Even if the Houston guy buys the Coyotes that doesn't mean the NA relocation market is dried up forever in a permanent state of stasis. There will always be a local billionaire willing to make a name for themselves by bringing a hockey team to their city, the fact is there are more markets capable of supporting a mid tier professional sports league like the NHL than there are teams.
This constant dismissal of new American cities as non-hockey markets is a micro view of what goes in to making a franchise successful. As pointed out even lower locales like Portland and San Diego have multiple times the population and GDP, along with newer arenas and the substantial advantage of making their dollars in USD and not CAD. The Flames will move without a new arena eventually, probably within 5 years.
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