https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolschram...85bd6c5f45

Cities mentioned: Atlanta, Houston, Quebec, Salt Lake City.

Other cities I'd think may get a look: Hartford, Milwaukee, Toronto 2.

My money would be on Milwaukee and Salt Lake City.

Eastern Conference: Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Columbus, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, New York 1, New York 2, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Washington

Western Conference: Anaheim, Arizona, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Vancouver, Vegas, Winnipeg

Milwaukee has virtually no chance. While Wisconsin is a hockey state, Fiserv Forum was built incompatible to house an NHL franchise (it's fine for a one-off preseason game, but a decent portion of the 15k seats don't even see the whole ice).

It's really going to come down to Atlanta, Houston, & Quebec City. Salt Lake City will bid, but they'll have a tough time beating out 2 of those 3.

I think if the NHL was going to be in Houston, it already would be. I like the option, I just don't see it happening.

Expand, & the bottom teams get worse. I think 30 was perfect competitive balance.

Milwaukee would be a great expansion city, tho. Crazy Wisconsin doesn't have a team, but I'm guessing most there are Blackhawks & Red Wings fans anyways.

With the Olympics coming to Utah, I think they are high on the list. The Utah Jazz owner really wants an NHL team and is even looking at a new arena that could house both teams. Hopefully he will build it in the new Power District (where the proposed MLB stadium would also be) since it is close to downtown and near the airport.

No Kansas City?

Would the NHL go to 33? The only challenge would be figuring out a playoff format with three conferences:

West - Vancouver, Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Las Vegas, Arizona, Colorado, Calgary, Edmonton, (Salt Lake)
Central - Dallas, Nashville, Saint Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Detroit, Columbus, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida
Eastern - Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, NY Rangers, NY Islanders, New Jersey, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa

If it winds up being Atlanta instead of Salt Lake you can move Dallas to the West, although they would be the only Central Time Zone team in the West. If Houston is the expansion team then move Winnipeg out of the Central.

(12-12-2023 06:43 PM)C2__ Wrote:  No Kansas City?

It just doesn't feel like NHL wants to be in KC. Too many other markets that want in. But to be fair, it's not like KC is making a real push for a team either. I'm hoping KC at least brings NBA here. We need a team in the T-Mobile Center.