Rink needed in Vegas

An arena needs to arrive in Las Vegas before a team does, though, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on Thursday.

"In order for the NHL to ever have a franchise in Las Vegas, they'd have to build a new state-of-the-art arena in Las Vegas. We're talking a couple years away, minimum," said Daly, who confirmed Bruckheimer and others have been in discussions with the league for the past six months.

"We've actually talked to a lot of different individuals who have interest in a franchise in Las Vegas, and Jerry is one of them," Daly said. "This is not just about Las Vegas. There's been an expression of interest from a number of individuals and entities in a number of different markets, and we'll update the (league's) board (of governors) with those and try to chart a course on how to deal with those."

— Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Toronto Star's Rick Westhead calls Vegas a disastrous option for the NHL, but given we've already seen teams succeed in North Carolina, Texas and Florida, who's to say?

If the league's hellbent on going to 32 teams, they might as well jump into Sin City and see if a professional team takes hold. It'd certainly make for interesting storylines, and would put the NHL on the sports media map temporarily.

Worst-case scenario? A rich Canadian buys the team a few years down the road and moves them to Winnipeg.