Rumors of the 2012 NHL Draft Being Hosted in Pittsburgh Won't Die

The more that new rumors surface about Pittsburgh being the location of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the more legitimate it becomes (then again, so did all the rumors surrounding Jagr's return to the Pens this season - let's just hope it's not a similar outcome).

At the end of last month, Rob Rossi reported that the Penguins submitted a bid for the 2012 draft to be held at the CONSOL Energy Center and that speculation was, at that time, that we were a "shoe-in" was quickly denied by the NHL.

It's been almost two weeks and talk had settled until this past weekend when the rumor mill started back up again.  Word that the popular Anthrocon ("furry fandom" or "furries") convention which has been hosted in Pittsburgh the past several years and already scheduled for 2012 has been pushed up a week earlier.  This is significant because the draft is typically held during the last full weekend before July 1st (in 2012, that would be June 22-24 since the last day in June is Saturday, the 30th and is not a full weekend and would also conflict with the start of free agency).  From the official Anthroocon webpage:

Anthrocon 2012 will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA, from JUNE 14 to JUNE 17, 2012. Please note that this is one week earlier than was previously announced!

Pittsburgh has been given a very rare opportunity to host an event that they have been wanting to host for many years ... The City approached Anthrocon very deferentially and asked us if we would consider moving our 2012 convention just one week earlier to help them realize their collective dream.

And it doesn't sound like Anthrocon was immediately willing to forfeit the scheduled week UNTIL the city offered them an additional 100 hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention; however, I must add that the site did mention as accomodating as Pittsburgh has been and since becoming a "Pittsburgh institution," that they "were honor-bound to return the favor in any way that we could."  Very admirable, I might also add (on both of the organizations parts).


actual comment taken from "flayrah" blog

Unfortunately, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, "the NHL does not name draft cities at the same time every year, so it unknown when a final decision will be made," so this could be going on for a while longer before we have any definite answer.