Florida unlikely locale for Stadium Series

The Tampa Tribune indicates Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has been pushing hard to land an NHL All Star game or the Entry Draft, but the NHL hasn't acted on anything to this point despite being impressed with what Vinik has done in the market.

Commissioner Gary Bettman was in Tampa for Game 2 of the Montreal series Friday night and also indicated a Stadium Series game hosted by the Lightning would be difficult, despite there having been a game in Los Angeles.

“I think the weather in Florida is a little tougher to deal with,’’ Bettman said. “When we played in L.A. the temperature was around 50 degrees when we dropped the puck.

“It could be 70 and humid here, so the weather here is more of an issue. For the Florida teams, initially we will have to look at them as potential visiting teams in that series."

Source: Erik Erlendsson, Tampa Tribune