This is Florent Pilote, who played for the 62-63 Nashville Dixie Flyers of the Eastern Hockey League. Although the EHL was not generally considering a pro league then (the International Hockey League was also considered a lesser league than the two "big" minor leagues of the time, the AHL and the old pro WHL), Nashville had a team and from all reports they were pretty good (Dixie Flyers won the Walker Cup in 1966 and 1967 during Pilote's time there).I cannot find any confirmation that he is Pierre Pilote's brother, but Florent was born in Fort Erie, Ontario, and several accounts I have read have Pierre Pilote moving there as a youngster (Pierre Pilote was born in Kenogami, Quebec some 5 years before Florent). If you know, please pass it along.
Anyway, Nashville's hockey team is being sold to a rich Canadian with dreams of screwing over the Maple Leafs. He is my hero.
There are several well written accounts of what is going on with the Predators, I suggest dropping by Mirtle's site for more (click on his name to the right).
I wish no Nashville fan ill will, ideally the Oakland Seals would still be playing in some barn in that town. However, this feels "right" to me, and maybe it's the beginning of a trend. Would the NHL be a better place with the SW division relocated to Kitchener, Winnipeg and Quebec?
I think it would. And please, for the love of GOD don't post something like "well if we're ever going to grow the game in the U.S. we need these teams."
We're not going to grow the game in the U.S. because they don't get it. They don't grow up with ice and sticks and pucks in Atlanta, they grow up with hoops and fastballs and someone from the Waltrip family turning left every 5 seconds.
Let it go. Hockey deserves to come home where it is cherished.
I wrote something of an essay, now lost to hard drive explosion, regarding the NHL in Winnipeg. I was never a Jets fan but I live in the town so I have to have an opinion of some kind. Basically I looked at the CBA's revenue sharing section, MTS center capacity/capacity for expansion, Winnipeg's fickle attendance history, etc etc and came up with the conclusion that the ONLY way a team could exist here is if a rich owner brought a club here and either a)didn't mind sucking while near the salary cap floor or b) didn't mind losing money to be competetive.
ReplyDeleteI utterly doubt that Balsillie is that rich owner and the Predators are that team for Winnipeg but as long as they come North of the border I will be just giddy.
Nashville days are numbered. Its only a matter of time before there shipped somewhere north. The NHL needs 30 healthy markets.
ReplyDeleteFlorent looks like Pierre,
ReplyDeleteand with the similar bios
they could be brothers.
Moving franchises
Like Bruce McNall, who helped organize Anaheim's entry into the league, owners of western-based NHL teams need to work to add more teams this side of the Great Lakes - Milwaukee, Salt Lake, Seattle, Portland, even Las Vegas.
Is it just me, or do those colours look an awful lot like the Preds' current ones, right down to the putrid yellowy vomit of their thirds?
ReplyDeleteI'd say he's Pierre's brother - sure looks like it.
ReplyDeleteAtlanta and Florida to follow? Duhatschek and Damien Cox also weigh in on the issue. I believe Cox opines that this is the first move and the NHL is ok with a return to Canada esp. seeing the BlueBerry guy's deep pockets. He thinks (as does the Hat) that this is the first of a few and that KC will likely be the next new/old market to get a club.
The NHL needs about 24 healthy markets and a half-dozen outright contractions.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Florida is that they're in that 20-year lease in Sunrise, and there's no out clause like the one the Predators (wisely) negotiated.
ReplyDeleteThat has to be the worst market right now, although Atlanta's ownership situation just might be bad enough that they'd jump at the chance to unload for anything close to $220-million.
You'd get crucified in some parts of HF for saying that LT.
ReplyDeletePersonally, i agree 100%. I just don't care about growing the game in the US, and I especially don't care about growing it if it comes at the expense of Canadian teams.
I'm interested in what's best for hockey in Canada, just like some people are interested in whats best for hockey in the US. I don't see why I should have to defend that.
They've been trying to grow the game for forty years in the States.
ReplyDeleteIts not going to happen.
Contract a half dozen, move two or more home.
I just cannot agree enough LT. I do feel sorry for the Preds fans but I hope that team ends up in Canada.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see at least 2 more teams in Canada and I am okay with the other Southern teams being moved to the Northern US. Bring back the Hartford Whalers or put a team in Oregon / Washington State or something.
A rich Canadian buying an American team and moving it to Canada = poetic justice.
Showerhead you really feel Winnipeg could not hack with a team again without bleeding money? I would love to see the Jets back in the league.
Just proves how ridiculous the American NHL owners are is to ignore a huge European market and foucs on chasing a handful of fans in Nashville and other southern US markets. Unless you live in the states you can't understand how narrow-minded the perspective is in this country. The obvious strategy is:
ReplyDelete8 teams in Canada (1 division)
16 teams in US (2 divisions)
8 teams in Europe (1 division)
The NHL needs about 24 healthy markets and a half-dozen outright contractions.
ReplyDeleteI've been saying that since the lockout. I think if you were to take four southern teams, plunk two in Canada and two in the northern US, then outright contract six more franchises, you'd have a very healthy little niche league that can grow into something special over the course of a generation -- kind of like the Original 21 League was starting to do when Ziegler and Bettman went berserk chasing the money. Of course, the latter bit about contraction will never happen, because that'd be a PR nightmare, but it would improve the quality of competition just a smidge.
Asia, the problem with that is travel, plain and simple. Until Transatlantic flights become less bothersome, I don't think you can arrange a regular season on two different continents. Entering the Stanley Cup champions into a Champions' League type tournament would be one thing (among other things, it'd require the playoffs to end in April for the first time since 1964, which I can't say would be a bad thing if it means shaving about 15 games off the regular season and getting rid of some of these ridiculous delays between games/series), but I think having a proper season across the Atlantic would be a logistical nightmare on so many levels, it's just not feasible.
I think this is maybe my favorite post of yours.
ReplyDeleteI'm crossing my fingers for the Winnipredators.
Doogie - simple answer - each NA team only does one 8 game road trip in Europe per year. That's not anything unrealistic. The Euro teams may make 2 NA road trips playing each of the Canadian teams and one of the American divisions every year. Other than that you play a schedule that is heavily weighed toward divisional games (eg the 8 Canadian teams would play each other 6 times, the 16 American team twice, and the Euro teams once for an 82 game schedule). Euro teams play a more intensive divisional schedule.
ReplyDeleteI would be way more interested in seeing EDM play Helsinki Jokerit than Carolina - who wouldn't?
I would be way more interested in seeing EDM play Helsinki Jokerit than Carolina - who wouldn't?
ReplyDeleteNot I.
I get annoyed when games start at 5 PM and I miss part of them because of work/school/etc.
Games at 9 AM?
No thanks.
Tape delay?
Hell no.
It'll never work because of time zones. Can you imagine the Stanley Cup being decided at 10 AM EST on a Thursday?
Can you imagine the Stanley Cup being decided at 10 AM EST on a Thursday?
ReplyDeleteOnly if NBC's scheduling it.
As a teenager in Nashville was a die hard Dixie Flyer fan, yes Flo was the brother of the Blackhawks Pierre, after his playing days stayed in Nashville and ran a bar for years. One of my fondest memories of the Flyers was a exhibition game in the early 60's against the touring Russian Red Army team, they didn't win but the russkies knew they had been in a hell of a game. Haven't lived in Nashville in over 40 years but have been there for several Preds games and the fans are just as passionate about the team as Canadian fans. I am sure big money will win out and the Preds will move and it will be ashame but life will go on.
ReplyDeleteYes, Flo is retired now from his bar business, but he is doing well! I just talked to him last night!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know,... Ok,.. ya'll don't take this wrong, cuz I don't mean it in a bad way, but, why can't southern folks appreciate hockey? Yes we have NASCAR and we have our baseball and what not, but why should we be deprived of hockey? Sure it gets hot down south, and we almost NEVER have a pond freeze over in the winter that would be safe enough to skate on, but that doesn't mean we cannot appreciate a good sport when we see it,...
I have known Florent Pilote my whole entire life, and although I don't have constant contact with him and his family (his wife of nearly 50 years, Pat, passed away about 2 years ago),I am proud to say that I know him, and have known him since he played for the Checkers,... ( That was like when I was born)
So, yeah, southerners CAN appreciate hockey, and it helps when you know someone who has played for a southern team or two!
This is a great blog by the way, keep up the awesome work!!!
YES FLORENT IS PIERRE:S BROTHER, AND THERE WAS ALSO ANOTHER BROTHER THAT LOOKED MORE LIKE PIERRE, GIL BUT NOT AS TALENTED
ReplyDelete