don't care... I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth!
Re: Quebec Devils??? There has been virtually nothing in the media here about this, other than the arena announcement for QC. The only thing I've seen is the mayor, saying he can't really say anything, at the arena announcement. Which, considering how politicians treat major announcements (I consider a new arena a major announcement), his 'no comment' on the getting-an-NHL-team process seems odd, and he appears to be willing to share the spotlight of the bigger announcements to come. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Oh rly? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/glendale-mayor-talks-tough-on-nhl/article2391952/page2/ Seriously though. If I ever lived in a city that gave $25 million to a sports franchise or league, I'd sell my house that day and never give a tax dollar to that group of bumbling idiots who agreed to it. Oh don't worry Glendale, we'll give you that $25 million. We don't really need it, just put it in this account just as a show of good faith. You know. Trust us. Seriously sometimes I wonder......
Re: Quebec Devils??? By nothing, I was speaking about Coyotes to QC (or anybody to QC - maybe I should rename this thread to Quebec Coyotes???). That article (from today, I hadn't seen it yet ) doesn't mention Quebec at all, which is what I was referring to in that post. Anyway, after reading that article, I'm not shocked that Hulsizer was a stuffed shirt and there are no buyers.
Re: Quebec Devils??? I was just joking because I checked the Globe site today and saw it. Anyway I think that's what Mattbro meant. The only thing that must be keeping the Coyotes in Phoenix right now is pride. Honestly It's a bummer but it is what it is.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Check the Quebec media... there are articles about it daily. Basically the Coyotes are on their last legs in Phoenix, and the only market that is ready to take them on right now is Quebec (owner: Quebecor; arena: Colisée temporarily and new arena in 2015). The league is keeping it close to the vest, but the consensus is they're done in Phoenix and there aren't any other cities that have everything lined up for them other than Quebec City.
Re: Quebec Devils??? I was too young to know why the Nordiques and the Jets moved, but why did they move the first time around, and whats in place now to stop it from happening again?
Re: Quebec Devils??? Both moved because a) they had obsolescent buildings and there was no appetite in Canada at the time to publicly fund hockey arenas, and b) the Canadian dollar was only worth 60 cents U.S. (and all the players were paid in U.S. dollars). On top of that, the league was very keen to expand into the Sunbelt so as to expand its national footprint, so it took no steps to save Quebec and Winnipeg (unlike later on when it put currency measures in effect to keep Edmonton and Ottawa from moving). The difference now is that a) Winnipeg has a new arena and Quebec is getting one in 2015, b) the Canadian dollar is on par with the U.S. dollar and c) the Canadian economy is relatively strong. Apparently Quebec City currently has the lowest unemployment rate of any major North American city. Also its economy has apparently diversified since 1995, when it was still mainly a government town with little corporate representation.
Re: Quebec Devils??? The league did everything they could to keep Winnipeg in town. Nobody on earth wanted to buy them.
Re: Quebec Devils??? That may be true, but my understanding is that after the Jets and Nordiques moved and the Oilers and Senators were in grave danger, the league put in some mechanism to mitigate the currency problems. Don't ask me what mechanism though... the NHL was basically dead to me after the Nordiques and Whalers moved, and I've only just been getting up to speed recently.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Should've clarified that I was referring to the the city itself and the potential owners not talking publicly about this. Agree that there is plenty of talk in the media.
Re: Quebec Devils??? That is by design. The NHL has shown that if you keep your yap shut and get in their good graces, you're more likely to get a team. That's how Winnipeg did it last year. Contrast that with Jim Ballsillie's attempt to get a team in Hamilton. The mayor of QC, Regis Labeaume, and the potential owner Pierre-Karl Peladaue were quite vocal about bringing back the Nordiques until recently. They've now clammed up like the league expects them to.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Yeah, Bettman is a control freak, and he really hates when their internal workings are aired publicly. So prospective buyers are always going to toe that line, I think Balsilie showed every suitor how not to do it. The Glendale situation looks like a giant mess, I have a funny feeling that Quebecor's pockets will be what gets the NHL and Glendale out of this mess, but nobody will go on record to say that. BTW, renamed the thread, as I don't think the Devils are involved anymore.
Re: Quebec Devils??? Yep... the sad part for Coyotes fans and Glendale taxpayers is it appears that the NHL has been stringing Glendale along and extorting 25 million bucks a year from them just to give another market enough time to step up and take the Coyotes off their hands.
That was my take too, and that Bill Daly isn't to be trusted. Seems the escrow account was supposed to be in both the city and the NHL's hands, but the city cannot access the escrow funds.