He’s not right though, is he. He made a blanket statement that ‘the NHL continues to find the absolute worst owners for their teams’. Later, as if to backstop his feeble claim, he came up with the names Wirtz, Pocklington and Melnyk. Two of those guys are deceased and the other one is in his eighties. They owned their teams in a different era. Melnyk saved the Sens from bankruptcy and possibly losing their team. But I guess he was ‘too cheap’ for the likes of Keith. What a terrible man. Wirtz and Pocklington (for all their failings) delivered winning products for many years until economic factors beyond his control (Pocklington) and senility (Wirtz) caught up with them. By your own words ‘hiring the right people for the job’ is an important factor in judging an owner. Pocklington cannot be faulted on that score. It’s not his fault the Rangers could always afford to pay more. Anyway, a list of three guys does not support the big statement made by Keith. He simply likes to rage against wealthy people. He also completely ignored other recent expansion franchises which seem to be doing well.
Second, the Coyotes have had at least six or seven owners/ownership groups (including being owned by the league itself). It stands to reason that they couldn’t all have been ‘the worst’. There might have even been other factors like an uncooperative local government (oops I shouldn’t say that or someone will start raging about ‘handouts to billionaires’), inferior on ice product, and poor support from fans.
@Drivesaitl seems to be nailing it. You should read his posts again more carefully. Hockey is a winter sport best supported in cities where they have winter. Your idea that any city with a large population will support an NHL team seems suspect to me. How about the Mexico City Banditos? Think that would fly? Warm weather cities seem to gravitate to soccer, football and baseball. Even just having winter isn’t good enough. I live in Japan which has winter and no shortage of big cities. The Asia League is a total joke. They play out of rinks that make Mullet Arena look like a palace. People just don’t care. They’d rather go watch baseball or soccer. This is why I laugh at all the fans who want to keep ‘growing the game’. Growth is not forever. Smart businessmen know when market saturation has been achieved. Sending the NHL to play preseason games in places like Australia or PRC is just a gimmick and a total waste of time.
Finally, yes, it’s on the fans. Build it and they will come sounds good in the movies but the fans in Arizona didn’t support their team. Simple as. Even being propped up by thousands of visiting Canadians wasn’t enough to keep their attendance at the required level.
@Drivesaitl has posted the facts for you to see. You can feel sorry for the fans in Arizona if you like. That’s very kind. I won’t shed a single tear for them and I won’t be told otherwise on my own home team board.