Diskussionen » This is a very happy day for me

LAS VEGAS (AP) NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman shares the sports world’s amazement at the Vegas Golden Knights‘ ability to reach the Stanley Cup Final in their first year of existence.But if the league adds another team in Seattle in the near future James Neal Jersey , Bettman expects it to have every opportunity to accomplish the same feat under the same favorable expansion terms given to Vegas.The commissioner also acknowledged that the Emerald City could secure that expansion team within the year.The Golden Knights are hosting the Washington Capitals after winning the Western Conference in an inaugural season that ”quite simply astonished the sporting world,” Bettman said in his usual state-of-the-league remarks before the Final opened on Monday night.Sour grapes were understandable among the fans of other NHL teams after Vegas’ incredible ascent to the top of a league with 12 other teams that have never won the Stanley Cup and seven more that haven’t won it in the last 20 years.The Golden Knights cleverly built this winner with an undeniably generous expansion draft that allowed them to select the likes of franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and many other proven NHL players. Yet Bettman said he has received ”no pushback whatsoever” about the favorable expansion draft from the league’s other 30 owners”I think people (around hockey) are excited,” Bettman said. ”I think it’s gotten their attention.”Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly both confirmed the NHL plans to keep the same rules on the next expansion draft. If it happens within the next two years, as increasingly expected, Vegas won’t have to lose any of its players, Daly added.The vote on adding a Seattle franchise won’t happen in June when the board of governors meets during the league’s annual awards show in Las Vegas, Bettman said. But the board will get an update on Seattle’s plans, and a formal vote could happen later this year, perhaps at meetings in September or December.”There is a lot of due diligence that has to be done Jonathan Marchessault Jersey , a lot of interaction with the prospective ownership group,” Bettman said of the group headed by billionaire investment banker David Bonderman. ”We think we’re on target, and depending on how everything goes, it wouldn’t surprise me that there is a possibility that in the fall, early winter at the latest, that this could be addressed by the board. But we’re not there yet, and there is still work to be done.”Seattle hopes to be ready to become the NHL’s 32nd franchise in 2020, pending a $600 million renovation of Key Arena. But after the energizing effect of the Golden Knights on this hockey season, the league’s appetite for expansion – and the likely $650 million fee that will be split among the league’s other owners – has been whetted.The NHL also has talked about adding a franchise in Houston Marc-Andre Fleury Jersey , the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. or Canada without a team. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has showed interest in joining the league, but a bid likely is years away.”I don’t think at this point in time there’s interest in filing for an expansion franchise,” Daly said. ”I think they’re relatively new NBA owners. They’re getting their feet under them in terms of operating that franchise, knowing that that means. At some point in time, we’ll have a discussion with them about whether there’s an NHL team to pursue.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals SEATTLE (AP) Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer has been hosting hockey games for a quarter-century. Now he wants to do it on a much bigger scale.The filmmaker of ”Flashdance,” ”Beverly Hills Cop” and ”Top Gun” fame joined his partners – billionaire David Bonderman and Oak View Group Chief Executive Tim Leiweke – on Wednesday in discussing for the first time publicly why they’re trying to bring a professional hockey team to Seattle.One answer, they said, is that the city deserves one: It’s been more than a century since the old Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup, and a decade since Seattle’s last major men’s professional winter sports franchise Nate Schmidt Jersey , basketball’s SuperSonics, bolted for Oklahoma City. Seattle is the biggest market in the nation without a major winter sports team.But Bruckheimer has also been a big hockey fan since The Great One – Wayne Gretzky – moved from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in the early 1990s. Bruckheimer met Gretzky at a party, and Gretzky arranged for him to get season tickets. Having season tickets, Bruckheimer decided to take skating lessons. And having taken skating lessons, he decided to get some friends together to play hockey on Sunday nights. They’ve been playing ever since.”It’s something I get so much joy out of watching and doing,” he said. ”I’m still playing the sport – poorly – but I get out there with a bunch of the guys and do it every week. That’s really nice, to carry something that long in your life.”The group submitted its application for an expansion team with the National Hockey League this month and said Wednesday they hope to hear in June whether it’s accepted. In the meantime, they’re embarking Thursday on a season-ticket-deposit drive meant to demonstrate the city’s interest in a team. They declined to say how many deposits would constitute a successful drive, saying they don’t know how many NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman expects them to sell.The deposits run $500 for season tickets or $1 http://www.goldenknightsshoponline.com/authentic-oscar-dansk-jersey ,000 for club season tickets, which are center ice, lower-level tickets.They’re also planning to renovate KeyArena, where the Sonics used to play, to the tune of $660 million – including $20 million in acoustic treatment requested by Seattle’s beloved Pearl Jam – and if they’re approved, the league expansion fee will run approximately $650 million, all privately financed. They say if everything goes according to plan they’ll have an NHL team ready for the 2020-21 season.”We’re taking the risk; we’re putting up the money,” Leiweke said. ”There is no risk to the taxpayer.”He added that an environmental review is about half complete and has turned up ”no game-changers.”Bonderman, who graduated from the University of Washington and Harvard Law School before embarking on a career in private equity Authentic Oscar Lindberg Jersey , would be the principal owner of the team, though he said he wouldn’t be involved in day-to-day operations. As a part-owner of the Boston Celtics, he said he has learned how fun running a sports team could be.”It shows you what you can do with the right kind of team, the right kind of spirit, and how much people appreciate having the ability to go see these kind of games,” he said.