ROSS MCKEON Many changes since the Sharks entered league
Looks like the NHL is serious about expansion again.
On the heels of Wednesday’s decision by the Seattle city council on a $600 million renovation of KeyArena, Commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday said the league’s Board of Governors has agreed to accept and consider an expansion application from the Emerald City.
The price to become the NHL’s 32nd franchise jumped to $650 million (Vegas paid “only” $500 million), and the new team would begin play in the 2020-21 season.
The ownership group in Seattle has permission to conduct a seasonticket drive, which was successful in Las Vegas and obviously worked in the Golden Knights’ favor.
Assuming this happens — and certainly the league very much wants a 16th franchise in the West to match the number in the East and create scheduling and geographic balance — it’s amazing to think how much the league has grown in less than 30 years.
The expansion Sharks of 1991-92 were the league’s 22nd entry, and represented the first of nine new teams that grew the league to 30
Who:
Senators (9-11-7) at Sharks (15-10-2) 7 p.m. NBCSBA/98.5
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strong by 2000. The timing seemed right because the influx of Europeans enabled the talent pool to not only stabilize but improve despite basically adding 225 players to the league.
Though it’s early and the franchise still has a long way to go to sustain what it’s started, Vegas is proving to be a good gamble — sorry, couldn’t resist — in terms of adding a 31st market to what many might still consider a niche sport. Add Seattle in three years and the league will have grown by another 50 NHL players.
But with Seattle now clearly the front-runner for expansion, what will happen with struggling franchises in Arizona and Florida? Early word on the street is that the Coyotes could look to relocate from Glendale to Houston, where the new owner of the NBA’s Rockets has interest in adding a team to his NHL-ready building. The perfect move is to add expansion Seattle to the Pacific Division and move Arizona/Houston to the Central.
Both the Hurricanes and Panthers appear on shaky ground in the East, but Carolina entered into a purchasing agreement on Thursday with Dallas-based businessman Tom Dundon, who would become majority owner with plans to keep the team in Raleigh.
The Panthers, however, are third from the bottom in attendance (the Hurricanes and Islanders rank lower) and could become the viable option to relocate to Quebec City, which would prefer an existing franchise to expansion. Killin’ it: No area of the Sharks’ game has shown more improvement than the penalty kill over last season, when San Jose ranked 18th at 80.7 percent. With an 86.7 percent success rate this season, the Sharks ranked second in the NHL through Thursday. And their two shorthanded goals Thursday against Carolina gave them six this season. That’s a pace of 18 for the season, which would break the franchise mark of 16 set in 1999-00. Taking a toll? Sure he’s a lot more gray than when he began his head coaching career with the Sharks in 2008, but Oilers bench boss Todd McLellan is also looking thinner these days. Have to hope it’s because of diet and not all the stress he must be feeling with Edmonton’s 11-15-2 start. More history: That three-point game Joe Thornton enjoyed Thursday to move past Dale Hawerchuk and into 19th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,410 points was the 107th of his career. Jumbo Joe won’t rank his uniform number for long, as No. 18 Doug Gilmour sits only four points away at 1,414. Only Jaromir Jagr (195) and Sidney Crosby (122) have more three-point games among active players. Briefly: His next goal in sudden death will tie the Sharks’ Brent Burns with Scott Niedermayer for the all-time lead (13) in overtime goals by a defenseman. … Out since Oct. 29 with a facial bone fracture, Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf says he’ll wear a visor once he returns. … The first outdoor game of the season pits the Canadiens and Senators at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park on Dec. 16.