Mark Cuban Would Have Been Great For The NHL

There’s a ton of hockey stuff one can talk about this off season… from management who seems intent on awarding big contract after big contract just a season out of a lockout, to trade rumors about where Leetch will end up or if they’ll ever be another Pavel Bure or Theo Fluery sighting in North America. But the story I didn’t want to let just go by was the news that a group including Dan Marino and Mark Cuban made a bid for the Pittsburgh Penguins which has been rejected by the team.

“We increased our offer significantly, and it was not accepted,” said Murstein, whose group has made it known they would like to keep the team in Pittsburgh. Cuban and Marino are both Pittsburgh-area natives.

That’s a damn shame. Not only does it mean a chance at another ownership group moving the team to Kansas City (is that really any better then Pittsburgh?), but I also think the highly vocal Cuban would have been great for the sport—even if his role would be most probably have been smaller then it is with the Mavs. I’d absolutely love to see someone like that tangle with Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell, or shine some light into the the madness that seems to be some NHL ownership (I’m looking right at you Mr. Wang).