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Seattle Hires Trusted Hockey Man Ron Francis as GM

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There are about two hundred trusted hockey men in the NHL and behold, another one has found a job with a NHL Franchise. Despite the fact the Hurricanes made the playoffs zero times while Ron Francis was GM  and possessing a record of 137-138-53 named him the first general manager of the upcoming Seattle NHL team. The question has often occurred to me, whether the Seattle NHL team was going to be a forward thinking organization which used a blend of evaluation techniques to put together the best hockey team - or if it was just going to be a 32nd set of jobs for the same hockey people. This hiring really seems like the latter. “When he was general manager, the team was up for sale, so it wasn’t perfect conditions for someone who came in. But he then did it the hard way. He drafted, developed and stayed patient,” Leiweke said. “He learned the hardest lesson there is in sports — how to take less chips and compete with the other teams. He’s going to get an equal number o...
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Seattle should have a plaid jersey

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I was at a kings game and I saw the Kings St Patricks Day Jersey. It has plaid on it and it doesn't look terrible! Everyone is going to be making jokes about how Seattle is associated with grunge. They might as well lean into it and have at least a third jersey which incorporates plaid! Also they should do a throwback night to the barber poll striped jersey!! Make this happen! 
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Should the Seattle NHL Team be looking at signing Frederik Andersen?

After much fanfare including reportedly selling over 10,000 season tickets in under 12 minutes the NHL in Seattle will commence in the 2020-2021 season. A bit of history: when the Seattle Metropolitans formed in 1915 Frank and Lester Patrick stocked the team by offering salaries to players from the Toronto Blueshirts. They signed Frank Foyston, Hap Holmes, Jack Walker, Eddie Carpenter, and Cully Wilson. They won the Stanley Cup two years later in 1917. There is always the constant threat that a team might go the route of offering sheeting RFA stars. To this end  players like Elias Pettersson, Andrei Scechnikov, Filip Zadina, Rasmus Dahlin, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi are available to be offer sheeted. However offer sheeting comes at a high price - especially for an expansion team just starting off. This leads to looking at which unrestricted free agents are available. Here is a list of some unrestricted free agents available for the 2021/22 season. Alex Ovechkin Kevin Sh...
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Can Seattle Support a Hockey Team?

In the words of  Roz Doyle  "Are you kidding?  This is Seattle.  It rains nine months out of the year.  We take our indoor sports very seriously" .  Given the climate and population of Seattle it would seem that the city would be fertile ground for a NHL team. However, we are just now making plans for the start of a Seattle hockey team in 2021. Why? What's taken so long? Why has a city which successfully supports two major junior hockey teams in it's metropolitan area been unable to get a NHL franchise? The place to start with hockey in Seattle would be with the Patrick brothers. The brothers were former hockey players who played for various teams including Montreal Wanderers, the Renfrew Millionaires and the Montreal Athletic Association. In 1911 they moved out west and formed the Pacific Coast Hockey League. An important thing to remember is that hockey was a lot different then than it is now. The goalie didn't leave his feet to make saves, t...
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Seattle Hockey Team Announced to Begin in 2021 Season

It's official Seattle was confirmed by the board of governors as the 32nd NHL franchise. Based on the amount of time it took for the season tickets to sell out and the support the team is receiving from fans in Vancouver, there is a lot of promise for this hockey team. I started this hockey blog because I wanted to write about hockey and Seattle. I have been pretty lax about creating content for this blog for two reasons, firstly because real life got in the way, secondly because I didn't want to have a blog in which I reported the same news which could be found on ESPN.  I want to write about what makes a great hockey community this includes a USHL team, minor league hockey, the Thunderbirds, womens hockey, University hockey, high school  hockey. Also when they eventually start playing I will write my opinion about trade rumors, and lines, coaches and all of the fun stuff which goes with actually having an NHL team. I'm really excited about all of the possibilities,...
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Spotlight Tim Leiweke

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An important aspect to look at when trying to predict the future of the inevitable Seattle NHL team is the CEO of Oakview group Tim Leiweke. He is the former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) and former President and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG). He was the President of MLSE during 2013-2014. During this time the Toronto Maple Leafs were : 38–36–8, 84 Points. They didn't make the playoffs and their most notable trade was for Dave Bolland. The general manager of the team was Dave Nonis. In this article about Leiweke it says he went to Toronto because he wanted to build something. He renovated BMO Field, and got approval to build a new Raptors training facility nearby. With Oak View, Leiweke has partnered with Madison Square Garden and New York Knicks owner James Dolan and talent manager Irving Azoff. MLSE is still a client. His biggest accompplishment in Toronto was appointing Brendan Shanahan. Shannaghan has taken the l...
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Seattle vs Vancouver Rivalry?

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 The Vancouver Police Department made 101 arrests during the riot. 85 people were arrested for breach of peace, eight for public intoxication and eight for breaking and entering, assault or theftWhen was the last time Seattle had a professional sports rival within 150 miles of them? Portland is technically 174 miles from Seattle. That would leave the Vancouver Grizzlies and Seattle SuperSonics. Neither team exist in their respective cities. I know people in Seattle consider the 49r's their rivals. Also there is a rivalry between University of Washington and Washington State football. However, the latter isn't a professional sports rivalry. The first question which arises is what makes a good hockey rivalry? Some well known hockey rivalries are Toronto-Ottawa, Los Angeles-Anaheim, Pittsburgh-Philadelphia, Calgary-Edmonton, and  Montreal-Boston. It seems that the commonality is geography, and some playoff history. Montreal and Boston having the largest space between the two o...
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