from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune,

Players would love it, too, and so would beat writers.

“I bet there’d be a serious home-ice advantage, and some very low-quality articles written,” joked Wild GM Chuck Fletcher, well aware of my infatuation with Vegas (I half considered not leaving the poker table one June afternoon when the Wild traded for Brad Staubitz).

In all seriousness, the NHL has to be right on this. With revenues soaring, the last thing the NHL needs is another Glendale or South Florida.

My gut? Vegas can thrive as long as we all understand the formula to make Vegas succeed will be different from every place else.

For instance, Vegas is an industry town where most locals work Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays, so there will need to be more afternoon games and lots of Monday/Tuesday night games. And we’ll all need to accept a large chunk of tickets will go to out-of-town gamblers willing to leave the casino for 140 minutes to shell out $80 for a ticket.

Heck, that’s a measly pass-line and odds bet on the craps table and less than it costs to see Celine Dion.

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