The 2007 Season
-IRL this season saw the two teams begin relocation processes. The Winnipeg Jets, the league's smallest market team (after the Nordiques left to become the Avalanche) had increasingly tough financial situations amidst rising player salaries. Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo lured the Jets to Phoenix where they became the Coyotes. The Coyotes were a successful team on the ice for their first 6 seasons. That season the Hartford Whalers (now, the league's smallest market) announced that they were going to be moving to greener pastures. It was later announced that the Whalers would head to the research triangle in North Carolina. They were to set up shop in Raleigh. The Whalers dropped their name and colors in favor of the name - Carolina Hurricanes. They would be red and black to mirror the NC WolfPack who also called Raleigh home. Ironically, the Whalers left Hartford because of their small home arena. They ended up with arena issues in their new hometown as well. Their arena wouldn't be ready for their first two years. The only other arena in the area was 5,200 seats so they had to play home games in Greensboro which was a 90 minutes drive away. This caused a significant blow to the Hurricanes reputation and attendance. Both teams struggled with attendance after their moves. The Coyotes started as a more competitive team but the Hurricanes would eventually build a team that went to two Stanley Cups. Perhaps the Bighorns time is around the corner.
The 2007 DRAFT (this was a pretty underwhelming opening round)
15 - Dainius Zubrus - Vancouver
56 - Zdeno Chara - Chicago
59 - Tom Poti - Portland
79 - Mark Parrish - Montreal
204 - Tomas Kaberle - Calgary
Honestly that was it...pretty rough draft.
Gritty wrote:
