NHL Franchise Boys

As Claudio awaits the announcement to board his flight to Florida, he runs into PK Subban.

What a classy guy with a huge heart! We need more people like him in the world. If you haven’t yet seen his surprise for the sick children, here is the link. https://youtu.be/ZPGLy-Jv0lI 

Happy Holidays!

The Toronto Maple Leafs are no longer considered the NHL’s most valuable team — or even the most valuable of the league’s Canadian-based clubs. Both the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens have surpassed Toronto in Forbes’ annual ranking of the most valuable NHL franchises. The Rangers are worth $1.2 billion US, according to Forbes, followed by the Canadiens at $1.18 billion and the Leafs at $1.15 billion.

Toronto had held the top spot every year since 2006, but the Rangers cashed in on renovations to their arena, Madison Square Garden, while the Canadiens’ value rose 18 per cent from last year on the strength of a lucrative new local television rights deal.

Poor on-ice performance combined with a weaker Canadian dollar were cited by Forbes as reasons for the Leafs’ decline in value from $1.3 billion last year. The Chicago Blackhawks ($930 million) and the Boston Bruins ($750 million) rounded out the top five, followed by the Vancouver Canucks ($750 million) in sixth place. The Edmonton Oilers ($460 million) placed 12th, the Calgary Flames ($440 million) were 15th, the Ottawa Senators ($370 million) were 18th and the Winnipeg Jets ($350 million) were 20th. With a valuation of $190 million, the Florida Panthers were ranked by Fobes as the least valuable of the 30 NHL franchises.

The NHL announced its new All-Star Game format with a heavy emphasis on 3-on-3 play. The league’s skills competition will remain – a fan favorite every year – but in order to spice up the game itself, the NHL has created a different type game play style to breathe life into the mid-season contest with three separate 3-on-3 games on Jan. 31 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

The winning team will receive a $1 million monetary prize. 

What’s new? 

• The league will have a 3-on-3 tournament with four teams based on divisions. The Metropolitan Divison will face off against the Atlantic Division and the Central Division will play the Pacific Division. Each side will feature 11 players: six forwards, three defensemen and two goalies.
• Fans will vote for one player from each division regardless of position. The top vote-getter from each division will be that division’s team captain. The remaining 40 All-Stars will be chosen by the NHL’s Hockey Operations department with the goal of getting all 30 teams represented.
• The games will be 20 minutes in length with the teams switching side after 10 minutes. Games that are tied after 20 minutes will be decided by a shootout.
• The four division-leading NHL coaches after Jan. 9 will head to Nashville to coach the four All-Star teams.
• The winners of each semifinal will play in the final for the $1 million prize.
• Despite the four teams representing each NHL division, there will only be two jersey designs.

What’s the same? 

• The skills competition will remain and revert back to the East vs. West format. This has always been a fan favorite and leads to some of the biggest viral moments of the weekend.
• The new twist with the All-Star Tournament format is that the winning conference in the Skills Competition will get to select when their semifinal game is played; either first or second on Sunday.

What’s gone?

• The traditional 5-on-5 element of the game is no more. The NHL’s new 3-on-3 overtime rules have led to rave reviews from fans and the league is trying to capitalize.
• Gone is also the entertaining fantasy draft, featuring sauced up NHL players picking their friends and providing plenty of candid moments.