Québec City Must Be the NHL's Third Choice for Expansion

Here's a legendary anecdote from the annals of corporate business:

Back in 1978, none other than Henry Ford II called his company's hotshot president, Lee Iacocca, into his office for a terse conversation.

As in you're fired terse.

Iacocca was astounded. After all, he'd returned Ford to the top of Detroit's Big Three auromakers with dynamic moves such as commissioning the now-legendary Mustang. He was the industry's mega-star.

Ford must've been a huge Captain James T Kirk fan in his private moments, because when Iacocca asked why this was happening, Henry's oldest grandson had a Kirkish response:

Is Québec City the NHL Board of Governors' Lee Iacocca?

Yesterday, league commish Gary Bettman was in waffle mode on the topic of expansion:

There have been no deliberations as to whether or not we want to expand, how many teams, or where. There's much work to be done.

Work? Like deciding which two out of two applications for two franchises should be chosen?

Damn. If Dan Ackroyd's not up for a Dragnet remake, look no further for a replacement.

Anyway, in spite of Québecor's deep pockets, eyebrows have been raised about the viability of its bid for some time.

Ostensibly, rumblings say the league's concerned about the loonie. But really, isn't the issue the fact that Québec City isn't west enough?

Ever since the lockout ended, the NHL has dropped so many hints about expanding to Seattle that it should be done for littering. But for roughly the same reasons the city fumbled the Sonics outa town, it's never gotten its act together. And that includes now.

If the Nordiques take an expansion slot, unless someone gets creative about conference realignment, someone's gotta move west. And nobody wants to move west. That could then be a condition for Québec City's acceptance, but then, the loonie's exchange rate could be an issue as well as Western Conference teams having to travel there too often.

Whatever. The bottom line is the NHL just can't bring itself to give up on a second western franchise. Until they do, or until Seattle pulls the proverbial rabbit out of somewhere, that $500,000,000 x 2 in expansion cash remains on ice.