SoundCheck - A Seattle Hockey Blog

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...

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! 

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...

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...

 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...

It's been announced that the draft rules for Seattle's future hockey team will be the same as the rules for Las Vegas. For review: Protected Lists * Clubs will have two options for players they wish to protect in the Expansion Draft: a) Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender b) Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender * All players who have currently effective and continuing "No Movement" clauses at the time of the Expansion Draft (and who to decline to waive such clauses) must be protected (and will be counted toward their club's applicable protection limits). * All first- and second-year professionals, as well as all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection (and will not be counted toward their club's applicable protection limits). Player Exposure Requirements * All Clubs must meet the following minimum requirements regarding players exposed for selection in the Expansion Draft: i) One defenseman who is a) under c...

At December's NHL Board of Governors meetings, commissioner Gary Bettman authorized an ownership group to conduct a season-ticket drive in Seattle. The drive could start as early as February. The average ticket price for lower bowl would probably be about 150 with a 10% commitment of the value of the season ticket package.The money would be refunded if Seattle didn't get a team Vegas was able to get a team based on interest shown in their Season Ticket Sales.

According to Detroit Hockey "38 domains representing 13 different possible names were registered under the name of Christina Song.  Ms. Song, according to her LinkedIn profile, is General Counsel at Oak View Group, who won the bid to redevelop Seattle’s Key Arena on December 4.  The domains were registered via an email address for a lawyer at Gibson Dunn.  That firm assisted Oak View Group in the Key Arena bid process". Here are my thoughts Seattle Cougars - I'm not a fan of this one. The cougars are the Mascot of Washington State University, who are in Pullman. Being a University of Washington fan, I am less than thrilled by this possibility. Seattle Eagles -  Not a fan of this one either. First there is already the NFL team which is by that name. Seattle Sockeyes - I like the alliteration, but do you want to name your team after salmon when your closest rivals are represented by killer whales? Seattle Seals - Same as above. Seattle Sea Lions - A...

Seattle getting an NHL franchise isn't a done deal yet. We also don't know if the league would give the team the same benefits Vegas had. But it's never too early to start speculating who we think could be in front office. So, without much further ado - here are 10 people who could lead a future 32nd team in Seattle!! Dean Lombardi The list has to start here. Lombardi took over the Los Angeles Kings and created a system of drafting well, and building from within. He surrounded himself with people who were competent at their jobs using a mixture of "fancy stats" and "hockey sense" which ushered the Los Angeles Kings into their most successful era. He drafted Drew Doughty, Tanner Pearson, Brayden Schenn and managed to groom Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick into Stanley Cup winning players. Did I mention he did what Wayne Gretzky couldn't do, and bring a Stanley Cup to LA? Los Angeles is a city in which you have to keep peoples attent...

Since the Key Arena  has been funded it seems that Seattle getting a NHL team is a forgone conclusion. So the question I ask is, what should the team be called? Here are some ideas that I have brainstormed: Seattle Freeze This team comes from a famous trend in Seattle in which it is  especially difficult to make new friends (particularly for transplants from other cities) in the city of Seattle, Washington. Most Seattle people have heard of it, and the freeze idea plays nicely into the ice aspect of hockey. Seattle Rain Dodgers The Rain dodgers were apparently the name of the Washington Huskies before they decided that they didn't think Rain would do good to bring new students to the University of Washington. This was also before they decided that calling their women's sports teams the "Husky Women" was a bad idea. It's interesting because it calls back to the cities sports past, and refers to what Seattle is well known for (rain). Seattle Echo I have be...