Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think the NFL and NHL are done with expansion for awhile, the next expansion team(s) will probably be in the NBA then MLB (I know baseball is dead!), both jumping to 32 teams like the NFL and NHL within the next 10 years.
As for relocation, the Yotes and Panthers are most likely the top 2 candidates. I would move Florida to Quebec City and Arizona to Houston or maybe Kansas City (probably not)?
Location: In a perfect world winter does not exist
3,657 posts, read 2,937,139 times
Reputation: 6739
The league is seriously watered down. Look at the level of play when the NHL peaked from Mid 80s to 1995. Now you have too many teams period. The Glory days died when the New Jersey Devils bought in the trap.
The league is seriously watered down. Look at the level of play when the NHL peaked from Mid 80s to 1995. Now you have too many teams period. The Glory days died when the New Jersey Devils bought in the trap.
Actually there is a lot of parity in the league. Most teams have the two centers and 1-2 d man combo. As for talent, NHL gets Fennoscandia, and Russia to pull from. And hockey has no bench warmers.
Another expansion team probably will not happen for awhile now. The push to add Seattle was to match the NFL with 32 teams. Some team owners and execs actually believed it was risky to expand into markets where Hockey was not popular. With the new TV deal along with hopefully the end of Covid that attitude has changed.
The National Hockey League could find expansion to 36 teams and expanding the regular season to 86 games per team doable. A team in a nine-team division could play its division rivals four times, then play 27 non-division teams twice. If an entity is willing to pay the costs for an expansion team, the NHL and its existing teams are ready to make profits.
The league is seriously watered down. Look at the level of play when the NHL peaked from Mid 80s to 1995. Now you have too many teams period. The Glory days died when the New Jersey Devils bought in the trap.
I’m not sure how you define level of play. There was plenty of exciting hockey after 1995. The trap forced coaches to devise methods to overcome it. I think when all the greats of the 80s and 90s retired, that is where hockey changed. The level of play is still high, but the game is different. I remember thinking that the Alumhi game at the winter classic between the Wings and the Avs was far more interesting than the actual winter classic game was. That may be true of other winter classics, but that’ s when I realized the game had changed so much. I didn’t like the dead puck era as much as the 80s either, but there was still great hockey back then.
There are two questions I am trying to ask here. Would you like to see a new NHL team in a city that has no team, or another team in a city that already has a team.
New York City (Rangers, Islanders) and Los Angeles (Kings, Ducks) have two NHL teams. Some might even consider the New Jersey Devils part of the NYC market.
'some say'? The Prudential Center is 8 miles from Manhattan. Of course the Devils play in the NYC market.
Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrekker96
In my opinion, I would like to see one more team in the Bay Area. Yes San Jose is a good city, but what about a hockey team in San Francisco?
The Bay Area couldn't keep its second football team and will lose its second baseball team ... and you want to give them another hockey team?
Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrekker96
I also think Baltimore should have a NHL to go along with the Capitals. Maybe even another team in Minneapolis since the Wild are in St. Paul.
These are unbelievably bad ideas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by globetrekker96
As far as a city that doesn’t have a team yet, I have a few in mind. Albany, New York. Salt Lake City, Utah. Maybe even New Orleans.
Those are marginally less bad ideas, but only because those regions don't already have teams.
The only metro area which could accommodate a second team is greater Toronto (inc. Hamilton), which could easily do so, for the simple reason that there are far more than 2x the number of hockey fans in that region than there are in any U.S. metro that doesn't have a franchise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 87112
The league is seriously watered down. Look at the level of play when the NHL peaked from Mid 80s to 1995. Now you have too many teams period. The Glory days died when the New Jersey Devils bought in the trap.
Hardly. Since then, the whole of Russia and Eastern Europe have completely opened up to the NHL, and the main source of talent (Canada) has gone from 26m people (1985) to 38m people (2020). In other words, the talent pool has expanded right along with the league.
The National Hockey League could find expansion to 36 teams and expanding the regular season to 86 games per team doable. A team in a nine-team division could play its division rivals four times, then play 27 non-division teams twice. If an entity is willing to pay the costs for an expansion team, the NHL and its existing teams are ready to make profits.
Of course, but that is a big if right now. Even before Covid there were several teams here in the states operating in the red. Right now the NHL has to gain new fans as old fans leave us. That means expanding into the minority communities. The league is working very hard to do that under the leadership of people like Kim Davis, Kevin Westgarth and Andrew Ference.
One bit of good news; the ratings of those between the ages of 18 to 29 were up 30 percent this past season, and the new TV deal (ESPN and TNT) triples the revenue of the past deal with NBC.
I would move Florida to Quebec City and Arizona to Houston or maybe Kansas City (probably not)?
Is it possible that Hockey fans can give the Florida Panthers a chance to be a competitive team (which they look like they are turning into now) and build a fanbase around that before we start "selling them off" to Quebec City or elsewhere? This sentiment is everywhere on the Hockey forums but honestly why would someone who isn't a die-hard fan go support the Panthers these last two decades? 3 playoff appearances since 2000, why are people shocked that the building isn't full night after night? They've now got something that looks like it can be sustainable for awhile, and their building was quite lively during the Playoffs this past year. Let's give them a chance.
As for the Coyotes, they have a new-ish owner who has stated he is committed to the Phoenix area. We'll see, unfortunately unlike the Panthers, the team itself doesn't look good right now.
Is it possible that Hockey fans can give the Florida Panthers a chance to be a competitive team (which they look like they are turning into now) and build a fanbase around that before we start "selling them off" to Quebec City or elsewhere? This sentiment is everywhere on the Hockey forums but honestly why would someone who isn't a die-hard fan go support the Panthers these last two decades? 3 playoff appearances since 2000, why are people shocked that the building isn't full night after night? They've now got something that looks like it can be sustainable for awhile, and their building was quite lively during the Playoffs this past year. Let's give them a chance.
As for the Coyotes, they have a new-ish owner who has stated he is committed to the Phoenix area. We'll see, unfortunately unlike the Panthers, the team itself doesn't look good right now.
Part of the reason I see Florida still there is a lot of the fan base is probably transplant northerns who are hockey fans. If you take the local hockey fan population - like from the state originally - it is probably much lower.
I highly doubt Atlanta. Not only did they lose the Thrashers, but the city lost the Flames in 1980 to Calgary. That's two teams. Why would the NHL put a third franchise there? Makes no sense..
Yup, good post. Atlanta has already had two attempts at supporting NHL. Both teams failed.. even to the point where free tickets were being given away, and still few takers.
I always thought Flames was a terrible team name too. Why would a city honor(?) it's own torching/destruction..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
