Commissioner Gary Bettman listed the reasons why it could succeed … and one point of hesitation:

“The Pacific Northwest, the natural rivalry with Vancouver, another team in the Pacific time zone … but there’s no building.”

Ah, yes, the building.

Despite all the reasons why the NHL in Seattle is tantalizing — and, frankly, makes many a puckhead geek out — the Key Arena is too small for pro hockey. Its seats have more obstruction than a mid-1990s Devils/Panthers game.

[Related: David Backes key part of formula that has St. Louis Blues clicking]

If the NHL ever comes to Seattle, it would have to be with the promise that the Key would be a temporary home, if that. Which makes Sunday’s report in the Seattle Times encouraging for those who want to see the NHL in the land of whole beans and flannel: a rather wealthy man wants to build an arena for an NBA team.

According to the Times, 44-year-old Seattle native Christopher Hansen “approached the city about his desire to buy an NBA team and build an arena south of Safeco Field.”

He’s a hedge-fund manager in San Francisco, and this is more than a notion: The Times has acquired documents that point to an eight month process with the city and Seattle mayor’s office with the focus on bringing the NBA back to Seattle.

No details were listed on the agenda, but KeyArena could be used as a temporary home for a new team with the permission of the NBA, which considered it an unsuitable permanent venue even before the Sonics departed.

… Seattle has been mentioned as an NHL destination along with Kansas City and Quebec City.

While many observers consider an NHL team, as well as concerts and entertainment events, to be a crucial component for the financial success of a new arena, the documents obtained by The Times focus on basketball.

As SB Nation notes, the plan appears to focus on the Sacramento Kings, who could be mobile as soon as next season.

[Related: China fighting decision to let Kenyon Martin return to NBA]

So it’s not necessarily a plan to bring the NHL to Seattle, but it is a plan to build a facility that could house one. Which has been the League’s concern.

Times columnist Steve Kelley is salivating about both the NBA and the NHL in Seattle:

What if the NHL, which owns the Phoenix Coyotes and desperately wants to sell them and move them and is very interested in Seattle, finds a home for the Coyotes here?

There still isn’t an official proposal in front of the Seattle City Council. All of the Sodo land hasn’t been purchased. Neither the NBA nor the NHL Board of Governors has met to discuss the possibility of franchises moving to Seattle.

… Most important, imagine parents and children having the same opportunities my father had when he took me to my first NBA game; having the chance to take their kids to Sodo to see Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose, or the NHL‘s Sedin twins and Marian Gaborik.

Yes, and don’t so many fathers regale their sons and daughters with “I saw Marian Gaborik” stories …

Much of this rests on the future of the Phoenix Coyotes, who could be sold to one of three ownership groups allegedly seeking to buy them; or could move to Quebec City; or could be owned by the NHL for yet another season, although Phoenix Business Journal notes that “Glendale is also feeling pressure from bond buyers and ratings groups over its payments to NHL to keep the Coyotes.”

Here’s Bettman on the Coyotes, from his All-Star Game address:

What do you think? NHL in Seattle next season? Two seasons from now? Only through expansion? Never?

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It wasn’t exactly the Beatles or R.E.M. getting back together, but on Saturday afternoon at the Waste Management Open, the “Golf Boys” got back together for a one day only concert — OK, so it really had to do with Bubba Watson and Ben Crane being paired together — that, shockingly, occurred on the stage … I mean, 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale.

While the impromptu concert only had two of the four members, Crane and Watson tried their best to serenade the crowd — I can’t type those words with a straight face — with “Oh Oh Oh” (if you haven’t seen the music video, check it out).

Credit to the two guys for pulling this off on the rowdy 16th — especially Crane who pulled out the helmet and goggles for the occasion. Golf has a tendency to be viewed as a stuffy sport, but this hole at the Waste Management Open continually proves that some of the guys on tour know how to have fun. But don’t quit your day job, fellas. I’m not quite sure you’re ready to go on tour with those voices.

Of course, the big story surrounding New England’s offense is the health of tight end Rob Gronkowski. He’s been practicing on a limited basis, but if Gronk can’t go at full speed, it’s a problem — he was targeted 15 times (a season high) against New York in Week 9, and caught eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. Just as important was the way the Giants reacted to the tight end — they often shifted their coverages to match him if he moved from inline or went in motion from one side to another. Clearly, he is the focal point for every enemy defense. What Gronkowski can do, even if he can’t run and plant and cut at his normal level, is block at a level that no other tight end in the NFL can match.

In the AFC championship game against the Baltimore Ravens, Gronk was asked to take Terrell Suggs one-on-one and did that very well. But it was the extent to which he was able to either pull or slide inside and deal with Baltimore’s interior pass rush — specifically that brought by super-tackle Haloti Ngata — that was so impressive.

A half-healthy Gronk, if he’s still able to block at his normal level, would still be almost as valuable as if he was 100 percent, because two of the few carryovers from Super Bowl XLII are these: The Giants still bring furious pressure from the inside (especially with Justin Tuck), and Tom Brady still has trouble dealing with pressure right in his face. We saw far more of Gronk as a receiver than as a blocker the last time he faced the Giants, but that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t handle Tuck — it just means that he’d be doing different things in this game.

Actually, don’t be surprised if the Patriots do a lot of different things to counteract New York’s pass rush and multiple fronts. In Week 9, according to Football Outsiders’ game-charting data, the Pats went with six offensive linemen on 13 of their offensive snaps. As the Ravens and Steelers do, New England likes running out of bunch formations, and it’ll throw some interesting positional threesomes out there — you could see BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead, or Stevan Ridley running to bunches consisting of a receiver, a tight end, and tackle Nate Solder, who played tight end for two years at Colorado. When I talked to Solder about that versatility  on Thursday, he said that he was ready to go wherever Bill Belichick sent him. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Solder get a goal-line target, Mike Vrabel-style, in this game.

So then, the question becomes, what of Aaron Hernandez?

The Patriots lined Gronkowski’s battery mate up as a receiver 104 times in the regular season, but he was targeted just eight times and caught just five passes for 45 yards. Don’t be surprised to see Hernandez — who is probably the Patriots’ best deep threat right now — lined up in more of a flex, a la Dallas Clark, and catching more passes in a role that forces the Giants to stretch out. Hernandez has also been a valuable target coming out of the backfield, but in this game, he might be best utilized as a man who makes the Giants’ defense scatter.

Through the Week 9 game, one of the Giants’ most interesting defensive concepts was the use of an intermediate spy — not to watch Brady and see if he ran, but to lurk and wait over the middle against the expected barrage of slants and crosses to Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, and the tight ends. Brady’s first of two interceptions came against such a concept. Hernandez occasionally ran underneath crossing routes to free things up for Welker upfield, but a series of combo or pick routes downfield involving Hernandez, with Gronkowski blocking to give Brady more time, would certainly make things interesting.

Offensively, formation diversity will be key for Brady and Belichick. The Patriots ran more two-TE sets than any other team in 2011 for obvious reasons, and Brady was obviously successful out of those sets for the most part, but he also threw both picks in Week 9 with Hernandez and Gronkowski on the field. Are the Pats giving things away with their most popular formation? Schemes can be play-calling tells to a degree if you watch enough tape and chart the tendencies.

Regarding one of New England’s other favorite formations … the Patriots went with an empty backfield on nine of Brady’s passing attempts, and he completed three of nine attempts for 43 yards and a sack. The Giants blitzed on just two of those plays — one was an 11-yard completion to Hernandez in the fourth quarter, and the other was the third-quarter Brady sack. In his own three-wide sets, Brady was 10 of 22 for 142 yards … so maybe both quarterbacks should try a few different formations in the rematch. As we discussed in the Giants’ offensive preview, Eli Manning didn’t do much against the Pats in his favorite three-wide sets.

One other thing to watch out for is how the Giants choose to cover Welker — Antrel Rolle was on him a lot on Week 9, and I’d bet Rolle wasn’t doing much talking after that game, because Welker beat him like a drum. Rolle has issues changing direction on quick plays in which the receiver cuts inside or out, and Welker caught nine passes for 136 yards in that game.

As Greg Cosell of NFL Films said in our article this week about Tom Brady’s schematic brilliance, the Patriots are more of a drive-sustaining offense these days, but the lack of a deep threat has upended them at times through the season. They couldn’t beat man coverage across the formation when the Steelers threw it at them, and the Giants were rarely forced to deviate from their spy/zone concepts and deal with man-on-man mismatches down the field.

The Giants have a bunch of good pass defenders, but there are no world-beaters back there — to a greater or lesser degree from game to game, the Giants’ pass defense is a product of their pass rush. And if Gronkowski can help deflect that enough to give Brady time to hit those downfield throws, he might be the game’s most valuable player — even if he doesn’t catch a single pass.

As Missouri students prepared to flood the court just after their team’s memorable 74-71 victory over rival Kansas on Saturday night, several Tigers players stood in their path and motioned for them to stay in their seats.

It wasn’t that Missouri wasn’t excited about erasing a late eight-point deficit to beat the Jayhawks for just the fourth time in Bill Self’s tenure. It was just that the Tigers didn’t like the message that a court-storming against a team ranked lower than them would send.

“We know Kansas is a great team but we’re at home and we expect to win,” senior Marcus Denmon explained to ESPN’s Holly Rowe afterward.

Missouri wouldn’t have been in violation of court-storming etiquette by celebrating forging a three-way tie for first place in the Big 12 with a win over its fiercest rival, yet Denmon’s gesture was both fitting and meaningful. It signified that this Tigers team believes it belongs in the Big 12 title chase with Kansas and Baylor, it belongs in contention for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and it belongs among the teams capable of making a deep run in March

All that is certainly possible if Denmon can play close to the level he did Saturday night for the rest of the season. The Kansas City native emerged from an 18-for-63 slump in his last five games to erupt for 29 points on Saturday including nine straight after the Jayhawks had taken a 71-63 lead with less than three minutes to play.

First Denmon drove hard to the rim, absorbed contact from Thomas Robinson and finished a three-point play to trim the deficit to five. Then after a very questionable charging call on Robinson, Denmon buried a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions to suddenly give Missouri a one-point lead with 56 seconds to play in a game that seemed lost just seconds earlier.

Kansas fans will bemoan the blown charging call that cost Robinson a chance at perhaps a game-sealing three-point play, but the truth is the Jayhawks wasted numerous chances to clinch a victory even after that whistle went against them.

Tyshawn Taylor committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions and missed a pair of free throws. Connor Teahan inexplicably gave Denmon room to shoot his threes in the final two minutes. And Elijah Johnson looked like he had no interest in taking the potential game-tying shot on Kansas’ final possession, passing up an open top-of-the-key three to search for an open teammate before running out of time and taking a contested desperation shot.

When Johnson’s shot caromed hard off the glass at the buzzer, it gave Missouri its fourth win in the past 21 meetings with Kansas. And this was an especially big one since the rivalry could go on hiatus after this season because Missouri bailed on the Big 12 for the SEC and Kansas has refused to agree to an annual non-conference game.

From Robinson solidifying his lead in the national player of the year race with 25 points and 13 boards to Denmon etching his name into Missouri lore with his late-game brilliance, Saturday’s game produced numerous memorable moments.

Hopefully Kansas can swallow its pride, do what’s good for the fans and the sport and agree to an annual game non-conference game with the Tigers. If not, at least the second-to-last Border War for the foreseeable future proved to be a classic.

No. 1 Star: James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

Two straight starts and two straight shutouts for the 23-year old Reimer. After blanking the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night, Reimer followed that up with a 49-save performance during a 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators. It was his sixth career shutout. Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel each had a goal and two assists as Toronto dropped Ottawa to their sixth straight defeat.

No. 2 Star: Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning

Playing in his 900th NHL game, St. Louis notched a hat trick as the Lightning downed the Florida Panthers 6-3. St. Louis now has a nine-game points streak, in which he’s compiled six goals and 16 points.

Vincent Lecavalier pitched in a four-point night and Mathieu Garon stopped 17 shots for his sixth win in seven starts for Tampa.

No. 3 Star: Tomas Vokoun, Washington Capitals

Earning his third shutout of the year, Vokoun made 30 saves as the Capitals blanked the Montreal Canadiens 3-0. Dennis Wideman, Matt Hendrick and Alex Semin (via a penalty shot) all recorded the goals for Washington as the Capitals posted their third consecutive shutout at Bell Centre. The shutout was Vokoun’s 47th of his career.

Honorable mention: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ goal in the sixth round of the shootout was the decider as the Edmonton Oilers got by the Detroit Red Wings 5-4. Sam Gagner kept his hot streak alive scoring twice, adding an assist and scoring in the shootout. He’s now tallied a point on 11 straight Edmonton goals. Devan Dubnyk stopped 35 shots for his third straight win. Jordan Eberle scored a pair including one with 39 seconds left in regulation to force overtime … Matt Cooke’s goal early in the third period stood as the eventual game-winner as the Pittsburgh Penguins edged the Boston Bruins 2-1. Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves and Evgeni Malkin recorded his 60th point of the season as the Penguins won for the ninth time in 10 games … Brooks Orpik laid possibly the hit of the year on Daniel Paille in the third period … The Buffalo Sabres got goals from Brad Boyes and Jason Pominville in the shootout as they came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the New York Islanders 4-3. Ryan Miller made 35 saves as the Islanders wasted a three-point first period from Frans Nielsen … Six different Phoenix Coyotes tallied two points as they beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3. Mike Smith made 32 saves for his 19th win of the season … Jeff Skinner scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Cam Ward stopped 24 shots as the Carolina Hurricanes got by the Los Angeles Kings 2-1. The Hurricanes has now won eight of their last 11 … Mason Raymond scored the only goal in the shootout and Roberto Luongo made 44 saves as the Vancouver Canucks got by the Colorado Avalanche 3-2. Kevin Bieksa played two-way savior in the final minute preventing an empty-net goal for the Avs and turning around and tying the game with 35 seconds to go:

The New Jersey Devils won their third in a row after going up 6-0 against the Philadelphia Flyers and staving off a comeback holding on for a 6-4 win. Kurtis Foster had two goals and an assist, while Ilya Kovalchuk recorded his first career Gordie Howe Hat Trick … Pekke Rinne won his 11th in a row by making 42 saves in a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blue. Martin Erat and Sergei Kostitsyn eached recorded three points and Mike Fisher scored his sixth goal in games for the Predators. A pair of Rinne’s 42 saves came during a flurry in front, ending with a rob job of Kris Russell:

Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson scored in the shootout, while Kari Lehtonen stopped 33 shots as the Dallas Stars edged the Minnesota 2-1. Kyle Brodziak extended his points streak to six games. Before the game, Dallas honored former netminder Eddie Belfour for his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Did you know? “Most points over two games: 14. Peter and Anton Stastny both did it in February 1981.” Elliotte Friedman, Hockey Night in Canada.

Dishonorable mention: Sergei Bobrovsky allowed all six New Jersey goals before being pulled … Zac Rinaldo was fined $5,000 for a late hit on Jacob Josefson and a “dangerous trip” on Zach Parise … Their loss coupled with a Carolina win means that the Canadiens now sit dead last in the Eastern Conference … Scott Gomez and his goalless drought hits 51 games as Feb. 5 is the anniversary of his last goal.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

We’ve all made jokes about Sergio Busquets’ habit of falling down and clutching his face for no good reason, but this time it was his knee and he wasn’t faking.

A mere seven minutes after entering Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Real Sociedad in the 76th minute, Busquets was accidentally stepped on by Carlos Martinez, opening up a deep gash under his right knee. While the writhing Busquets was treated by team doctors, Cesc Fabregas was visibly sickened by the injury, which probably upset Xavi that much more.

Luckily, the cut doesn’t seem to be as terrible as originally feared and Busquets may even be able to play again in a few days. From Barcelona’s official website:

Sergio Busquets sustained an injury on the inside of his right knee that will require stitches. His recovery will mark his availability for upcoming Cup and League matches.

And so, like any player truly committed to The Method, Busquets now has an experience to call upon the next time he needs it.

You have to hand it to TaylorMade Golf: the golf manufacturer sure knows how to build up the hype for their new products.

After running a series of commercials with the likes of Dustin Johnson launching the new RocketBallz 3-wood over 300 yards, and then kicking off the new RocketBallz and R11S line with a midnight launch, TaylorMade took things even further on Friday, sending staffers Johnson Wagner and Pat Perez to a local Scottsdale golf shop to give away $10,000 in cash for trying out the new line.

Free cash for trying out a new club? Sounds good to me. Golfers were asked to try out the new RocketBallz 3-wood and were paid $10 per yard, up to $100, for every yard they gain with the new club over their current 3-wood.

Needless to say, people showed up for the chance to take home some free cash, and try out one of the most talk-about products in golf. Give TaylorMade credit for thinking up these crazy ideas. While some might question the need to constantly build up products with countless gimmicks, it’s clear from the buzz surrounding the clubs that the gimmicks are definitely working.

Ice Cube, from hip-hop pioneer to TBS basic cable regular, has long been a steadfast fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. And when the NBA puts an end to talk of the league’s best point guard heading to his Los Angeles Lakers, then Cube tends to act more of a fan than a basic cable regular. Yeah, the guy kind of wanted Chris Paul on the Lakers.

From ESPN2′s ‘Dan LeBatard is Highly Questionable,’ on Friday:

In this exclusive interview from the Super Bowl Media Center, Jerry Rice talked to Shutdown Corner about the NFL then and now. In Part 1, the greatest receiver ever to play the game started things off with remembrances of his days with the San Francisco 49ers: Catching passes from Joe Montana and Steve Young, learning from Bill Walsh, and the drives that define a champion.

Jerry is also in Indianapolis to promote the new NFL Films DVD though Vivendi Entertainment,Greatest Super Bowl Moments.

Beginning with the first World Championship of Pro Football in 1967 when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to the epic game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers last year, Greatest Super Bowl Moments details and highlights key moments from every Super Bowl. Using footage, sideline sound and exclusive player wiring from NFL Films, this DVD is the historical collection of the greatest spectacle in pro sports. Greatest Super Bowl Moments is a must-have program for any football fan to relive some of the most memorable plays that have helped shape the history of the NFL.