Image Credit: Miosotis Jade (CC BY-SA 4.0)
There is great speculation that the Tampa Bay Lightning will be hosting the 2018 NHL All-Star game at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The Lightning haven’t hosted an NHL All-Star game since the 1998-1999 season when the team was one of the newest franchises in the National Hockey League. The team entered the National Hockey League as an expansion team in 1992.
The official announcement will come in mid-June after the Stanley Cup Playoffs are complete. The 2018 NHL regular season schedule will also be released in mid-June. Originally, the NHL had been planning on having a Western Conference city host the All-Star game but those plans seem to have taken a different direction. An All-Star game also suggests that the NHL will not allow their players to play in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. That decision will also likely be announced this summer.
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has invested more than $100 million into renovating Amalie Arena since purchasing the team in 2010. Amalie Arena is also expected to host an upcoming NHL Draft, an event it hasn’t yet hosted. Vinik has also committed scores of money into the Channelside neighborhood near the arena as well as downtown Tampa Bay. Vinik is also a part owner of the Boston Red Sox and the Liverpool Football Club (soccer) in England.
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