NHL Teams That Need to Relocate

Take a look at the NHL playoffs right now, four teams remain: Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, and the San Jose Sharks.  Boston is one of the Original Six franchises and the Canucks have been around since 1971, while the Lightning and the Sharks have only been playing hockey since 1991 and 1992, respectively.  Although the Lightning and Sharks have been pretty successful franchises since their inception, with the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, an average hockey fan would have limited interest watching these teams play in the Stanley Cup finals.  Both South Florida and the San Francisco Bay area aren't exactly hotbeds for hockey, even though neither of these teams has a terrible fanbase. The Sharks and Lightning ranked 17th and 18th, respectively, in attendance this season.  Not too shabby for teams in areas so foreign to hockey, eh?

Although these teams are not the problem, relocation is a necessity for some other teams.  Take for example, the Phoenix Coyotes.  The Coyotes averaged only 12,200 fans per game, filling their arena to only 71% of tis capacity.  In 2009 there were talks regarding the sale of the Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario.  However, relocating a team to Hamilton could be detrimental to the Buffalo Sabres, who are already in a small market and close to Hamilton.  Jim Belsillie insists that the Coyotes be moved to Hamilton, and even though it would infringe on the territory of the Sabres and maybe even the Maple Leafs, Southern Ontario is populated enough to support another NHL Franchise.

In addition to the Coyotes, the Atlanta Thrashers have been struggling with their fan base since their inception in 1999.  The Thrashers have only made the playoffs once in their existence, and finished the 2010-2011 season with an average attendance of 13,500 fans per game, only filling their stadium to 72.6% capacity.  They are currently owned by a group that also owns the Atlanta Hawks, and this group is looking to unload the struggling franchise.  Where would be a great destination for the Thrashers?  Maybe Chicago, as they have a large enough market for another hockey team.  However, there is speculation that the Thrashers may move back to Winnipeg and reincarnate the Jets!  One may ask, why Winnipeg? Do people even live in Manitoba?  As of the 2006 Census there were over 700,000 people in the Winnepeg Capital Region, and the MTS center houses over 15,000 fans.  Although the arena size is not ideal, a much stronger fanbase is.

Finally, the Florida Panthers have failed to establish much of a presence in the Orange State since 1993, their first year in the league.  The Panthers made the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, but lost to the Colorado Avalanche.  Since then the Panthers have been futile at winning games, and lack a strong fanbase.  Even though they get almost 16,000 fans per game, they currently sport a 81.5% capacity rate.  Clearly hockey is not catching on in this part of Florida and the Panthers should arguably be moving somewhere else? Where to?  Kansas City seems like a potential option, as the Blues have a strong fan base in St. Louis and the area could use another team.  However, I see another potential, more satisfying option: bring back the Hartford Whalers.  Not only did the Whalers have outstanding jerseys, but also the Eastern Seaboard can't get enough of hockey.  If the Panthers could find a strong business group in Connecticut to purchase and put a strong effort into promoting the Whalers, they could be successful in Hartford again.

     I've been taking my finals recently so the blog has not been very active, expect more recent updates once I finish my undergraduate education at St. Olaf College!