QUEBEC CITY — Quebec’s premier is confident the NHL wants to bring a team back to Quebec City.
Jean Charest on Thursday said he discussed the issue with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at the Canadiens’ 100th anniversary game last Friday.
The premier, on a trade mission in Moscow, said Bettman seemed sincerely interested in bringing pro hockey back to the provincial capital a decade and a half after the Nordiques left to become the Avalanche.
Charest said the commissioner appeared convinced of two things: the economic viability of a team in Quebec, and the prospect of finding investors.
Bettman has said in the past that he would consider Quebec City as a possible home to an NHL team if it followed through on plans to build a top arena and if a team were for sale.
The premier says several factors, including revenue-sharing and a salary cap, have made pro hockey more viable from a business standpoint than it was in the 1990s.
“I find it encouraging that the National Hockey League sees viable market conditions there,” Charest said. “The real question for a hockey team is whether it’s economically feasible and, in a market like Quebec, I believe the answer is yes.”
He conceded that the team will remain a pipe dream as long as Quebec doesn’t build a modern arena. The city administration wants to build one but expects almost all the money — $238 million — to come from public funds at the federal and provincial levels.
“We’re still far from having a hockey team,” Charest said. “We would need a multipurpose center, and I believe in that project because a city of Quebec’s size needs a multipurpose building.”
Footnotes.
Red Wings forward Dan Cleary will be out for about a month because of a separated shoulder suffered during Wednesday night’s loss to the Blues.
• Sabres forward Mike Grier is expected to rejoin the team by this weekend after being excused because of an illness in his family. The Associated Press
