Reports (denied by league, but why would they admit it now during negotiations), have 2 expansion teams being announced in Toronto (Markham?) and Quebec.
Note that this move could lead to the 4-conference realignment actually coming into effect, with the two expansions sliding into the easternmost conferences almost seamlessly.
Markham's arena should be ready by 2014-15 if the Toronto team would play there, and Quebec has a rich owner in place, but their arena won't be ready until 2015-16. However, they are also renovating the old Nordiques Arena (Colisee Pepsi) as a temporary home for a proposed team.
Now, I am not advocating this or dismissing it as a bad move. It goes both ways. Economically, it is a great move, putting an extra $33.3 million in each owner's pocket immediately, creating new jobs for players, and adding two healthy markets to add to the teams in the league are are economically stable. Now, as Dewey prefers to look at alone, it also dilutes the talent pool, which is unarguably a bad side.
However, rather than debating whether it is right or not, as it either will or won't happen one way or another, let's just track the progress on this, if the reports were true (THN is trustworthy), and debate the side effects.
The realignment. Would you like it in place before or when the expansion teams are added? Team names? Compensation going to the Maple Leafs? Hamilton instead of Markham/Toronto proper to slightly appease the Leafs? Any other concerns?
