We’ve heard rumors of the Edmonton Rush moving to Saskatoon for years now. We might have more to that after last week the Edmonton Sun reported that owner Bruce Urban was in attendance at a Saskatoon Blades game recently checking out the arena.
The same report in the Edmonton Sun also reported that the Rush were almost bought by the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers two years ago. The offer was apparently for $2 million, which is about on par for NLL teams, and it almost happened.
Except, Urban wanted to keep his top five players and start a team in a different market… One that you could probably guess.
The article in the Sun mentions the league is aware of the interest from the Oilers, and that being the case might not allow a move to Saskatoon. As it is, players struggle to play in areas that aren’t Vancouver, Toronto, Rochester, or Buffalo right now since most players are from Ontario or BC.
Minnesota, New England, Colorado, and the two Alberta teams don’t have players lining up to be traded to them unless they are from the area. However, Edmonton would have a far better shot at adding players than a Saskatoon team would.
The three teams in the NLL that lead in attendance are Buffalo, Colorado, and Calgary, all owned by their cities’ NHL teams. Other than maybe Toronto, every market would benefit from having that cross promotion from having an NHL owned team.
It’s interesting to think about, and if the Oilers are interested, then this might not be the end of the story.
