NHL Relocation: 5 Possible Relocation Sites for NHL Teams

It's only the first month of the NHL season, but the Winnipeg Jets, despite their losing record, are drawing more fans than they ever did in Atlanta.

Relocation always seems to work for struggling hockey teams—look at the San Jose Sharks, the Colorado Avalanche and even the New Jersey Devils. All of these teams were relocated from areas that couldn't provide for them.

Winnipeg's popularity has made me think about other possible cities for a relocated NHL franchise. I base my judgment on hockey history, sports market size, arena availability, and fan support.

Here are the five best places, in my opinion, for a relocated NHL franchise.  

Kansas City

Kansas City does have NHL history—in fact, the New Jersey Devils are the spawns of the Colorado Rockies, themselves the spawns of the short-lived Kansas City Scouts.

Although the Scouts were horrible in their two years, the loss of the team has forever haunted the KC faithful.

In the hopes of landing an NHL franchise a few years ago, the city built the up-to-date Sprint Center.

As of now, the city is looking at bringing New York's second team, the Islanders, to the Midwest—especially after the failure of the Lighthouse Project by Charles Wang.

Bringing hockey to Kansas City would have many benefits: a potential rivalry with the St. Louis Blues, a passionate fan base, and, as previously mentioned, a state-of-the-art arena.

Possible team names for a Kansas City team include:

Scouts: a homage to the old team

Bulls: a reference to the Barbecue capitol of the world

Shockers: as a reference to Kansas City's location in the Midwest.   

Atlanta

As the Counting Crows once sang: "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got 'till it's gone?" 

Atlanta has suffered the heartbreak of losing two franchises to Canada—first the Flames, then the Thrashers, rebranded as the Jets. 

The main reason that Atlanta lost the Thrashers was because the team was competing against the resurgent Hawks of the NBA and the Falcons of the NFL during the fall and spring. You can't blame them for packing and leaving. 

Nonetheless, should another team pack its bags and move, Atlanta would seem like an ideal destination. Phillips Arena is a dual-purpose arena and Atlanta fans are passionate about their teams—heck, even famous rapper Lil' John loved the Thrashers. 

Should a team move back to Atlanta, the options for names would be as follows:

Thrashers: Why not keep the same name?

Osprey: to add to the city's bird-themed sports teams, the Falcons and the Hawks

Air Attack: not a ornithological reference, so much as a reference to the other popular teams in the fall.

One thing is for sure—if Atlanta gets another franchise, the city should do everyone a favor and get rid of those godawful blue jerseys as well as their "Gryffindor Quidditch" alternates.

Hartford

True story: I moved to Connecticut the year after the Whalers fled for Carolina—and I never heard about the Whalers until about seven years ago. 

Of all the US cities that have lost NHL franchises, Hartford is one of the most passionate about its former team. 

At every AHL game in Connecticut, at every Yale game at Ingalls Rink, you can almost hear Brass Bonanza, the Whalers' popular fight song. 

Hartford deserves a team because of the circumstances surrounding Peter Karmanos' relocation attempts. To be fair, he was right that the team needed a new arena, as the XL center is starting to age.

Still, he never gave the city of Hartford a fair chance. He screwed around with innovative season ticket plans and established an unrealistic deadline before he uprooted the team and brought it to Raleigh.

Hartford has tried to lure both Pittsburgh's and Nashville's teams to its area, but neither attempt has worked.

However, there are plans for a new arena—should it be built, it would look attractive for any NHL team.

Unlike Atlanta and Kansas City, Hartford could only be known as the Whalers.

No other name would suit them. 

Seattle

Seattle did once have an NHL franchise (in fact, it was a Stanley Cup-level squad), but unfortunately the Metropolitans never found success after the 1918 influenza epidemic. Since then the city has supported a junior league team known as the Seattle Thunderbirds. 

Although the Thunderbirds are popular in Seattle, they are not as popular as other Western Hockey League teams. Their arena is small, and while KeyArena is still available, it is not suitable for hockey.

For Seattle to have an NHL team, it would need to either modify KeyArena, expand the home ice that the Thunderbirds use, or just build a new stadium.

I'm pretty sure Seattle fans would love the opportunity to have a hockey team ,especially after the loss of the SuperSonics basketball team. The novelty of an NHL team would certainly distract them from the futility of their other two Big 4 teams.

Potential names for a Seattle franchise include:

Mets: an abbreviation of Metropolitans, although I'm pretty sure that baseball team in New York trademarked that name.

Thunderbirds: Like the Seattle Sounders, formerly of the USL and now of Major League Soccer, the team could just borrow the name of its junior team.

Warriors: It just fits them perfectly.  

Quebec

Of all the Canadian cities that deserve an NHL franchise, Quebec certainly is the best option.

Having lost their original team to Colorado, then getting a second stab in the heart when Colorado immediately won the Stanley cup, Quebec fans wanted their team back.  

In NHL rinks with low turnouts—particularly those of the Islanders, Thrashers, Hurricanes—groups of Nords fans sat and waved banners, announcing their support for the return of their beloved club.

I believe that Quebec deserves a second chance because it would re-establish the second French-Canadian team in the NHL—leading to the return of a rivalry between Quebec's team and the Montreal Canadiens.

Quebec does have an NHL-ready stadium in the Colisée Pepsi, which has recently been renovated—although it's likely that the seating capacity will have to be increased, or a new arena constructed.

As for potential names, the only name that suits this team is the Nordiques, the symbol of Quebec's former team.

That said, I would get rid of the "N" with a stick and bring in the new jerseys that were originally proposed before the team left.