[Rumour] NHL to expand to 34 teams? Houston and Atlanta

[The Fisher Account]

Quebec City will never get an NHL franchise. It’s only use is as a relocation pawn. People need to give up the dream.

[Trolleydodger]

This could be all about owners wanting content for streaming services. I think you will see a lot of cross sport ownership coming.

[Yamer]

Bring. Back. Hartford.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Quebec City will never get an NHL franchise. It’s only use is as a relocation pawn. People need to give up the dream.

The obvious growth area in Canada is a second Toronto team.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Houston Rockets could be looking at a new facility soon (the Toyota Center was built in 2003). A second tenant would make sense.

[Flames1217]

Originally Posted by Locke

The concept of expansion is more than likely always on the table.

As someone alluded to before me, More Teams = More Money.

However, the NHL has to be really careful here. This is a niche sport in its biggest market, you're going to dilute talent without significantly growing revenues to actually grow the game to a point where it can sustain that growth.

Look at it right now, your average team's bottom 2 lines, 3rd D pairing and backup goaltenders are almost all muckers, grinders or otherwise generally interchangeable, so you can see the dilution.

And that dilution is a mix between availability of talent and ability to pay that talent within the confines of the salary cap.

Expansion brings in big money, but how many teams can hockey realistically sustain?

And 'Hard No' to Atlanta. Dont be daft.

One of the reasons why soccer is huge is because there are a plethora of competitive leagues.

Watering down the talent isn't always a bad thing. Stars will be real stars and stick out more than ever. More players will have jobs and more fans will have access to high level hockey. This will also help grow the game in other markets thus increasing it's longevity.

I can see the argument both ways but I have always thought that expansion is a good thing. The more teams you have, the more reach you have. The league could easily go.to.40 teams and we would still be getting great hockey night in and night out.

[flamesgod]

I’d prefer they just move Arizona to Houston and tell Atlanta to go pound sand.

[Ozy_Flame]

Quebec City sure, but Hamilton/Mississauga should be getting a team. There is just so many people and metro areas in the Golden Horseshoe it makes too much sense. Just my opinion though.

Not interested in any more American expansion teams unless there's a true appetite for hockey with guaranteed market success.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Houston Rockets could be looking at a new facility soon (the Toyota Center was built in 2003). A second tenant would make sense.

What? First I have heard of this.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Quebec City sure, but Hamilton/Mississauga should be getting a team. There is just so many people and metro areas in the Golden Horseshoe it makes too much sense. Just my opinion though.

Not interested in any more American expansion teams unless there's a true appetite for hockey with guaranteed market success.

I think a very real fear though, is are they hockey fans? Or are they Leaf fans? Will they go watch a second team? Some will, just because it'll be a game they can go to.

But do Ranger fans go to Long Island to see the Islanders play a random team if they can't get tickets to MSG? Or to New Jersey?

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by Flames1217

One of the reasons why soccer is huge is because there are a plethora of competitive leagues.

Watering down the talent isn't always a bad thing. Stars will be real stars and stick out more than ever. More players will have jobs and more fans will have access to high level hockey. This will also help grow the game in other markets thus increasing it's longevity.

I can see the argument both ways but I have always thought that expansion is a good thing. The more teams you have, the more reach you have. The league could easily go.to.40 teams and we would still be getting great hockey night in and night out.

Not sure if they could "easily" do that...

Toronto 2
Houston
Atlanta
Quebec City
Salt Lake City
Milwaukee
Kansas City
Cleveland?

Huberdeau would be a star again, at least.

[Blaster86]

Atlanta got dicked by #### ownership twice.


Not sure good ownership makes it work, but it's worth a shot.

[Roof-Daddy]

Can we sell the Flames to Houston and then get an expansion team in Calgary?

More likely to come out of that with a legit contender with potential longevity lol

[calgarygeologist]

Atlanta again? It has been done and it has failed. Move along NHL.

I still think that Salt Lake needs a team despite being a smaller market in the US.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Cleveland tops the AHL for attendance, so that's a strong market despite roughly in the same area as Columbus, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Quebec City sure, but Hamilton/Mississauga should be getting a team. There is just so many people and metro areas in the Golden Horseshoe it makes too much sense. Just my opinion though.

Not interested in any more American expansion teams unless there's a true appetite for hockey with guaranteed market success.

The recent American expansion teams have been an absolute success. Six years later and Las Vegas is still selling standing room tickets, after they missed the playoffs. Leading the league in attendance percentage. Seattle tickets are among the most expensive in the league.

And yes, there's no reason why there shouldn't be two Toronto teams.

[topfiverecords]

Flames to Atlanta E5

[butterfly]

Is that still funny?

[442scotty]

As if the talent pool wasn’t watered down enough already… omg

[getbak]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I still think that Salt Lake needs a team despite being a smaller market in the US.

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Cleveland tops the AHL for attendance, so that's a strong market

I think the problem with cities like Salt Lake and Cleveland, plus Milwaukee, Portland, and Indianapolis is they already have NBA teams and would be splitting the winter sports market with the existing teams.

Those markets aren't likely big enough to support a second major league winter arena team, even though they all have had decent success with previous minor pro and junior hockey teams. They would need to work with the NBA team in their markets, likely sharing the arena and possibly ownership, and it has the risk of the NBA team losing business while the NHL team never fully develops its fanbase.


I think this is the same reason you don't see the NBA looking to expand into places like St Louis, Pittsburgh, and Nashville.