I watched the 2006-07 NHL season opener tonight. Besides getting to see my Ottawa Senators trounce the Leafs, I heard something that likely also caught the ear of many other locals as well. The Pittsburg Penguins have been purchased by a local businessman, and he may be inclined to move the team to somewhere in Southern Ontario. Read the TSN story here. While Hamilton is an obvious choice, and the frequent subject of other rumours, Kitchener-Waterloo was also mentioned. Various names will be suggested by local pundits, Kitchener-Waterloo Penguins seems to be the easiest at this point, but I will also submit my own idea.

It may sound ridiculous, even a little overboard, but I think that the arrival of the NHL team should accomplish another much needed feat. In that spirit, I suggest the name: Berlin Blackbirds
The benefits are enormous.

  • The first, and most obvious that it forces a city name change as well. Having two city names for one connected urban area is unnecessary, especially with the amount of civic amalgamation that has already taken place and will continue to take place. This would bring back the old pre-war name for the area. We’re not at war with Germany anymore anyway, and Lord Kitchener wasn’t all that great a guy anyway.
  • Second, penguins, by definition are black birds, so the logo stuff would still be relevant, and no expensive changes or rebranding process would be necessary.
  • Finally, Jim Balsillie’s wealth is a product of the success of Research in Motion and their Blackberry technology. It really isn’t that big of a leap from blackberry to black bird. They would quickly market each other.

There’s really no reason that this shouldn’t work, so when it does, remember that it was my idea.