TSN Insider Trading: Darren Dreger, Bob McKenzie and Pierre LeBrun discuss the expansion presentation by Quebec City, expansion draft and the coach’s challenge.
On the expansion presentation by Quebec City…
Pierre LeBrun: Part of the presentation, at least the glitzy part, was ‘hey, here’s this brand new building and on Monday night we had an NHL game in it for the very first time ‘
That’s the physical evidence that they are ready to have a team. But on the business side where I think is the heart of the message from the Quebecor is, the Canadian Dollar in particular.
Bob McKenzie: There was also a message from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to all of the Governors at the Board of Governors meeting where he said, ”Not only would we be expanding by two , we may not be expanding at all.” We do have to allow for the possibility that even though the NHL opened this application process, that maybe the NHL doesn’t expand at all. Now I’m skeptical of that, I think most people are that they think there will be some expansion here in the next little while. But I think the key for Quebec City is, is it one or two teams going in, because if it’s one team the conventional wisdom is the NHL is more desirable of having Las Vegas in the US market than it is Quebec City. And if they do expand by just one, maybe Quebec City would have to wait for either re-location or a second wave of expansion.
On the expansion draft…
Darren Dreger: There is a high level of concern, as there is no clear vision on how it’s going to work just yet, and in fact the NHL insists they have had no discussions on this topic yet. We know what NHL GMs do, they try and predict and some believe they will be able to protect as many as nine forwards, five defensemen, one goalie and perhaps all of their Entry-Level players. Another general manager said with a $500 million expansion fee, he thinks there will be fewer restrictions and it will be a bit more wide open, so perhaps you’re only protecting six forward, four defensemen and one goaltender – but that stuff hasn’t been hashed out.
On the coach’s challenge…
McKenzie: The NHL, in fact Gary Bettman said, the coach’s challenge would be ready by opening night and the new video systems that are being put in place. Massive amount of software and hardware are required in all the buildings of the NHL and there is hope that they can test it before the final week of pre-season, but at this point in time nobody seems to know when or if that will happen.
The Hawk-Eyed system they’re putting in place is an gigantic screen and it has to be installed in the video relay booth and one version in each dressing room. The screen will have every feed in the building simultaneously coordinated so that you can look at all the angles. It will be the coaches and and video coaches that ultimately have big say whether your team challenges or not. How quickly can they get the information from the dressing room out to their bench?
