So the divisions right now are not even with the Central only having seven teams compared to the rest of the division's eight. My proposition for expansion will take place between 2025 and 2030, as that will give enough time for Vegas to become an established, competitive franchise. The two cities I have in mind are Kansas City and Quebec. Kansas City would work because it slots perfectly in the Central Division. I wouldn't want to put a team in Seattle or other northwest cities such as Portland because all of the Pacific teams are currently either on the west coast or part of the EDM, CAL rivalry. Kansas City might be a sellable hockey market because when the Penguins were awful in the early 2000's, they were on the verge of moving there. Quebec would work because Detroit has no business in the Eastern Conference, never mind the Atlantic Division. Quebec slips right in the Atlantic Division while Detroit moves to the Central. Quebec was second in the competition to get an NHL franchise this year and I believe many people would rather have hockey there than Las Vegas. Please add to the conversation. I think this is a very interesting topic and would love to talk about it.

1 more expansion for the central division, no more after that, but ARI moves to Seattle, FLA moves to Quebec

Seattle would be great, with the contingency they get a basketball team to move there @BNK @NYI

New ownership is now in place for the Coyotes, and they've said they're staying. I know a lot can change, but they'll get out of Glendale soon enough, most likely to either Phoenix or Tempe. Florida should just move to Quebec already. I see Houston being a place for the Central division to expand to, or the league expands to Seattle and moves Detroit back in the Western Conference

Arizona is not a hockey city, it doesn't matter what they say, they should be outta their in the next 10 years

Seattle gets a team and the struggling Canucks go broke.

The Nordiques.

That'd be because Arizona is a state

*sigh*

- The NHL's not going back to Québec City.
A) The Nordiques left in '95 because the Canadian dollar was weak. The Canadian dollar is still weak. Why would the NHL go back to Québec City when the condition that caused the Nordiques to leave *still exists*?
B) Re-franchising the Nordiques doesn't get any new eyeballs on the game. Every potential Nordiques game ticket-buyer already buys Canadiens merch and goes to Canadiens games.
C) Oh, yeah, Canadian teams pay players in *American* dollars. See point A.

- The arena's there in Kansas City, but I've not heard of any serious proposals to bring an NHL team to Kansas City.

- The NHL seriously wants Seattle, it seems, but whoever's going to build that arena needs to get their act together first. It's still a mess there. It also doesn't resolve the issue of "which team from the Pacific now plays in the Central." Arizona, maybe, but then what about the potential 'desert rivalry' or whatever with Las Vegas? Same thing for Calgary/Edmonton.

- Houston, I'd believe. The Aeros used to be a thing; Les Alexander's planning to sell the Rockets, and, now that Chuck Watson's gone, he's probably less inclined to be spiteful towards a new NHL proposal. And it's the biggest metro area without an NHL team.

- Nobody's relocating.
A) Dat expansion monieeeeeez (seriously, move a team or get 500 MILLLLLLLION DOLLARRRRRRRRZ; I know which one I'd want if I were an NHL franchise owner)
B) "What about the Coyotes?" Auston Matthews. "But—" Auston Matthews. That is all.
C) Ultimately, "Not Seeming Like A Hockey Market™" is a meaningless statement. "But Miami's not a hockey market—" Yeah, well, why is nobody screaming for the Lightning to relocate?
The reason is because a bunch of these expansion teams in Sun Belt markets were incredibly terribly run. It's not the inherent qualities of the market: it's bad ownership combined with poor drafting and an inability to retain homegrown talent that leads to years upon years of not winning. People only have so many dollars to spend on entertainment; why give it to a crappy product? Most people *aren't* die-hard hockey fans that will go, no matter what, because that's inefficient allocation of your hard-earned dollars.
So how does this get fixed? Put together a team that can win night-in and night-out, and have (at the very least, a semblance of) competent ownership and management. Why are the Lightning doing well when the Panthers are not? Because Jeff Vinik is a competent owner and handed the reins of his team to a competent GM in Steve Yzerman. If the Panthers can get their act together and win on a nightly basis, that should help draw more people's attention. Now, the location *is* pretty bad for them; they're basically on the border of the Everglades. *But,* again, winning and having competent ownership and management is the foundation of a good franchise.

Lightning also have pretty good attendence numbers

meh. Attendance numbers only tell so much of the story.

though, if Ottawa newspapers get to wring their hands and go on about "government employees not getting paid this" and "the Canadian Tire Centre is way out in the suburbs" that when they can't sell out Game 6 of a Conference Finals series, then Sun Belt markets should be able to excuse their attendance numbers properly, too.