when the new goal is 32, than u r right, the suggestions was laughable. im not really up2date in this issue, so excuse me!!!
i thought we need 36 new teams in the next 2-3 years.
From my point of view this is just a dust in the eyes, so that when KHL starts to pull the best teams out of established leagues they'll have an excuse like "we have suggested another option which retained your local leagues, but you rejected it, now we're gonna do it our way".
Especially you got to think that rather than having 2x 32 team conferences the fans would prefer a 32 team league (both in Eastern and Western Europe). If teams of one conference face the other conference only in playoffs thats like an seperate league anyway...
Regarding Milan: I was against that choice at the beginning but after some research I think that it could really work. Milan has always been a hockey hotbed in the last 80 years and with a team in KHL a lot of fans might prefer watching that than the corrupt football Serie A.
Maybe we should do an overview of all the informations we got for the moment:
Country Team Arena (Capacity) Probability Comment
ITA Hockey Milano Rossoblu 4000 Very High Plans to join in 2013
CRO KHL Medvečak 15000 Very High Plans to join in 2013
UKR HC Berkut 1500 -
UKR Sokol Kyiv 7200 -
SVK HK Poprad 4500 -
RUS HC Vladivostok - -
RUS HC Sochi - -
Suggestions (By Forum-Members)
SLO HK Jesenice or Olimpija Ljubljana Cap. 5900 / 5000
FRA Dragons de Rouen Cap. 2750
HUN Alba Volαn Cap. 3600
ROM HSC Csνkszereda Cap. 4000
LIT SC Energija Cap. 4000
POL KS Cracovia or GKS Tychy Cap. 2500 / 2000
when somebody got more informations - add them to that list...
and we will play at the Forum, which has a seating capacity of 11,500.
No offence but I don't like the idea at all. There should be a geographic restriction to the league. Flying is a problem already in the KHL. Going all the way down to Milano is crazy stupid. Solving it by cutting down the interconference games wouldn't really work and will make the season dull. And then whether it will be a team stacked with foreigners which makes it really boring or it will be the leagues' punching ball which would be even more boring.
You make it sound as if Milano was in Sicily. If anything, visiting Milano is going "all the way up" (in terms of Italy). I've flown between Bratislava & Milano and the distance is negligible, comparable to Prague.
I'd be more worried about the quality of teams joining the KHL rather than their geographical location. According to that article, it's a new team in Milano and therefore with no traditional fan base, it played in the 2nd (!) Italian league last season and is currently ranked 7th in the top Italian league. Oops... All of that can change thanks to players hired from elsewhere (presumably abroad), but it's not a model that it would be good to see repeated in every new KHL expansion team.
You make it sound as if Milano was in Sicily. If anything, visiting Milano is going "all the way up" (in terms of Italy). I've flown between Bratislava & Milano and the distance is negligible, comparable to Prague.
I'd be more worried about the quality of teams joining the KHL rather than their geographical location. According to that article, it's a new team in Milano and therefore with no traditional fan base, it played in the 2nd (!) Italian league last season and is currently ranked 7th in the top Italian league. Oops... All of that can change thanks to players hired from elsewhere (presumably abroad), but it's not a model that it would be good to see repeated in every new KHL exansion team.
I thought (and somebody feel free to supply a credible source to this), that Milan was one of the best attended European clubs in the early 1990s. Obviously a lot has changed the team has gone downhill, but I think that past history, and given Milan's population, might make the new KHL outfit a team with a lot of commercial upside.
Distances should be no problem in KHL. If that was the case teams like Khabarovsk would have to leave because they are so far away but its Kontinental Hockey League not Russian Super League.
And regarding Milan:
Hockey Club Milano (1924-1956)
Hockey Club Diavoli Rossoneri Milano (1933-1956)
AC Milanese DG (1937?-1941?) (fusion of Hockey Club Milano + Hockey Club Diavoli Rossoneri Milano)
Hockey Club Milan Inter (1956-1958) (fusion of Hockey Club Milano + Hockey Club Diavoli Rossoneri Milano), also known as Diavoli Milano Hockey
Hockey Club Devils Milano (1989-1996)
Hockey Club Milano Saima (1985-1995)
Hockey Club Milano 24 (?-?)
Hockey Club Milano Vipers (1998-2008)
Hockey Milano Rossoblu (since 2008)
Thats a list of professional ice hockey teams from Milan in the last 100 years. Milan has always been pretty nice for ice hockey.
If Milano Rossoblu joins KHL next year there will be 90% foreigners in the roster at least so don't worry.
Which is actually a misnomer even right now, because the league spans two continents instead of just 1 as the name might suggest. But, NHL is a similar misnomer in that, in reality, 2 "nations" (US, Canada) participate in it.
(And both of those misnomers are pretty mild compared to the most famous of all misnomers, the baseball "World Series" in which only North-American teams can play.)
Which is actually a misnomer even right now, because the league spans two continents instead of just 1 as the name might suggest. But, NHL is a similar misnomer in that, in reality, 2 "nations" (US, Canada) participate in it.
(And both of those misnomers are pretty mild compared to the most famous of all misnomers, the baseball "World Series" in which only North-American teams can play.)
Well its not completely wrong. Depending on the culture its Europe or Eurasia. But off course KHL is more likely meant to be a European league. And all member countries are at least partly in Europe (even Kazakhstan).
I recently subscribed to Milano's youtube channel to follow their progress into the KHL. The first thing I noticed were that they have really nice jerseys and a group of very passionate fans. They are going to need a lot of work though, before next season rolls around if they want to stand a chance in this league. I am sure there are plenty of Italian-Canadians that will be happy to sign there next year, and for their sake, hopefully they do. My fingers are crossed for these guys to succeed....well at least compete because it could open the doors for other teams to join the league and many more North Americans to sign over there. As fr right now, they really wouldn't stand a chance though.
I know this would be a ways away, but there is always talk about the NHL expanding to Europe, what about the KHL expanding to North America (or merging with the NHL)
I know this would be a ways away, but there is always talk about the NHL expanding to Europe, what about the KHL expanding to North America (or merging with the NHL)
NHL teams can join KHL. Well, only best nhl teams. We've got a few vacant spots.
NHL teams can join KHL. Well, only best nhl teams. We've got a few vacant spots.
Not sure about joining, but I believe it can be amusing to watch 'superfinal' series between champions of Stanley and Gagarin just after the playoffs have finished.
A global league is just stupid... you would meet certain other teams maybe once every 10 years... I think they just should let the Stanley Cup and Gagarin Cup winners play a series for some Global trophy.
That would be uninteresting for me, Vicente. It would mostly only concern the two teams' fans. Better play against some of the top North American teams once every 3 years or once every 5 years than never play against them at all.
Exactly... it's a time for celebration. Nor is there any other suitable time for such a confrontation, in my opinion. But if there was a world-wide hockey league, why not have 2 or 3 transatlantic trips as part of each regular season? "Transatlantic" sounds intimidating when you say it, but in fact the distance covered would be less than what Central European teams need to overcome this KHL season when visiting Amur Khabarovsk.
So what you guys are proposing is "**** KHL, **** NHL - let's have a global league". That's just dumb.
If that would ever happen one can only hope that this Western European league would be installed.
As if anyone in the world would like to see a game Minnesota Wild vs. Ak Bars Kazan or Dinamo Minsk vs. Los Angeles Kings... Or NHL teams doing a month long road trip to Russia. lol.
If teams of one conference face the other conference only in playoffs thats like an seperate league anyway... 
If anything, visiting Milano is going "all the way up" (in terms of Italy). I've flown between Bratislava & Milano and the distance is negligible, comparable to Prague.
in that, in reality, 2 "nations" (US, Canada) participate in it.
