The New York Islanders recently opened up their new home, UBS Arena. After years of being made fun of over the lack of a true arena, the Islanders are able to consider themselves good to go for the distant future in the NHL’s newest building. With that out of the way for the National Hockey League, there are some other teams in the league that could use a new home in the near future.

One of the NHL teams that would have definitely been on the list for a new arena is the Calgary Flames as their current home, the Scotiabank Saddledome is notorious for being one of the league’s more commonly discussed when it comes to the debate a team needing a new building. On July 30, 2019, the Calgary city council announced plans for the Calgary Event Centre, a planned arena complex that would replace the Saddledome, and would host the Flames, the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, and the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League. Construction is set to begin in early 2022 and is expected to be completed in time to become the teams’ home ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season.

Ottawa Senators

When the words “new arena” come up in conversation, the first team that comes to mind is the mildly-dysfunctional Ottawa Senators. Headed by owner Eugene Melnyk, who purchased the team alongside the arena which at the time was named the Corel Centre in January 2003. The building opened up in January 1996 as the Palladium, was renamed the Corel Centre on February 17, 1996, and then to Scotiabank Place on January 19, 2006. It was renamed most recently to the Canadian Tire Centre on July 1, 2013, and has remained that since.

On May 19, 2021, Melnyk reiterated his hope to build a new home for the Senators. Speaking on the Bob McCown podcast with co-host John Shannon, he said that he’s putting plans in place for a new rink on 70 acres of land he owns close to the current location of the Canadian Tire Centre, and if that doesn’t work out, he would look to the city of Gatineau for a potential location.

San Jose Sharks

Plans started for an arena in San Jose in the mid-1980s, pursuing potential sponsors from the NHL and NBA. Just after construction began for what at the time would be named San Jose Arena in 1991, the NHL granted an expansion team to the city of San Jose, announced to be named the San Jose Sharks. The arena would open in 1993, and in 2001, Compaq bought the naming rights to the building, renaming it Compaq Center at San Jose. After HP purchased Compaq in 2002, the arena was renamed HP Pavilion. In June 2013, SAP purchased the naming rights, and it has been named SAP Center since.

In terms of this building, it is not that it is in a terrible location as the Canadian Tire Centre, but it is coming up on 30 years of Sharks hockey in the same arena that they started in, thus it will definitely need some renovations. Google’s Downtown West project will have major impacts on the SAP Center and the San Jose Sharks organization. The main points listed in an email to fans in an attempt to draw more attention to it are a drastic increase in traffic in the Diridon area resulting in the reduction of Santa Clara Street from four to two lanes. Due to the project, the Sharks may not have much room to build a new NHL arena in that area, but with the anticipated opening of their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda’s new arena ahead of the 2022-23 AHL season, the only option in that area could be building the arena in the current parking lot of the SAP Center, which could result in some parking issues during that construction.

Winnipeg Jets

The arena, which during the construction period was named the True North Centre, opened on November 16, 2004, replacing the aging Winnipeg Arena, which started operations in 1955. It was named MTS Centre from 2004-2017, then to Bell MTS Place on May 30, 2017, following Bell Canada’s acquisition of MTS. On June 15, 2021, True North announced that the naming rights had been sold to Canada Life, resulting in the renaming to the Canada Life Centre, effective immediately.

The AHL’s Manitoba Moose started as the first team to call the arena home from 2004 to 2011. The team relocated to St. John’s prior to the 2011–12 AHL season to make way for the arrival of the Winnipeg Jets, who were moving from Atlanta. The Moose returned to the MTS Centre ahead of the 2015–16 season, making the arena the first, along with SAP Center at San Jose, to host both an NHL team and its AHL affiliate.

The Jets are definitely the lowest of the three that need a new NHL Arena, as not only are they the newest arena of the three that have been brought up in the article, but with the new naming rights deal being a 10-year contract and the fact that the Jets themselves are a younger franchise, it is not as much of a necessity, despite some fans thinking it may be a necessary move to make in the future.

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