VanCan

what if:

...the economic hands of the NHL were less tied and it decided to form a joint venture with powerful European businessmen to form a competitive European affiliate of the NHL.

For starters some 12 of the very best European teams would be persuaded to join the creation of a European conference provided that...

1) the teams would preserve their current name (Kärpät, Jokerit, HC Frölunda...);

2) brand new, and bigger arenas be constructed (if necessary);

3) the teams would have enough economic clout and freedom to attract the very best of their nationals in the NHL, and

4) the teams would be allowed to have a farm team in their national league.

The scheme would envision the return of such players as Henke Lundqvist, Henrik Zetterberg, the Sedins etc. to the (two) Swedish teams, Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk etc. to the Russian teams, Olli Jokinen, Kiprusoff, Selänne etc to the Finnish teams, Marian Hossa, Gaborik, Visnovsky to the Slovak teams, and so on.

The NHL would allow these transfers to give its European affiliate the best possible start.

Furthermore, there would be no extensive travelling forth and back the Atlantic. In the revamped NHL, there would be a North American Conference and a European Conference. Each team would make two road trips across the Atlantic per regular season playing in total 12 games on the road, and 12 games at home, against teams from the other conference. The North American conference would be cut to 24 franchises (I leave it to you to guess what franchises to be killed, but its not that hard). The scheme would ensure that the 12 European teams play all 24 NA franchises once per regular season (either at home or on the road).

In total the teams would play some 70 games per regular season (like in the NHL some years ago). The playoff scheme would remain as it is in the NHL, but the winner of the European Conference would be declared European Champion and the winner of the North American Conference, North American Conference. And yes, you guessed it right, the winner of the Stanley Cup finals (or whatever it would be called) would be declared the World Champion.

The shortened regular season (from 82 to 70 games) would furthermore ensure that all players would be available for the world championships.

Granted, this scenario remains hypothetical, but the question is: Would the NHL get it right (and the Slapshot article get it wrong)? Would European fans be intrigued by this brave new hockey league? That's probably an open question, but I tend to think yes.

I don't think that a NHL expansion to Europe is a categorical no-goer. I think it depends, but then again, I don't think the NHL has what it takes to make it fly.

On a sidenote, it was something along these lines, Detroit Red Wings owner, Bruce Norris envisioned when he attempted to create a European super league in the early 70s. Norris ideas initially received strong support from some very powerful people including Bunny Ahearne, the president of the IIHF.

But in the end the plans didn't fly, not so much because of the lack of interest among European hockey fans (that's a common misperception) as 1) fierce resistance from the most influential federations - Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Sweden - which were much more powerful than they are today, and 2) the idea was superseded by the creation of the WHA. Karsten