While I would love a team in Halifax I don't know how realistic that it. Milwaukee I think makes a lot of sense too

saskatoon and halifax are in no way even remotly in contention to get an expansion team

Another one that needs a miracle: Louisville, Kentucky.

i just want hockey in my hometown okay

Your RW tier would be better able to support franchises than your center tier... the Leafs would veto Toronto and Hamilton franchises though.

Milwaukee makes sooo much sense. Natural rivals and a state of the art facility.

Seems like the NHL has flatly said that Quebec City will not happen.

While I would love a team in Halifax I don't know how realistic that it. Milwaukee I think makes a lot of sense too

Milwaukee is a better choice than all of these. Wisconsin is a hockey hotbed. Can’t say the same for Houston and KC.

Houston has the market size but fan interest is iffy, KC has an arena but again…fan interest iffy. Quebec has sentiment and fan base but small market and lack of area corporations.

Black Hawks will block at all costs. Same with Habs and Quebec.[/quote

I really don't think the Habs would block Quebec. IMO Quebec just doesn't have the financially backing to support a team long term.

Here's a story from when the NHL and WHA merged. First, the NHL did not want a merge with going broke WHA. They wanted those WHA just to go away, and then the NHL owners would have expansion team going into some of the WHA cities so they could collect expansion fees.

Senator David Molson of the Canadians (and owner of the brewery) was the chairman of the expansion committee.

The NHL agreed to take Hartford in the merger, more due to anti trust USA laws, so they needed an American city.
Molson told the NHL owners, I'll be the most hated man in Quebec, unless the Nordiques are allowed in, so Quebec got their team.

Ben Haskin owner of the WHA Winnipeg Jets told Molson, "You will never sell another Molson product west of Ontario if Winnipeg and Edmonton don't get NHL franchises."

So Hartford, Quebec, Winnipeg, and Edmonton paid the 2m "entrance fee" to join the NHL, instead of the 8m the owners expected in expansion fees.

Your RW tier would be better able to support franchises than your center tier... the Leafs would veto Toronto and Hamilton franchises though.

Milwaukee is a better choice than all of these. Wisconsin is a hockey hotbed. Can’t say the same for Houston and KC.

Houston has the market size but fan interest is iffy, KC has an arena but again…fan interest iffy. Quebec has sentiment and fan base but small market and lack of area corporations.

Black Hawks will block at all costs. Same with Habs and Quebec.

Seems like the NHL is 100% sure teams can't block expansion even in their area (50 miles from city limits), so Montreal cannot block Quebec or Chicago / Milwaukee or Toronto / Hamilton. Toronto at least has a case because Hamilton is less than 50 miles from Toronto (Buffalo has a case there too) so there would be some litigation, but the league and Canada's Competition Bureau say otherwise.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/2014/09/22/maple_leafs_couldnt_veto_nhl_expansion_to_gta_bettman_says.html
https://www.si.com/hockey/news/can-the-maple-leafs-prevent-a-team-from-moving-to-southern-ontario

I wanna see a team in Milwaukee

There are 24 states without a professional team. Of them, the one that plays in an area where hockey is popular, has an almost OK sized market:

Fargo, ND
Fargo-Moorhead/Wahpeton area will have a population of over 300K
They would draw from the Greater Grand Forks area with well over 100K
This doesn't count for all of the smaller towns nearby and even the further away Bismarck/Minot areas with over 200K

Montana and South Dakota do not have pro teams either, the closest professional (US) team from Fargo is 3.5 hours but is hours further for much of the surrounding area. there are 8 connected states without a pro team (though some of them are closer to other teams).

Midcontinent Communications alone serves about 500K people from ND, SD, Western MN, and even Kansas. I think Fargo is on the very bottom edge of market sizes that the NHL has but this would drastically increase their geographical footprint.

Amazon and Microsoft in town along with other professional corps such as Noridian insurance and health providers and Scheels sports
South Dakota with Sanford Health plus all of its dark money as an international tax shelter . . . they can do it financially.
Grand Forks sells out 12K for college hockey so there is no doubt for me that they could pull in around 20 in Fargo for the only pro team in the area.

This is very poorly put together argument because I'm working and trying to leave 2 minutes ago.

That, i was not aware of. Thanks for the info. 👍🏻

Seems like the NHL is 100% sure teams can't block expansion even in their area (50 miles from city limits), so Montreal cannot block Quebec or Chicago / Milwaukee or Toronto / Hamilton. Toronto at least has a case because Hamilton is less than 50 miles from Toronto (Buffalo has a case there too) so there would be some litigation, but the league and Canada's Competition Bureau say otherwise.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/2014/09/22/maple_leafs_couldnt_veto_nhl_expansion_to_gta_bettman_says.html
https://www.si.com/hockey/news/can-the-maple-leafs-prevent-a-team-from-moving-to-southern-ontario

I’m well aware of that.

While they may be hated for awhile, it won’t have a negative impact on their bottom line. Adding a team in the region i assume can.

Milwaukee has the better fan base, but Houston has almost 4 times it's population, and they can start a rivalry with Dallas, plus Arizona is a western conference team so if they get relocated it won't change much.

I feel like you can grow a fanbase in Houston.

milwaukee is such an obvious choice. houston would be the other one because of how big it is, but there’s a big hockey base in wisconsin already, feels like a no-brainer for a team

Austin Texas maybe

Quebec City should be in ''need a miracle''

I lived in Milwaukee for 3 years and it is already a hockey city it's the near perfect city for an NHL team.

IMO, despite the love of hockey in Quebec, it doesn't have the population/businesses to fill the arena at NHL prices, all season, long term. Think that is more of the issue for Quebec as opposed to the other NHL owners not wanting to go Canada . After all, Calgary got US based Atlanta, Winnipeg got it's team back when they got good ownership, Ottawa was an expansion in 2001 I believe.

There are lots of NHL teams right now who are life lines from the richer NHL owners. IMO there is are no cities in Canada or the USA that would/could a NHL team financially. The only city that might is Houston, but relocation is going to be best option for them.

Milwaukee makes sooo much sense. Natural rivals and a state of the art facility.

Seems like the NHL has flatly said that Quebec City will not happen.

Honestly I don't want to see any more expansion franchises for a few years. I'd like to see all the current ones healthy and profitable first, which probably requires Arizona moving to Houston. Maybe Florida needs to relocate too, although I'd like to see if they can draw fans with a decent team first. Not sure there will be NHL hockey in Columbus in 15 years either...

Milwaukee is a better choice than all of these. Wisconsin is a hockey hotbed. Can’t say the same for Houston and KC.

Houston has the market size but fan interest is iffy, KC has an arena but again…fan interest iffy. Quebec has sentiment and fan base but small market and lack of area corporations.

Black Hawks will block at all costs. Same with Habs and Quebec.

San Diego, maybe Oklahoma City, Cleveland

Your RW tier would be better able to support franchises than your center tier... the Leafs would veto Toronto and Hamilton franchises though.

I wanna see a team in Milwaukee