George McPhee was named as the Las Vegas franchise earlier
today, and as McPhee himself stated that he is going to get to work immediately
following the conclusion of the presser, we instantly have a number of items to
chew on as the organization begins to develop.
Team name –
Foley called this topic the next issue he is going to tackle now
that the team has a GM. The Creator also mentioned that the holdup thus far in
naming the team is that there are trademark issues with other sports
organizations. One could easily point to the Black Knights name and that Army
Military Academy is a Nike school (whereas the Vegas hockey team will be an
Adidas/Reebok brand) for the answer to that issue. It shouldn’t be a surprise
to see a name and logo released sometime prior to the beginning of training
camps. The NHL (as all leagues do) enjoy a re-setting of websites and other
forms of media prior to the beginning of new season. This timing would give the
NHL PR, and television rights holders and opportunity to include them in the
conversation and coverage without the embarrassment of calling them the “Las
Vegas Whatchamacallits”.
Will be cap
team – Brian Blessing tried a few times to get a clear-cut
answer from McPhee and Foley on where they would be looking to set up the team
in relation to the salary cap floor/ceiling. What I took away from those
exchanges was that both of them are willing (and planning) on utilizing the
free agency period next summer to bolster the roster. Assuming that the
expansion draft will be focused on filling goaltender and defensemen for the
future (and using aging and expensive players to fill forward roles), the team
will need offense for the long haul. That is where one could look for the team
to make their hay. With that said, however, the team will not be leaning on
free agents to build the team., so there is little to suspect that they are
going to go bonkers in front loading the roster in their first season.
Looking to
build via the entry draft – Speaking of the upcoming roster drafts, it was
interesting to hear McPhee mention the entry draft many more times than he did
the expansion draft. While the expansion draft will get the most headlines, it
will be the entry draft that fans should focus on more (the team certainly is).
This is what you wanted to hear from this news conference. Organizations that
try to lead by the expansion draft will start out no better than relocation
teams. You need to build with youth. McPhee speaking about how important the
entry draft is shows that his team’s focus will be on the growth of a culture,
not on trying to maximize output in the infancy stages. Study what Toronto is
currently undertaking with their rebuild (or what Chicago did with the drafting
of Keith, Seabrook, Toews, Kane, Crawford, Shaw, Saad, etc.) to see that a team
that is focused on long-term success will do it beginning with the draft. I
would also point out that such an approach is one where you could see a lot of
deals being made that will reward Las Vegas with draft picks for the 2017 and
2018 drafts. Those are far more important right now to the team than say a 3rd
line center in an expansion draft in June.
Vegas
Television Market and Salt Lake City – What a coup this was for
the organization! Their territory for TV rights extends from areas in
California to the west, northwest Arizona to the south, Utah and parts of
Montana out east, and to Idaho north. It is not surprising that Idaho/Montana
were given (but that the Northwest corner of the country was left alone screams
SEATTLE!!!), but the eastern borders take some market share from the Avalanche,
while the area in California will slightly effect the Sharks, Kings, and Ducks.
These were obvious concessions those teams made that will be minor losses in
order to give Vegas a larger viewership…helping their negotiations with
whomever the provider shall be. Lastly, and most surprising is that north west
Arizona was also included. In the last few years the NHL has bent over
backwards to support the Coyotes (including owning them outright for a number
of seasons). While the loss of Kingman will be a small sting, it again shows
just how much the league wants Las Vegas’ team to succeed, but more importantly
HOW BADLY they need it to (not to mention that they need these areas to grow
the game and hockey related revenue). Salt Lake City was named specifically by
Foley as a key spot that is being discussed for the AHL affiliate. An empty
city for hockey, and one that Foley himself seems smitten with due to the
proximity and volume of flights to and from the Valley. Lastly, a team in Salt
Lake City would assist the AHL in its western expansion that was geared to
helping the NHL teams get their AHL teams closer to the parent clubs.
Foley can
now focus on the business side – The last of my notes comes
from the response to Ken’s Boehlke’s (creator of SinBin.Vegas) last question to The Creator, in regards
to how the last three weeks since the announcement have been for him. Foley
responded eventually that he was relieved that he could now spend his time on
building the organization’s business side. Including the issues with the team
name and logo, he can begin to really get into the media angles of the team, as
well as the practice facility to name a few items. One would imagine as well
that he would start dipping his toes into more community outreach tasks that
were mentioned on this site just last week.
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