NHL?

Dwight Jaynes is expounding from the roof of his Houseboat

Either he's been hitting the Piña coladas really hard in his retirement, or he's on to something.
The theory is that Calgary Billionaire Bill Gallacher wants to buy the Winter Hawks to get leverage to pick up an NHL team and install it in Portland.

It'd be pretty neat, But the problem I see is that there's already a Billionaire who's stated he'd do it if "the situation was right" and he owns the arenas.

sigh... one can dream.

Thanks for the link - I didn't know old Dwight had a new blog. I could never stand him too much because it seems to be the Oregonian's Sports Columnist's job to stir up controversies just to sell papers. (Exclude Brian Meehan from this list.)

I thought Jaynes got a little tamer on the SportsTrib, but still could blow off a good one from time to time. (Translation: Go off on a tangent with extremely negative views on a team, player or coach/management.)

I just don't want to hear negative stuff all the time. The occasional appropriate criticism is fine, and welcomed. But not negative just to rile up your readers. (Canzano does that from time to time, though I feel he may be softening somewhat).Okay - that's enough on that subject, FANatic...

Back to your topic: I think it would be great if this Calgary billionaire were to acquire the Hawks, then pursue an NHL franchise. The Rose Garden has been waiting for the NHL for what - 13 years or so?

The only problem I see is P. Allen, the "other" billionaire. He is a really stubborn man, and has to control everything he touches. I wouldn't be surprised if this Calgary guy set up everything perfectly, only to find that he had to sell the NHL team to Allen, or else - no team!!!

Another problem you may not be aware of: The Rose Garden is not set up for an NHL team. An NHL team would need their own dressing room and training facilities. These would take about as much space as the Blazers occupy now. The dressing rooms the Hawks and visiting team used when the Hawks were in the Garden are not nearly up to what NHL teams would expect. There would need to be some serious remodeling, and that would take the approval of...you guessed it. Mr. Allen.

As you can guess, I'm a BIG Hawks fan. The NHL would be great, but the issues with Paul Allen and the arena are very well known to us. Unfortunately these have taken a back seat in recent seasons to our problems with the clowns who bought the team but had no idea how to run it. They can take a lot of the blame for running one of the most distinguished, decorated franchises in the WHL into the cellar these past two seasons.

I haven't read Jaynes in a while but rest assured, whatever he says about Jim & Jack (the current owners) is probably pretty accurate. When I heard that they might be selling, I breathed a sigh of relief, since that was probably the only way things were going to get better. Many of the other fans out there likely did the same. Now it appears we might get an owner who actually knows how to run a hockey team.

For more on all things Winter Hawks (It's always two words!), go to the Oregon Live Hawks forum. They have dozens of posters with the knowledge and enthusiasm of people like Geezer and FANatic. And read broadcaster Andy Kemper's blog at www.afterthewhistle.wordpress.com

This article from today's (8/20/2008) Oregonian leaves me with the impression that all they need is league approval and Gallacher is the new owner.

Hawks For Sale

It doesn't make sense for a guy from Calgary with supposedly this much wealth to buy a minor league team in Portland. I would guess if it happens, he already has spoken with the NHL and perhaps even Paul Allen about joining the big league at some future point.

What do you guys think?