Someone alert Don Quixote! Crawford in an interview with the Canadian paper The Intelligencer:
“Toronto could handle another NHL team — probably two more,” said Crawford. “But there are three NHL teams within 90 minutes of Hartford, plus basketball, football and baseball. Winnipeg proved they were a viable market with quite a few sellouts for their AHL team.
“Here, it would be a tough call. The AHL team (the Connecticut Whale) is averaging about 4,000 and their tickets are 10 bucks. For the NHL to come back, you’d need 15,000 people playing 80 to 100 bucks.
The kicker? Crawford manages rinks in the area and helped organize last year’s outdoor Whalers Hockey Fest. Something tells me Crawford’s off the Christmas card list this year.