Ridiculous.

Leagues die, Don, they change. It is part of the sporting life cycle. Think IHL. Think all the restructuring of the English football leagues. A twelve team international super league of the top 240 players in the world would do very well with games twice a week and jet setting jocks and satillite TV. Expect, if that were to occur, the Leafs and Rangers to join it.

First: cut all those stupid expansion teams in places where there is NEVER any natural ice, like Nashville, Phoenix, Tampa etc. That would be about a third of the NHL. If the NHL doesn't do that, maybe you have a point: Moscow, Prague, Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, Berlin, and the six original NHL teams, maybe, for an IHL?

Glasgow!!!

Some of those teams in places with no natural ice are wildly successful. A 12 team super league would do very, very poorly in North America. We don't play with with the Old World. How many North American football teams are involved in the elite football leagues? That's what I thought. Money isn't made off of tickets sales- it's made off of TV and ad revenue. What broadcasters are going to be interested in an international hockey league involving Europe and North America?

Why Maurice Strong has any credibility on this issue is beyond me. What experience with professional sports does a UN diplomat have?

Do Scots play ice hockey? If yes, then great, but there are potentially many other good cities for hockey teams like Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Warsaw, Vienna, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Philadelphia. But I was just guessing about a good 12 team start. It still doesn't matter, the world's fans would STILL hate Montreal.............

The British leagues may include a tiered system like football but they definitely are in Scotland and are well supported. One super team for the UK located in London or Manchester with a TV deal in a super international league would do very well.<p>I disagree with Ben [surprise - ;-)] but because I think Joe Thorton would stay in Switzerland and other Canadians would play throughout the superleague just as they do in the NHL now.

Have you seen Danish hockey? How are they anymore deserving than Nashville or Atlanta?

Think about the last point.<blockquote>Q: Would I have more interest in Nova Scotia's Sidney Crosby for the San Jose Sharks or the Glasgow Clansmen? <p>A: Door number two, door number two.</blockquote>

Now you're just being foolish.

Glasgow has actually had three pro teams over the years. Guess how many worked out?

Is the answer to that Winnipeg or Quebec?

I have a bias, I admit, toward northern cities hosting hockey teams. Kids in Phoenix and LA don't really grow up with hockey, and then become serious fans later. By this I mean, no little league hockey, high school hockey, and do UCLA or the University of Georgia have hockey teams? Does the average person in Nashville have any idea what the game is like? Those places also don't produce college or pro prospects, or Olympians. Quebec, Sweden, Finland all have very small populations but have a huge reputation for growing players who know the game, just as Brazil produces soccer players. I think the owners in the southern cities are the reason the NHL is overstretched, and who were the stars in Tampa last year? All imported talent. Keep them closer to home, I think. Maybe share the revenues more, like American football, where even Buffalo and Green Bay host great teams (maybe then the Jets would still be in Winnipeg?).

You so wish you were Canadian, Gary.

Well, your money is pretty.

But this is a blue state, red state thing. (hockey is BLUE state). I am reminded of an early Sopranos episode. 2 of Tony's associates go into a Starbucks type place, and are in shock. One says to the other "they're stealing our culture!!!" and he then proceeds to shoplift an espresso pot in his jacket. Hockey is New England culture.

Fair enough. Actually Kingston was in the old protected area for the Bruins's recruiting and the Kingston team in the OHL still wears white black and yellow.

Yes, UGA has a hockey team. It's a club team, but it's a team. UCLA plays in the PAC 8- Division II. Given that I'm hoping to spend many, many years in Goergia I'm protective of southern teams. If we beleive it'sa good game we should be trying to share it. Southern teams have lower payrolls and tend to be managed much more effectively than most established northern teams. New York, Colorado, Detroit, Philly and Toronto have done more to cripple the NHL than all of the other teams combined.

So why not farm 4 or 5 of the big teams into an IHA and make the NHL the feeder league?

Well, I am, without question, an ignorant fool. Thanks Ben for the info. I am blinded by the many outstanding college hockey teams within a hundred miles of Boston, and of course, my love for the Bruins. BUT, as a case in point, weren't half the Lightning just about all from Quebec and the University of Vermont? Manchester, NH is now home to the LA Kings minor league team. Not too many Floridans or Georgians or Californians grow up playing hockey, and I just think that's where the fan base comes from. I just question whether it is ever going to be a popular sport in those warm places.

It is important to note that for the most part NHL teams in the south and south west of the USA are where there are large Canuck populations, infiltrating from the inside, expanding the presence of Crispy Crunch and sketch comedy on our way to ultimate North American domination.<p>Did I say that out loud?

"The Red Green Show" and Barenakedladies, Canada's first steps toward global domination??? Next there will be curling in Texas and people in Mexico will call a sofa a 'chesterfield'? Absolutely terrifying.....

Favorite oxymoron: "curling action".

To me Dallas is a shining example of southern hockey done well. If you do it properly it works. Dallas sells out almost every home game and puts together a competitive team. You don't need local players, just interesting players. A generic team like Minnesota won't work in Nashville, but Nashville made the smart move of drafting Tootoo who is exotic and exciting. Nash in Columbus can fill seats as can Kovalchuk and Heatley in Atlanta. They just need time. How long has it taken Ottawa to become successful?

The Senators were a great team a couple years ago. But good or bad, and I am a hockey snob here, Ottawa SHOULD have a team. Maybe 15-20 years ago everything was ruined. There was Edmonton, with, arguably, some of the best players ever put together. It was terrific: I mean, where is Edmonton, anyway? A little northern city, like Green Bay and the Packers. Then Gretzky went to LA and the League overstretched etc etc etc There is no question Dallas had a great team, so did Carolina, Tampa and the Ducks. I will be absurd, then shut up: you see, Dallas has great weather all winter, so do those other southern places. Up here with the snow and all the rest, we deserve something special. HOCKEY. 'nuff said.