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Originally Posted by Joborule
Don't count on both of those things happening. Columbus is a market that will work once the management gets their crap together and ice a team that makes the playoffs more than once during their whole tenure there.
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Not to mention their lease at Nationwide Arena is locked in for a loooooooooooooooong time.
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NHL would really prefer to keep Florida around and not leave Tampa Bay alone in the state; as well make sure hockey can touch each corner of the continent. That's another team that has struggled to be competitive so low attendance is not surprising. Give them a chance to be a playoff team for multiple seasons and they could gather decent coin and viewership.
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Plus Florida's parent company, Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, makes plenty of money off the BB&T Center. While the Panthers may lose money the parent company's other division, the one that manages the events at the arena, makes a healthy profit. The Panthers aren't going anywhere.
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QC and Toronto aren't going to get relocation teams. Too much money to be made via expansion fees, so they will be added teams to the league.
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The league can charge whatever sort of 'relocation' fee it wants. Witness the Jets: TNSE paid the Thrashers' owners $110 million for the team and paid the league $60 million to relocate to Winnipeg.
Chances of the NHL expanding in the near future are remote.
Anyway, I wouldn't put much stock into using attendance numbers alone to justify relocating teams willy-nilly. After all, the league's second most profitable team is only 20th in average attendance.
What matters most to the successful operation of an NHL team is revenue. The Islanders for instance have many revenue streams other than butts in the seats. In particular they have a fantastic local TV deal that will pay them about half a billion dollars over the next 18 years. Don't be fooled, they make plenty of money.
The only team that's in serious and immediate trouble is the Coyotes, who generate very low revenue and are estimated to be losing upwards of $30 million every year. They don't have an owner, their tickets are sold at a deep discount, they don't have much of a local TV deal, they have very poor sponsorship deals, etc. Every season the Coyotes continue to exist in Phoenix (/Glendale) will be a surprise and defy all logic. If there's any chance of a team relocating it's the Coyotes.
Where they will go is another matter altogether. Quebec seems to be the most likely location, given that there are shovels in the ground to build a suitable arena and there's an existing arena that would suffice until the new one is finished. Kansas City is a possibility by virtue of having an existing arena, but there are no indications anyone is looking to bring NHL hockey back to Kansas City. Seattle is a remote possibility. Hamilton, Toronto 2 and anywhere else in Canada is not likely at all.