Bill Daly was in Quebec City on Thursday to take in some World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament action, and hopes to return in the future to deliver good tidings of the NHL's return to local hockey fans.
He just doesn't know when.
"I wish I knew," Daly said Thursday, per Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com. "I can't give you that answer. I was actually asked at customs today whether I was coming to announce the Nordiques coming back. I said, 'Not today.' But hopefully at some point in my career."
Passed over in the expansion process this time around, Quebecor remains committed to an NHL team back to Quebec City. Daly, the league's deputy commissioner, reiterated the main issue is the preexistence of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference, on top of the devaluation of the Canadian dollar in recent months.
"I think I would say probably the most important of those situations hasn't resolved itself and can't really resolve itself without a further expansion, and that's the geographic imbalance," he said. "So I think that was a huge hurdle that this expansion application had from the start. I think we were upfront about that."
Daly added the Videotron Centre is a first-rate facility that could easily host an NHL team, but time will tell whether Quebec City joins Las Vegas as one of the league's new homes.
The World Cup of Hockey is going to be good. Great, actually. We know that after the first three pre-tournament games.
It's hockey in September featuring the best players in the world; if you're complaining about that, you should stop and try to enjoy your life.
But the tournament could have been even better - it could have truly stood out. Here are three reasons why the World Cup should have been played four-on-four.
A tournament like no other
The main criticism of the World Cup is that it's not the Olympics, instead operating as an NHL cash grab - if you haven't looked at ticket prices, don't.
While those concerns are valid, and while the World Cup trophy is an abomination, it's clear after three exhibition games that we're in store for high-level hockey. And that's all that matters.
Organizers took a creative step by adding select teams to the tournament. Europeans from outside the power-hockey countries get a chance to play against hockey's elite, while an Under-23 squad comprised of North American players may be the most exciting team when games start to count on Sept. 17. But playing the tournament at four-on-four would have truly made the World Cup extraordinary.
The NHL and NHLPA could have trumpeted a unique tournament with the world's best playing a format unlike any before, standing out from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Olympics, and the World Championship.
Not playing four-on-four is a missed opportunity. There's no other way to put it.
Real estate
The World Cup will be played in Toronto, on NHL ice. Now, imagine the world's best hockey players facing each other at the highest level - All-Star teams, essentially - playing four-on-four. Think about all the room the game's most creative players would have to put on a show. Another missed opportunity.
International ice isn't coming to North America - it takes seats out of arenas, and money out of owners' and players' pockets. But the reality is players are too big and too fast for the smaller ice surface, a major reason that scoring is down. So if going to bigger ice is a non-starter, do the next best thing: go from 10 skaters to eight.
Sit back and think about Canada and the U.S. playing a 60-minute game at four-on-four. Even better: Think about a best-of-three World Cup final between those rivals at four-on-four. The NHL wants the World Cup to promote hockey. Well, it wouldn't get much better than that.
You watched North America's speed show Thursday night, dummying Europe 4-0 in Quebec City. Imagine what that team could do at four-on-four.
Goals
When fewer guys are on the ice, more goals are scored. It's math. Science. Both. And when the best players are pitted against one another; when rivals become teammates; when Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, and Ryan Getzlaf are on a line together; and when Joe Pavelski is flanked by Patrick Kane and Max Pacioretty, it's offense we're looking for.
Yeah, Russian 'tender Sergei Bobrovsky made a stupendous pad save Thursday against the Czech Republic with the friendly on the line, but that'll happen at four-on-four, too, because today's goaltenders are too big, and too good. They have, for all intents and purposes, mastered their position.
A World Cup played at four-on-four would have put the game's best feet forward: Speed, skill, offense, and, in the end, wildly entertaining hockey.
The tournament will be a success, there's no doubt. And that's great for the sport. But what could have been ...
The gap between what the Calgary Flames are offering Johnny Gaudreau and what the restricted free agent is seeking on his new deal is significant.
The two sides, who reportedly won't be talking while Gaudreau plays at the World Cup, are believed to be approximately $1.5 million apart in terms of average annual valuation, according to Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun, who writes:
Sources say Gaudreau’s agent, Lewis Gross, is asking for a payday in the $8-million range while the Flames are pushing to pay between what Sean Monahan signed for ($6.375 million annual average value) and what captain Mark Giordano makes (a team-high $6.75 million AAV).
The 23-year-old has quickly emerged as the new face of the Flames, leading the team in scoring in each of his first two seasons and finishing 2015-16 in a tie for the fifth-highest point total in the NHL.
That he's only played 160 games and is a restricted free agent limits his leverage, however, and the argument can be made - and is likely being made by Calgary - that a big-time payday coming out of an entry-level deal isn't prudent.
Still, Gaudreau's production warrants a deal comparable to his peers, and he is an important piece for a Flames team that has the look of an up-and-comer in the Western Conference, meaning a deal is still likely to get done before the puck drops on the regular season.
But there's still a considerable amount of work to be done, it would seem.
The Edmonton Oilers legend spoke about the club's vacant captaincy Thursday night, at the grand opening of Rogers Place, and he believes Connor McDavid is more than ready for the responsibility.
"I don't think it'll affect him. He's mature as a 19- or 20-year-old," Gretzky said, writes the Edmonton Journal's Jim Matheson.
With the coaching staff currently in place in Edmonton and veterans like Matt Hendricks and Milan Lucic on the roster, Gretzky believes McDavid will have the support he needs to shoulder the responsibility that comes with the "C."
"If they give it to him now, he'll handle it with flying colors," Gretzky said.
McDavid will be captain of the Oilers one day, Gretzky added, saying the fact was "probably the worst-kept secret in the NHL." Should it happen for the coming season, Gretzky believes McDavid's teammates "will rally around him."
The teenager was named captain of Team North America - coached by Edmonton's Todd McLellan - on Thursday evening. One captaincy down, one more to go.
While he may not have found the scoresheet in his first taste of high-level hockey, Auston Matthews is treating Game 1 as a success.
The Toronto Maple Leafs forward - currently competing as a member of Team North America - finished Thursday's 4-0 win over Team Europe with just two shots, a plus-1 rating, and 13:13 of ice time, but is happy to have held his own with some of the game's best.
"It was great. Those are some of the top NHL players in the league," Matthews said, according to Michael Traikos of the National Post. "To be able to go out there and compete was a good sign."
His solid outing certainly didn't fall on blind eyes, as Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau was quick to notice the youngster's potential.
"You can already tell how skilled he is," Gaudreau said. "It’s up to him to see how the rest of his career is going to go."
It's just a start, but for Matthews and the Maple Leafs faithful, it's definitely a good sign going forward.
The San Jose Sharks are more than a team. They are an institution.
As evidenced by the fact the club now has its own Sharks-themed beer, called "Chum." The dry-hopped red ale was unveiled Thursday, writes The Mercury News' Sal Pizarro.
For the uneducated, Pizarro will help you out regarding the name. The beer is "named after the bloody fish pieces that fishermen throw into the water to attract sharks." Obviously.
Dan Gordon, a huge Sharks fan and co-founder of Gordon Biersch brewery, is manufacturing "Chum." The beer will be on sale at the SAP Center and Safeway.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have two excellent goalies - Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy - accounting for over $7.4 million, heading into an expansion draft in which only one can be protected. But that doesn't mean Vasilevskiy or Bishop, an unrestricted free agent in July 2017, will be traded.
General manager Steve Yzerman was asked Thursday if he'll be forced to trade one of his 'tenders before the 2017 deadline, and answered in Yzerman-like fashion.
With Stanley Cup aspirations, Yzerman said keeping both goalies is an option. And it may make the most sense.
Bishop was stellar last season, with a .926 save percentage in 60 starts. When he went down to injury in the playoffs, Vasilevskiy stepped in and played superbly. He finished the postseason with a .925 save percentage in six starts and eight total contests, as the Lightning fell in seven games to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the eventual Stanley Cup champions.
Vasilevskiy signed a three-year, $10.5-million extension on July 1, and is expected be Tampa Bay's goalie of the future. Bishop, meanwhile, acknowledged recently that a summer trade to the Calgary Flames was "close," and that a contract extension was discussed before Calgary went a different route and acquired Brian Elliott.
Last season, Steven Stamkos' expiring contract was the topic of mass discussion in the Lightning dressing room and throughout the NHL. This season, it appears Bishop's situation will be a major storyline.
Yzerman, of course, has proven deft at keeping the Lightning together, and while a Bishop extension - he'll be 30 on Nov. 21 - is unlikely, it's certainly possible the GM risks losing his goalie for nothing in order to win a Cup.
The former Detroit Red Wings legend and Hall of Famer knows best that banners fly forever.
