The London Kings?

[Drewhunz 3]

Looks like the 2007-2008 NHL season will kick off with the Los Angeles Kings playing 2 games in London at the new 02 arena. Liokely to play the Ducks and Cannucks.

News Article

[Quintin 16]

Damn, beat me to it lol.

Oh God, I'm SO gonna be there!!

[KingPest19 0]

Looks like the 2007-2008 NHL season will kick off with the Los Angeles Kings playing 2 games in London at the new 02 arena. Liokely to play the Ducks and Cannucks.

News Article

Gotta love AEG trying to promote their new arena in England using their NHL franchise. Oh well. They'll stick make revenue on the deal even losing a ome game or two at Staples and thats the bottom line.

[Alias81 0]

I'll be there if I'm still in Euro-land.

[Chadd 916]

They'll probably get a better turnout than an early season game in LA.

[KingPest19 0]

They'll probably get a better turnout than an early season game in LA.

With the decisions the front office has made thats not going to be a suprise

[jjtt99 0]

The Canucks once played a game in Japan (or maybe it was Korea). I think it was Messier's first game with the team. I wonder why they get selected to go on the long road trips? You think they'd give the teams that have to travel a lot a break.

Then again, we know how much the eastern teams whine when they have to play out of their time zone. Sissies.

[#28tz 0]

I'd love this to happen so much. The O2, or the Dome as we call it at the moment, is only a 10 minute walk from my house! :D

[jjtt99 0]

Perhaps the league should send the two NHL teams with the lowest attendence and leave them there.

[msander 0]

I have to agree with that last statement. How about we send the Panthers (for obvious reasons) and the Kings (b/c they're horrible) and they can stay for good.

Actually, better yet, let's send the Penguins over to London. They'll have a new arena to play in, and for all of us who live in a Western Conference city, we'll still probably see Crosby live once every three years and he might actually be on TV a bit more often!

[Nick23 0]

Well id be more than happy if a couple NHL teams were left here. As for any rumours of a London team forming, lets remember that the London Knights and a few other teams in Europe were owned by Anschutz folded, London Arena was sold off and has now been demolished for office blocks. The Knights were loosing something like 15,000 on a game night, so even with the more reasonable import quotas & such of the new Elite league, there is not much chance a London team could play out of the Dome. As much as I want to believe it.

[wallin2199 0]

of all places london? Sure i realize it's one of the largest cities in Europe, but honestly what kind of hockey fan base does the US have there. I think the NHL should worry about North American fans before spreading too thin

[Hordie Gowe 17]

Perhaps the league should fold the two NHL teams with the lowest attendence and hire people who have a clue to run the league.

Fixed it for you

[jjtt99 0]

Perhaps the league should fold the two NHL teams with the lowest attendence and hire people who have a clue to run the league.

Fixed it for you

P.S. I recently had unprotected sex with a goat and now I have this burning sensation when I urinate. Should I get that checked out?

Dude, don't change other people's quotes. That could make things go bad really fast.

[Hordie Gowe 17]

Thanks for your concern but the doctor already checked it out, however the goat may be pregnant. I do applaud your attempt at humor, keep up the good work.

[crazykeeper3317 0]

I would sooo love this if it were true I'm from Nottingham and i know almost every guy & girl i play and watch hockey with is gonna want to go, i support the ducks and my best mate loves the cannucks so we'd go down for both games.

about london hockey teams theyve never done to well, knights folded a few years back, then the racers took off and played in the docks before folding aswell

I think theres no question about the games not filling the rink there may not be as many hockey fans over here as in the states but im sure we can fill one arena.

I dont think an NHL team could survive with London as their home city though because i know me and my mates and people like us wouldnt be able to afford to go down to see them every week we struggle to get to every panthers game as it is and London racers never had a big fan base anyway so i think the team wouldnt make enough money to pay for the rink never mind players etc.

[Chadd 916]

NHL Europe:

London

Stockholm

Moscow

Helsinki

Berlin

Prague

In a few years you double the size of the league and have two divisions, the winner of their playoff then plays the Stanley Cup winner.

[crazykeeper3317 0]

NHL Europe:

London

Stockholm

Moscow

Helsinki

Berlin

Prague

In a few years you double the size of the league and have two divisions, the winner of their playoff then plays the Stanley Cup winner.

london may be a big city but that doesnt mean there are lots of hockey fans there!

In the UK hockey comes behind football, cricket, rugby at least. Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers are undoubtbly the biggest clubs and arch rivals. The two cities are within 30 minutes drive of each other and last week Panthers only just managed to sell out a 7,500 seater stadium (NIC).

virtualy no season tickets would get sold for an NHL team in london because no one would have enough intrest to spend that amount of money ontop of travel costs the length of the country on a weekly basis.

Im up for seeing a friendly or two but i cant see the league working the UK is much better off sorting out the EIHL first. If NHL teams were brought over i could see our teams going under :( and i never want to see panthers fold

[Chadd 916]

I wasn't expecting them to reach NHL level attendance, but usually the larger the population bases are your best locations for sports franchises.

There needs to be a single top level european top level league and not the current setup.

[crazykeeper3317 0]

I wasn't expecting them to reach NHL level attendance, but usually the larger the population bases are your best locations for sports franchises.

There needs to be a single top level european top level league and not the current setup.

at the moment the EIHL is geared towards developing british players which i like cause its giving me a shot at pro hockey

[Chadd 916]

I wasn't expecting them to reach NHL level attendance, but usually the larger the population bases are your best locations for sports franchises.

There needs to be a single top level european top level league and not the current setup.

at the moment the EIHL is geared towards developing british players which i like cause its giving me a shot at pro hockey

It would be cool if USAH wanted to develop more than just the top 50 kids in any age group.

[steve66 45]

I wasn't expecting them to reach NHL level attendance, but usually the larger the population bases are your best locations for sports franchises.

There needs to be a single top level european top level league and not the current setup.

A single top level NHL euro league won't get off the ground unless it is a subsiduary tournament ala the champions league. the deisre for a closed north american style league would be a very hard sell. there is far too much tradition involved in the independant leagues. Take the uk for example i don't think there would be enough support for one team in london at the cost of the intergrity of the current league to make it viable. i think this would ring true for other countries and leagues.

[Chadd 916]

I wasn't expecting them to reach NHL level attendance, but usually the larger the population bases are your best locations for sports franchises.

There needs to be a single top level european top level league and not the current setup.

A single top level NHL euro league won't get off the ground unless it is a subsiduary tournament ala the champions league. the deisre for a closed north american style league would be a very hard sell. there is far too much tradition involved in the independant leagues. Take the uk for example i don't think there would be enough support for one team in london at the cost of the intergrity of the current league to make it viable. i think this would ring true for other countries and leagues.

Having one top level team doesn't have to have any serious impact on the existing league and certainly doesn't mean the existing league would shut down.

[#44wannabe 4]

I would so be there

[MDE3 0]

NHL Europe:

London

Stockholm

Moscow

Helsinki

Berlin

Prague

In a few years you double the size of the league and have two divisions, the winner of their playoff then plays the Stanley Cup winner.

ROFL.......But of course I agree....

Note for years over here there was a trickle down effect on the sport under the NHL level...other minor pro leagues expanded and having the "top" league around gave dreams for all the young players to shoot for.

In the current contraction climate...where hockey appears to have seen it's hiatus...a new stimulus is necessary...and having European countries each having their own NHL team, is likely to generate a lot more interest than just an "in country" league.

Hockey has always been a passionate sport, and having an identifiable "home team" will no doubt get the juices flowing. One of the issues that has diluted this passion over here has been the onset of free agency, where fans have trouble maintaining loyalty to players who show none to their fan base...just to the almighty dollar....Restricting free agency might help rebuild this sence of identity about "our teams", and maybe get the juices flowing again. The "our guys can beat your guys" has always been at the core of hockey popularity, whether it was between small towns, or between countries...the fans need to indentify with "their guys".

When the NHL expanded to it's current dimensions..the supply of players could no longer be relied on from local markets, so the great round robin migrations began. I think some sort of time restriction should be placed on player contracts....if you go to an organization..you must remain within it for a minimum of say 5 years...or maybe longer. Obviously so many other factors come into play that it is not a simple task..but one worth pursuing to help recover fan identity with their teams.

The creation of a "Euro" NHL league with an annual international play-off for the Cup could well be a strong move in the right direction.