Seattle has been lobbying for a hockey team for quite some time and is finally getting its own NHL team. The yet to be named team will play thier games at Key Arena.

While no doubt Seattlites would rather have their beloved Super Sonics back, they are happy take a hockey team that will get their full support and sell out arenas every night. Lets take a look at what it has taken to bring a new hockey team to Seattle in 2021.

The NHL Is Ready

The NHL has been read to expand for a while, and they were looking for cities that would be best suited to host new teams in America. They wanted to go to established markets, and they wanted to go to cities that they knew would support their teams. There were many concerns about which cities would support a team given that a city like Atlanta has lost two NHL teams. Moving into Florida again was not an option, but Seattle emerged because of a few factors that are helpful.

Key Arena

Key Arena is a well-known from its time hosting the Sonics Super Sonics for such a long time. Older sports fans know the name without even a thought, and they are happen to see a team in Seattle because they know that city will support the team. Key Arena will sell out every night all season simply because people want to be in there again. Sports fans in the town are smart because they know they need to give the team time, and they can see good prospects for the future.

Joel Quenneville

Joel Quenneville won three Stanley Cups in a decade with Chicago, and he is now on the market. He could be the perfect coach for this team, and he could take over a team that will be set up to make a run at a cup not long after they have started. He is the sort of coach who can take unknowns and turn them into winners. He did the very same thing in Chicago, and they could hire him right now to take over the operations of the team sot hat they are ready for their expansion draft day.

The Expansion Draft

The expansion draft is something in the NHL that can set up a team in just one day. This has happened in Vegas, and that team almost won the Stanley Cup in its first season. The very same thing could happen in Seattle, and it would be very interesting to see if the team could make the right choices the first time around when teams can only protect so many stars. They only need one great player, and they would be ready to go.

The excitement around an expansion team in Seattle is something that people need to take seriously. Seattle will pour out of the woodwork to support this team, and they will make it a part of the city’s identity not long after they start playing. There is no doubt that people will fall in love with the team, and they could easily get the right coach, the right players, and the best place to play. Someone who loves hockey could become a brand new fan of this team because they are coming in 2021.