The former successful magnate Wayne Huisenga brought hockey in southern Florida in 1993 as the first owner of the expansion of the Florida Panthers. He Initially sought after To call them the Busters block.
Instead, they adapted the colors of Netflix and survived the video rental chain of Huizenga.
The Panthers were almost the Vegas Golden Knights of the 90s. They thwarted their competition in the draft expansion and reached the final of the Stanley Cup in 1996.
“They qualified as Castoffs”, ” said Michael Russo, who covered the Panthers before becoming a Wild Beat writer from Minnesota. “The panthers have essentially written the heart of their cutting race through this expansion project, then they made a lot of clever movements behind the scenes to swallow up the draft choices.”
The Nordic Quebec moved after the 1995 season, became the Colorado avalanche and swept the Panthers during the 1996 Stanley Cup finals. It was the start of an AVS dynasty. They made the playoffs during their first ten seasons and won the Cup again in 2000-01.
However, Florida made the playoffs twice in the next four years, then spent ten seasons without making the playoffs from 2000 to 01 to 2010-11. However, the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup final three years ago and have become repeated champions this year.
They are the first consecutive champions of the Stanley Cup since the Tampa Bay Lightning won in 2020 and 2021, which means that four of the last six winners of the Cup came from Florida. Meanwhile, Canada has not won a Stanley Cup since Montreal Canadians beat Los Angeles Kings in 1994.
The 1996 Stanley Cup final symbolized the NHL NHL of traditional hockey markets to major American cities. Edmonton’s Oilers had exchanged Wayne Gretzky To the Kings of Los Angeles in 1988, signaling hockey change of tectonics Small markets from northern to large cities in hot weather.
In the 1990s, the NHL left the crazy hockey residents to continue dollars and cables with relocations and expansion teams. The league said goodbye to Winnipeg, Quebec and Minnesota, opting for cities in Sun Belt like Dallas, Atlanta and Phoenix. Dallas-FT. The value is the fifth American television market. Atlanta is the eighth largest; Phoenix, the 12th.
Some Sun Belt teams have prospered. The Lightning of Tampa Bay won three Stanley Cups, including consecutive championships in 2020 and 2021, and the Hurricanes Anaheim Ducks and Carolina won the Stanley Cup. The San Jose Sharks had more than 90 points at each season from 2000-01 to 2018-19, except two.
However, the success of Sun Belt teams took place at the expense of Canadian clubs. Tampa beat the Flames de Calgary in 2004. The Hurricanes beat Edmonton after the 2005 locking, and Anaheim beat the Senators of Ottawa in 2007.
Canada has not won a championship since the Montreal Canadians beat Gretzky’s Kings in 1994. The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won since 1967, and the Vancouver Canucks have never won. Fans of cannucks almost burned their city When Boston’s Bruins defeated them in 2011.
However, it is not as if the longtime teams of the League had not won the Stanley Cup recently. From 2008 to 2019, Chicago’s Blackhawks won three, and Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings won two. The other teams were the original expansion teams 6 or 1967: the Bruins, the Red Wings of Detroit, the Capitals of Washington and the Blues of St. Louis.
However, a Florida -based team has won the Stanley Cup over the past four of the past six years. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights AVS and Vegas won the other two.
There is nothing intrinsically bad with the Sun Belt teams winning hockey championships. Their success has Extended the game to new areas. However, it is at the expense of better sustained teams, and the cable pack is come upset.
To survive the streaming era, the NHL must ensure that the most sustained teams in the League have an advantage. The Atlanta and Phoenix teams moved to Winnipeg and Utah, and athletics doesn’t Beat writers for panthers and knights because there are not enough people to pay the daily coverage. This is not the case for teams in Canada, the East Coast and the Midwest.
This does not mean that the league should not have teams in large sunny cities. However, the sports teams earn the maximum of their money with seasonal holders and television income. The league must allow teams with the most support to take advantage of its financial power to have an advantage. Otherwise, this may lose fans in cities with the most support in front of Sun Belt teams with a tight salary ceiling.
While the cable pack is defeated, the teams must sell individual subscriptions related to Twins.tv And similar services, then pack these subscriptions to Apple or Amazon to reproduce the cable bundle. The people of San Jose, Tampa and Sunrise will buy them. However, there are more hockey fans in Toronto, Boston and Chicago.
The league must increase the CAP ceiling and reduce the soil to allow the most support teams to take advantage of their financial advantage, within reasonable limits, while allowing less sustained teams to operate with a budget by losing seasons.
This will mean teams in Canada in the Northeast and Midwest will have an advantage. However, the well -supported Sun belt teams will also be supported. Florida could continue to win championships because they have a wise front office. Conversely, the flames of Calgary must Manage their team better To return to the playoffs.
However, this new model will give teams like Toronto, Montreal and Boston an advantage over many Sun Belt teams. It will allow the most sustained teams to succeed, with the tacit understanding that certain expansion teams of the solar belt can fail. Fortunately, the League could move these teams to Hamilton, Ontario, or in Quebec, putting a second team in the Grand Toronto region or near Montreal.
A financial model built around the most sustained teams would help Minnesota Wild. However, this could not help as much as large market teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers or Philadelphia flyers. People here fill the Xcel Energy Center and buy subscriptions on television, but they could not at the rhythm of fans in the largest cities.
Anyway, the only point to remember positive in the league punishing The wild for the ZACH PARISE And Ryan SUTER The contracts are that it indicates that the property is ready to spend on the team. Detroit, Vancouver and the Devils of New Jersey also underwent CAP bypass, which means that property in these markets was willing to spend more than the League would not allow it.
To survive as the cable pack is undone, the league must allow the teams arranged to spend within reasonable limits. Nobody wants a penguin from the 1990s situationAnd the NHL should not let Toronto and the Rangers become the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. However, the League must leave teams like Detroit, Vancouver and Minnesota take advantage of their financial power to survive in a post-accounting world.
