Top 10 Cities that Should Get an NHL Team
I'd love to have this city come back to the NHL. It'd be awesome if they kept the name Nordiques also. The NHL needs more Canadian teams, so that's why Quebec City is number one.
The only reason that there isn't a team here is that the Canadian dollar is low because Bettman is an idiot. Bring back Les Nordiques, please.
Quebec needs to get a team. If Winnipeg has a team, that means Quebec can have a team, and Canada is hockey's game. Bring back the Nordiques.
One of the biggest mistakes the NHL ever made. Imagine the intensity between Toronto and Hamilton?
Hamilton lost out to Ottawa, and look how Ottawa is doing these days. We built a 18000-seat capacity arena for NHL hockey back in 1985, and it just went to waste. Even the great one said it would work in Hamilton. Stupid Bettman will never learn.
Put teams where there's an interest, and it will sell.
A city that I think has a great chance of entering the NHL someday. I remember when the Habs' AHL team was the Hamilton Bulldogs, and I think it'd be awesome if they joined the NHL and kept the name.
Bring an NHL team to Tacoma, not Seattle. The team could likely be called the Tacoma Totems, and should be located in Tacoma, about 30 miles south of Seattle on Interstate 5, within the Seattle metropolitan census area.
The renovated KeyArena should be dedicated solely to basketball. The NHL arena, in contrast, should be built in Tacoma, as the City of Seattle already hosts three other major professional sports teams: the Mariners, Seahawks, and Sounders. Professional baseball and basketball should suffice for Seattle. Other sports should find homes in smaller cities within the state or perhaps the broader Pacific Northwest.
I live in St. Louis, but I am a Royals fan, a Chiefs fan, and a SKC fan. It would be really cool if I could see Kansas City get an NHL team. They also used to have an NHL team that moved and became the New Jersey Devils. Also, hockey interest is firing up over there. That's why they should have an NHL team.
Because they don't even have a basketball team. Kansas wants as many teams as Boston does. It also makes the state more popular. That is why Kansas should have a hockey team.
THE END!
Halifax or St. Johns really deserve a team because they have such a large population and the closest NHL team to them is Montreal or New York. A team in this area could attract serious fans and have a great atmosphere.
Again, a Canadian team that I'd be happy to see in the NHL someday.
Please bring NHL to Halifax. It would be the best, please. Great people and great hockey.
The WHA Aeros were successful during the 1970s. They even had higher attendance than the NBA's Rockets in the same arena. If non-NHL hockey could succeed in Houston during the 1970s, then an actual NHL team would now flourish.
Houston has never had an NHL team, and it's time we got our first shot. As the fourth largest city in the USA, we deserve at least that. Others should stop claiming Houston won't support hockey when we've never been given our first NHL try. Go Aeros!
Best fit overall for an NHL franchise. 4th largest media market in the US, huge corporate presence, many northern transplants, instant rivalry with Dallas, and it balances the league with 16 teams in each conference. We have an NHL-ready arena in downtown Houston with an owner that will spend to keep the team competitive. It really is a no-brainer.
They had a hockey team. It worked, then ownership failed themselves and moved to Raleigh for some reason. Revive the Whalers and let Brass Bonanza be heard once more.
Long Live The Whale! We even survived a collapsed roof. We won't quit or give up hope!
Bring back the Whalers. Please.
Almost had the Blues. The Coyotes were going to play some games there. The Flames almost had a home season there because their rink was flooded. By the way, Saskatoon has plans for a new arena.
Hockey is big in Saskatchewan. The hockey market is big up here. They have a nice arena that could use some seating upgrades. Bring the NHL to Saskatoon. The Blades are not enough.
Saskatchewan needs a team. Saskatoon is big on hockey, and maybe it would be like Alberta if a Regina team was added. Now, I may be wrong because I'm from North Carolina, but my best friend is insane about hockey and he was born in Saskatoon.
Milwaukee is overdue for an NHL team. With the Fiserv Forum opening, they would have a new modern arena that is within NHL regulations. Also, with Chicago and Green Bay being close by and a strong following of hockey fans in the state, I don't think it would be too hard to fill seats on a nightly basis.
The Newcomers
Hardcore hockey fans in the belt of PA. They need at least a minor league team.
We deserve to have a team. Ontario has two teams, so does Alberta, and Winnipeg has a team now. We are the only prairie province without one.
That's because they have a higher population than Saskatchewan.
I would love to see this happen, but Cincinnati already has a minor league hockey team called the Cyclones.
When I look at the city of Charlotte, it's obviously larger than Raleigh. Charlotte has two of the major Pro-Sports teams of the "BIG 4", which are the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Raleigh only has the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL).
I could see Charlotte getting an NHL team along with an MLB team, given that they already host two Pro-Sports teams. In contrast, while Raleigh might invest in an NFL, MLB, and NBA team, the Research Triangle Area is mainly known for their College Sports Teams rather than Pro-Sports Teams. It would be hard to shift the college fan population to Pro-Sports.
If Charlotte were to get an NHL team, there could easily develop a rivalry with the Hurricanes. Given that Raleigh already has an NHL team, the larger city of Charlotte should easily qualify for one as well.
Yeah, for sure. Small is no problem. Everybody here would instantly stop cheering for the Canucks if they had their own on the island. Think small but see big, like how Green Bay can do it.
Very beautiful city. This is one of the biggest Canadian cities without an NHL team.
I've lived in San Diego since 2017. I just missed the Chargers by a couple of days. The only franchise we have here now is the Padres, and they SUCK! We need someone to play at Qualcomm.
Portland is a hardcore sports city. They massively support the Blazers, Ducks, Winterhawks, and Timbers. They have a good enough arena in the Moda Center, and if Seattle can't get their arena situation figured out, why not here?
Oregon. I met a lot of hockey fans while living there.
When I look at the City of Atlanta's other three of the four main major professional sports teams (the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Braves, and Atlanta Hawks), I feel that the City of Atlanta could easily support an NHL hockey team, especially after MLS soccer expanded there in 2017 (Atlanta United F.C.).
The Falcons have been the best Atlanta pro-sports team so far in the last five years, since they made Super Bowl 51 in the 2016-2017 NFL football season. They should have won it, but instead, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots scored 31 unanswered points to win with a score of 34-28 in overtime (OT).
The Atlanta Hawks have been pretty good in the last ten years as well, except for this season (2017-2018 NBA basketball season). The last time they missed the playoffs was in the 2006-2007 NBA basketball season, so they've been pretty successful in the last decade, just not this season, which will end their ten-year streak of making the playoffs.
The Braves have not been that great at all and I believe that they're the worst team of all of Atlanta's pro-sports teams. The Braves haven't made the playoffs since the 2013 MLB baseball season where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series [NLDS].
I think that the NHL could easily expand to Atlanta and it is the only major sport missing for the City of Atlanta. The NHL did this with another city by expanding to Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Golden Knights/Vegas Golden Knights are one of the best expansion teams I've ever seen play in their first season, in which they clinched the Pacific Division of the NHL's Western Conference and clinched a playoff berth (will be the number one seed or the number two seed).
The NHL could bring back a brand new fresh version of the Atlanta Thrashers NHL hockey expansion team and they'd be added to the Eastern Conference to make a total of 32 teams. It'd be really exciting to see the NHL bring a hockey team back to the City of... more