5 NHL Teams That Should Follow the Thrashers and Relocate

When the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg this past summer, loyal Thrashers fans were obviously disappointed sorely. 

On the other end of things, the rebirth of the Jets sparked the revival of a hockey phenomenon, giving Canada its seventh NHL club. 

Relocation is always tough for the league to deal with. Though a new market emerges, an old one has to close.

Let's take a look at five current NHL teams that could move and whether or not they will.

Columbus Blue Jackets

In September, the city of Columbus signed a new arena deal to keep the Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena. The arena will be managed by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority. Although this new deal is in place now, it takes more than backing like this to keep a team in its place.

The Blue Jackets are still losing money every year. Attendance has been consistently down in recent years. In fact, just last season, Nationwide Arena averaged only 75 percent of its seats being filled all season long.

Columbus has seen very little success on the ice, if any, since its arrival on the scene near the end of the 20th century. The Blue Jackets have made the playoffs once (in 2009), where they were swept in the first round by the Detroit Red Wings.

It's going to take continued success to see this team stay and thrive in Columbus. After a poor, winless start through eight games, the potential for another long year is imminent.

Will they move? If so, where would be a viable new location? 

The Verdict: Relocation

The Blue Jackets' success and attendance is comparable to Atlanta's. Though the situation there in Ohio isn't as talked about, it's a relocation that could easily transpire.

The Blue Jackets might find themselves thriving under new ownership in a new market, like Seattle.

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars struggled behind the scenes last year, while fighting for their lives on the ice. Missing the playoffs by just two points, the ownership situation was also in turmoil in Dallas (and still is).

However, the Stars have been a regularly successful organization for many years. High-profile players like Brett Hull and Mike Modano helped bring Dallas a Stanley Cup in 1999.

The fan support is there when the team is thriving. However, will the Stars end up relocating due to that ownership and management meltdown?

The Verdict: Dallas

The Dallas Stars have had much success in their past, including a Stanley Cup in 1999. The team has been a regular playoff contender for many years now. Although the ownership situation is in turmoil, the Stars just barely missed the playoffs last season.

This team has a bright future ahead with superior young talent, such as Loui Eriksson, Jamie Benn and netminder Kari Lehtonen.

All they need is the right owner to keep them stable there. Gary Bettman already made it clear the league will try to keep teams from relocating before that is considered.

Fortunately for Dallas, however, it seems a new committed owner is on its way.

The Stars won't be going anywhere. 

Florida Panthers

Of all areas in the NHL, Florida, the "Sunshine State," has two hockey teams. At one point or another, both have seen their fair share of struggling times. 

Some have thought Tampa should pack up and move, but it's quite different now. With fresh ownership, management, arena renovations and sense of pride, the Lightning are definitely here to stay. 

That leaves the struggling Panthers now. 

With Dale Tallon, the mastermind behind the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, now at the helm in Florida, the rebuilding process is underway.

Will the team stick around in Sunrise long enough to see success? 

The Verdict: Relocation

Former Panthers forward David Booth summed it up best with this statement about leaving for Vancouver, courtesy of the Canucks' official Twitter feed: "I'm excited to play in a market where hockey is No. 1."

The Florida Panthers just don't have that kind of support. With only one trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, the Panthers have made the playoffs only twice after that. Since 2000, it's been nothing but long summers for the team, a dramatic drought that is reflected in the fan support. 

As we all know in the business aspect of things, if a team isn't winning, the fans aren't coming to watch (at least in these smaller markets) and the team isn't making money. It's hard to remember the last time the Panthers did anything relevant in the league.

I'd like to see the NHL give Wisconsin a crack at a team. The Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA always have a great team with lots of support. From a few people I've talked to who live there, the Nashville Predators' AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, attract a very good amount of fans for AHL hockey.  

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders are a deeply storied franchise, from the glory days in the early '80s when the Isles captured four straight Stanley Cups to the wild abyss the team is in today. 

Owner Charles Wang and GM Garth Snow have run a questionable show on Long Island for too many years now. 

The team is finally on the uprise it seems with a boatload of young talent, but with struggling goaltender Rick DiPietro locked up for life to a lucrative contract, goaltending will always be one area left with a question mark in New York.

And with the recent plan to renovate Nassau Coliseum rejected by voters, it makes the situation all the more sticky. 

The Verdict: No Relocation

The Islanders have too much history on Long Island to move, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't move off Long Island.

With that arena proposal rejected at the polls, owner Charles Wang may have to resort to giving the Islanders a new home elsewhere in New York, replacing the 39-year-old Nassau Coliseum.

The Islanders will be fine in the long run; they won't be going anywhere. 

Phoenix Coyotes

The Phoenix Coyotes have been the team most associated with the word "relocation" in the past few years. 

However, the team still remains in Glendale after failed sales, a last-ditch effort by the NHL to purchase the team.

The city of Glendale offered to cover $25 million worth of losses that the Coyotes are expected to take on this year. That's money that could be used to repair roads, improve infrastructure and for plenty of other city-wide issues.

A group headed by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison has been the most recent to emerge, looking to keep the team in Arizona. 

The Verdict: Relocation

The Coyotes have not had an alarming amount of success since their relocation there in 1996 from Winnipeg. 

With an extremely poor fan base and horrendous ownership situation there, the team has taken on losses for quite some time now.

Regardless of whether or not this group headed by Greg Jamison pulls through, the Coyotes need to move. 

Quebec has been lobbying for the Nordiques to make a return there. With a much stronger Canadian dollar than the mid-'90s, Quebec City should see the return of the hockey team in the near future. The Coyotes would be a more-than-viable option.