If Las Vegas is to support an NHL franchise, it wont be on the backs on tourists

If Las Vegas is to support an NHL franchise, it wont be on the backs on tourists - according to potential owner Bill Foley, who plans to bring the city its first major sports franchise. Wholesale 49ers Jerseys . I dont want to see everyone in the stands with a Canucks jersey on, Foley said in an interview with ESPNs Scott Burnside on Thursday. Im not trying to promote the Red Wings. Foley, a former mortgage financier, added that an NHL franchise would receive help from the citys extensive number of tourists but the goal will be to attract locals to the arena. We know that were going to get great casino support, Foley told Burnside. But I want the guy that lives in Henderson (located just outside of Las Vegas), I want him to be there. The future of a potential franchise will receive a major test in the coming months with a season ticket-drive led by Foley and a possible blessing from the NHL. Foley has a two-part plan for drumming up interest from locals. The first is contacting citizens and businesses to express their formal interest in a professional hockey team and then asking those who expressed interest for a form of financial commitment to season tickets. Foley will meet with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly next week to discuss and finalize plans for his ticket drive. The league endorsed a trial drive earlier this week at its annual December meetings. Foley and the Maloof family have been working on plans for a Las Vegas-based franchise over the past 15 months. He notes that though progress has been made, he and his partners have to provide proof the city could support a franchise. Weve made good progress, but the reality is that Las Vegas is an unproven market, Foley told ESPN. Foley, at the very least, has the support of The Great One. Hes a wonderful man, Wayne Gretzky told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun. He would be a great owner if he gets a team. He loves hockey and he loves sports. He would be unreal. It would be good for hockey if he gets the team. He loves the game. Foley is nearing a lease agreement with the builders of the currently in construction $350 million venue being built by MGM Resorts International and AEG. The arena is set to hold a capacity of 20,000, though the official seating chart is yet to be completed. Cheap D. J. Reed Jersey . - Mike Zimmer has brought a demanding style to the Minnesota Vikings. Cheap 49ers Jerseys Authentic . -- The Minnesota Vikings have signed Jerome Simpson, the former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver recently convicted on a felony drug charge. http://www.cheap49ersjerseyselite.com/ . I kept my eyes focused up on the camera during each approach. I just tried to stay focused on my form, as I didnt know what the ball reaction was. I was quite emotional at the end. I did not actually see any of the shots in the game until I got home and watched the video.With the Senators facing the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight, I figured I would try and answer three questions about the Ben Bishop-Cory Conacher trade from earlier this year. 1. Did the Senators trade the wrong goalie? Lets make one thing clear: The Ottawa Senators acquired Ben Bishop from the St. Louis Blues for one reason and one reason alone. They wanted to push Robin Lehner and create an internal competition for him back in the spring of 2011. At no point did the Senators truly believe that Bishop was in their long-term plans. The ideal scenario in Ottawa was always to have Craig Anderson hold onto the No. 1 job for a while and then gradually hand over the job to Lehner. Bishop was always viewed as an intermediary; a transitional netminder who could help bridge the gap when Lehner wasnt ready. But now there is a revisionist theory floating around Ottawa suggesting that the Sens should have traded Craig Anderson while his value was sky-high last season and they could have hung onto a tandem of Bishop and Lehner. To be clear, under that scenario, the Sens would be going into this season with a pair of goalies who had a combined 70 games of NHL experience. That would be a massive, massive gamble for any organization to take – especially one that viewed itself as a darkhorse contender in the conference. Yes, Craig Anderson has been off to a slow start this season, but lets not forget that he has been arguably the best goalie in the history of this franchise over a span of 100 games. Six months ago, if you were to rate the ceiling on the three goalies Ottawa had last season, Bishop would come in third every time. The Senators made the choice of trading Bishop out of that three-headed monster last season because Anderson was providing superior goaltending at a discounted price. Remember that Bishops job was merely to push Lehner a little bit internally and from that standpoint it was mission accomplished. Imagine if they traded Anderson away and he was having a Vezina-calibre season for another team while the Sens were this mess defensively. What would people say then? Probably that they needed a veteran presence in goal and that they shouldnt have traded Anderson. 2. Why did the Senators trade Bishop within the division? On this point, I can see a valid argument for sure. If Ottawa had options, obviously it would have been in their best interests to move Bishop away from the Eastern Conference – and specifically the newly formed Atlantic Division. Remember when the Los Angeles Kings moved Jonathan Bernier this summer, they made sure to trade him to the Eastern Conference. Same goes for the Canucks who ensured Cory Schneider wouldnt impact their own playoff positioning by sending him to New Jersey. But heres a question: Why did the Columbus Blue JJackets trade Steve Mason to the Flyers at the deadline last year, knowing they would be in the same division as Philadelphia this season? Well, they did it for the exact same reason why the Sens moved Bishop to Tampa Bay. Cheap San Francisco 49ers Jerseys. . The reality is that sometimes, you have to take the best deal on the table and hope that it works out for the best. If you recall, the Boston Bruins traded Andrew Raycroft within their division a few years and that worked out just fine for them. (Of course it helps that they got Tuukka Rask in return). 3. Why didnt Bryan Murray hold out for more? I can tell you with a great deal of authority that the Senators were pursuing a trade with the Flyers near the deadline that would have seen Ben Bishop traded to Philadelphia for Sean Couturier. That was the Senators first option and it looked like it may happen right up until 12 noon on deadline day. The Flyers had even claimed centre Adam Hall off waivers right around the deadline, making the Sens believe they were ready to part with Couturier under the right circumstances. But once the Flyers got cold feet, Murray had to look at his other options and he circled back to the Lightning. Yes, there was a deal on the table from the Oilers that would have included Ryan Jones, but the Senators needed some scoring up front. Murray wanted to land a player who could add some offensive punch to one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league, so he acquired Cory Conacher for Bishop. The other significant goalie who moved at the deadline was the aforementioned Steve Mason – who only cost the Flyers a third-round pick to acquire. And considering Mason had more than 200 games of NHL experience under his belt and had proven he could be a No. 1 goalie, the Flyers didnt give up too much in that trade. So the asking price for a goalie like Bishop wasnt going to be anything greater than a middle-round draft choice or a player like Conacher around the trade deadline. At the time of the deal, Bishop had only played 36 career games and had posted a 15-13-3 record with a 2.58 GAA. Even if the Sens hung onto Bishop for a few more weeks and tried to move him at the NHL Draft, he probably wouldnt have netted them much more – especially considering goalies like Jonathan Bernier and Cory Schneider were being aggressively shopped. Those goalies werent in play at the deadline, but were at the draft. The Devils paid a price of a first-round pick for Schneider, so let me ask this question: What would the Sens have gotten for Bishop at the draft? I dont know for sure, but I can tell you they wouldnt be getting a first-rounder. Bishop wasnt seen in the same class as Schneider or Bernier. This idea the Sens could have held out and gotten more for Bishop is pure fantasy. 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