Toronto Needs Another NHL Team and Gary Bettman Sucks, Still

I love the city of Toronto and many people who live there. Also, any reason to read Eric Duhatschek on hockey is a good thing. So it was interesting to read that one of his long-time pet topics has quietly bubbled to life in the NHL: a second team for the Toronto area.

There's a couple of things going on here:

• Toronto's is North America's fifth largest market and could support three NHL teams, let alone two;

• The six Canadian teams (v. 24 in the U.S.) comprise 31% of the league's ticket revenues, the league's primary income source;

• The NHL owes an enormous make-good to Blackberry inventor Jim Balsillie for tortiously interfering with discouraging his attempt to buy the Predators last year, perhaps to move them to Hamilton.

So, with three markets lined up for teams -- Toronto, Kansas City (with a building ready and waiting) and Las Vegas -- and probably not wanting to add more than two teams (to total 32), do you move one or three franchises, or extort suckers sell two new franchises for upwards of $700M U.S.?

BTW, Torontonians: instead of cramming another team in the Air Canada Centre, why not put them in the Skydome Rogers Centre? You could sell out that huge building every game.

It's all very Gary Bettman-like: I shall hold you in contempt, Canada, until I require your new check cheque with many zeroes: