I agree, before expanding more and more the NHL should concentrate on relocating franchises in order to have 31 strong NHL markets.
I'd move :
1) The Hurricanes to Indiannapolis.
2) The Coyotes to Portland. (Which is where they ironically had their AHL affiliate at some point)
3) The Devils to Baltimore.
4) The Panthers to Québec city.

will never happen.

Dont be so certain. Attendance is dropping off again, after that playoff spike, and its not even that great to begin with. They can only lose so much money

As if a new Nordiques team would do any better. Weak Canadian dollar + tiny market = another Nordiques franchise that's gonna bleed money like they did in the '90s.

Quebec city has a population of 700,000 and this isnt the 90's, if the weak canadian dollar mattered then Winnipeg wouldn't exist. Profit sharing negates that argument. Montreal is one of the highest grossing teams in the league and thats the same market. Throw in nostalgia too.

The CAD is 80 cents on the USD. It was 75 cents on the USD when the Nordiques left in '95, True, Winnipeg is doing well, and good for them, but they're they only game around in Manitoba. The Nordiques are always going to play 2nd fiddle to the Canadiens in Québec. Taking revenue from the Canadiens to support the Nordiques does nothing for the NHL's bottom line. Revenue sharing still gets gutted for a potential Nordiques franchise by the fact that they're raking in money in CAD and then losing it out the nose in USD to player salaries. Throw in the fact that the NHL actually wants to grow the game and not stagnate it, and Québec City's never getting a team while there are more lucrative markets.

All the NHL needs is 13% of the Miami metropolitan area to care about the Panthers, and that would be literally more people than exist in the Québec City metro area. Canadian metro areas outside of Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver are always going to lose out to US locales in the numbers game.

13% of Miami-Dade county is only 350,000 and right now the Panthers are struggling to attract .05% of that county