NHL Awards Show Set For Tonight In Las Vegas For First Time

The NHL, fresh off a "stellar playoff season ... and just days after a huge victory in the legal battle over the future" of the Coyotes, this weekend will "try to spice up its image even further" with tonight's NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas, according to Scott Burnside of ESPN.com. The show traditionally "has been an afterthought on the NHL schedule, wedged between the end of the Stanley Cup finals and the annual draft, and its profile in Toronto was low." NHL COO John Collins said of moving the show to Las Vegas, "We just felt there was an opportunity to do something more. We're building our muscles in terms of being able to stage these events ourselves." Burnside noted the NHL "gets top billing on the marquee in front" of the Palms Hotel & Casino, where the show will be held, and while the show is the "centerpiece of the occasion ... the NHL has worked hard to expand the scope of the proceedings to include sponsors, team officials, players and alumni, groups that weren't necessarily part of the mix in Toronto." Collins: "This is our first real opportunity to create a significant hospitality event (around the awards)." Burnside noted the NHL "has essentially taken over production of the awards show; it has sold the ads and brought in sponsors, allowing the league the kind of creative control it might not have had otherwise." One reason the Las Vegas experiment "has some legs this year is that the players are holding their annual meeting in Vegas the two days after the awards," which is drawing around 125 players. NHLPA Communications Dir Jonathan Weatherdon said that players "have been enthusiastic about the league's decision to move the show to Vegas, believing it will help the league's profile" (ESPN.com, 6/17).

Maloof (l), Messier Express Their Excitement For First NHL Awards Show In Las Vegas

EXCITEMENT BUILDING: Palms Owner George Maloof said, "The anticipation for this is unreal. I just went downstairs to look at the set for the show. It's spectacular." In Las Vegas, Steve Silver notes the move of both the awards show and the NHLPA meetings to the city "seemed to draw universal praise at the presenters' reception" yesterday. Hockey HOFer Mark Messier: "It's a great way to put the sport on an international platform. I think in every way it's a very positive thing. I know everybody coming here is excited." Meanwhile, Silver notes several NHLers, including Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin and Canucks G Roberto Luongo, played against "celebrities and professional poker players in a charity poker tournament" at the Rio. ESPN "even built a miniature ice rink and special hockey table for the event, which will be televised on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 6/18). In Toronto, Paul Hunter writes the NHL hopes the move "will glitz up its image and bring a little more attention to the league." At the Palms, there will be a "little hip-hop and Hollywood mixed with hockey." Entertainers will include Chaka Khan and Robin Thicke, and those expected to appear at the show include Snoop Dogg, singer Michael Buble and actors William Fichtner and Tricia Helfer (TORONTO STAR, 6/18). Former Lightning GM Jay Feaster said of moving the show from Toronto to Las Vegas, "The league has done a very good job in Toronto and the way they've made it a premier event and a showcase event. But to be able to add the hype and enthusiasm that we can get out of Vegas, it's going to be a real good thing" ("NHL Live," NHL Network, 6/17).

CAN NHL WORK IN VEGAS? In Las Vegas, Ryan Greene reports NHLers "agree on one thing -- they think NHL hockey in Vegas can work." Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane: "It'd do pretty good in Vegas. From what I hear, I think they'd get a lot of fans, a lot of sponsors, and maybe it'd be a good place for the NHL, but you're probably asking the wrong guy when you ask me. Players would love to see a team in Vegas, but who knows about everyone else." Maloof: "We've always wanted something more, so I think it'd be great to have a franchise here. I think the community would really embrace it." Maloof "disagreed that players misbehaving would be an issue should the league find a home" in Las Vegas (LAS VEGAS SUN. 6/18). The GLOBE & MAIL's Eric Duhatschek writes even if NHL expansion is "not on the front burner at the moment, the expectation is that influential Hollywood mogul Jerry Bruckheimer eventually will land a team for Vegas." However, the ground "has yet to be broken" on an arena project in Las Vegas originally proposed by Harrah's and AEG, and the "completion date of 2010, noted in the original press release, seems like a pipe dream." Duhatschek: "For the moment, the NHL's interest in Las Vegas is purely decorative, the first stage in a courtship that may or may not go forward" (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/18).