Shannon is the type of guy to buy a jersey with just the NHL logo on it because he's a fan of the league not a team

As an Atlanta native, I’m so glad you acknowledged that ownership failed the Thrashers, not the fans.

Portland and Seattle totally agree they love hockey

There is a reason the original six teams were the ones they were. that reason being they were the only 6 teams who survived the depression and WW2

I live right out of metro Detroit and have been going to Wings games for about decade now, and the economic situation hasn't really been a major attendance factor. The city has been booming and is at it's highest point in a while, yet attendance is currently at it's lowest. But in the late 2000's when Detroit was it's lowest, there was never an empty seat. The city just funded a new ~$750million arena in downtown, and there are a handful of ownership groups in Detroit (Illitch's, the Fords, Dan Gilbert, Tom Gores), so it's not like getting a good owner and arena would be a problem. The real factor right now is that ticket prices have skyrocketed, while team performance has plummeted. It's not that unemployed people can't afford tickets, it's that full-time working people can't afford tickets, and there isn't a great or promising team in Detroit that would otherwise make people splurge on tickets. And you look at cities like St. Louis (also just got an arena upgrade) that have similar economic problems as Detroit, but the attendance keeps rising because they have a competitive team and more affordable tickets among a multitude of reasons.

I would think somewhere in Wisconsin might work like Milwaukee, what do you think?

Next year, the NHL will welcome its 32nd franchise, the Seattle Kraken.

the interesting thing about omitting Anaheim from your list is because of disney. that team was LITERALLY made because of disney. so, i'm fine with omitting that city from the league

How I'd do it *Atlantic* 1. Toronto 2. New York 3. Montreal 4. Boston 5. Ottawa 6. Hamilton 7. Quebec City 8. Jersey City *Eastern* 1. Chicago 2. Philadelphia 3. Detroit 4. Cleveland 5. Pittsburgh 6. Buffalo 7. Washington 8. Nashville *Western* 1. Minneapolis 2. Winnipeg 3. Milwaukee 4. Denver 5. St. Louis 6. Kansas City 7. Dallas 8. Houston *Pacific* 1. Vancouver 2. Calgary 3. Edmonton 4. Los Angeles 5. San Francisco 6. Seattle 7. Portland 8. Salt Lake City With this setup, every team east of the Mississippi River with the exception of Milwaukee is in the Eastern Conference.

this was so fun to watch. reminds of me doing this kind of stuff all the time as a kid/teen.

Hi Shannon, Great video as usual I really enjoyed the concept behind it and found myself agreeing with most cities, and I would absolutely love to see an updated version of this video.

nice vid. digging the old school Caps jersey. memories of Mike 'master blaster' Gartner

Indianapolis or Milwaukee

Cool video, I like stuff like this. I think it's a misconception that MN could support two teams. Yes, we are hockey mad. Yes, the wild get pretty great attendance. The High School Hockey tournament is enormous for heaven's sake. However, MINN-STP is the 15th biggest media market in the US, and that stat only has American cities, it gets bumped out of the top 15 of USA+CAN cities. The idea that 2 teams could work and both be supported gets tossed around a little on the internet but I don't think it would really ever work. I think Portland makes sense, they are wild for the Timbers out there too. Curious why the NHL and you aren't in for a Wisconsin team.

I think a team in Norfolk, VA could work because the Hampton Roads area of Virginia is the most populous place in America that doesn’t have a professional sports team. Instant rivalry with Washington. For the West I definitely think Wisconsin could support a team. It’s a cold place similar to Michigan or Minnesota. Instant rivalries with CHI, DET (brought from the NFL/NCAA), and MIN. But you’re also forgetting Wood Buffalo has one of the fastest growing economies IN THE WORLD. Great video.

Bay Area native here: Trust me, San Jose makes more sense. The population is more than double that of Oakland. It's actually the 9th biggest city in the county. Being right in the Silicon Valley, you have a large population of wealthy young adults with some cash to burn in the evening.

I also did a 32 team NHL from scratch buddy, Here’s how I did mine Western Conference Northwest Division Edmonton Oilers Calgary Wranglers Vancouver Canucks Seattle Grey Wolves Portland Cascades Colorado Avalanche Central Division Milwaukee Choppers Chicago Blackhawks St.Louis Blues Kansas City Twisters Minnesota Lumberjacks Winnipeg Jets Pacific Division Phoenix Sidewinders Los Angeles Kings San Jose Sharks Anaheim Mighty Ducks Dallas Desperadoes Houston Saturns Eastern Conference Atlantic Division New York Islanders (but in Queens/Brooklyn instead) New York Rangers New Jersey Devils Boston Bruins Philadelphia Flyers Pittsburgh Penguins Northeast Division Buffalo Sabres Cleveland Blue Jackets Detroit Red Wings Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal Canadiens Ottawa Senators Quebec Nordiques Southeast Nashville Predators Atlanta Thrashers Carolina Hurricanes Tampa Bay Lightning Rays Washington Capitals Miami Panthers

36 team league from scratch 2 conferences of 18 teams each 6 divisions of 6 teams each *Eastern Conference* _Atlantic_ Atlanta Miami New York (Queens) Philadelphia Tampa Bay Washington _Metropolitan_ Buffalo Cincinnati Columbus Detroit Mississauga Pittsburgh _Northeast_ Boston Montreal New York (Manhattan) Ottawa Quebec City Toronto *Western Conference* _Central_ Chicago Dallas Houston Kansas City Nashville St. Louis _Northwest_ Calgary Denver Edmonton Milwaukee Minneapolis Winnipeg _Pacific_ Los Angeles Portland San Diego San Francisco Seattle Vancouver *Miss the cut* Cleveland - Slightly smaller metro population than Cincy and Columbus, already has teams in NBA, NFL, and MLB to stretch the sports dollar Hamilton - Smaller population than Mississauga and smaller metro population than Buffalo Halifax - Small metro population Charlotte - Southern location, smaller metro population than Atlanta, Miami, and Tampa, already has an NFL and NBA team to stretch the sports dollar Baltimore - Too close to Washington Hartford - Metro population not big enough, can't draw from a big enough region due to proximity to New York and Boston Raleigh - Southern location, college sports town, metro population not big enough Newark - Two teams in the Tri-State area is enough Phoenix - Hot location, not big enough region to draw from, already has teams in the NBA, NFL, and MLB to stretch the sports dollar Saskatoon - Small metro population Salt Lake City - Metro population not big enough, already has an NBA team to stretch the sports dollar Anaheim - Three teams in California is enough Austin - Two teams in Texas is enough Las Vegas - Hot location, not big enough region to draw from, too close to Los Angeles and San Diego *Give or take* St. Paul over Minneapolis San Jose over San Francisco

What an awesome channel. I also reside in Vancouver good sir and love your content. keep on loving these Wonderful Surprising exciting, dominant and courageous iteration of the Van Canucks, and i hope it lasts a real long time. well here's to you my friend! love yeah, buddy :D

If expansion drafts were the same back then as they are now, some of those expansions may have never failed in the first place. It would have been interesting to see where a Kansas City team would be now with a Vegas-style expansion draft.

Hey Shannon, I appreciate your videos, you put a lot of thought into them. I respectfully disagree with your choice of Oakland, California for an NHL team. Crime, homelessness, and poverty is increasing in the Oakland and San Francisco

Milwaukee over Kansas City. Saskatoon or Regina is better over plenty of places too, except the population size is small.

Shan: "So where do I put team 32? It's gotta be in the west right?" Me: "Kansas City." Shan: "Kansas City." Me: "OHOKAY."

Hey Shannon, love the channel. I understand why you left Raleigh out and I'm not upset. As a Canes fan, I'm well aware of the perception of our club in the hockey world - and in terms of our on-ice product and attendance rates, that perception is justified whether or not you factor in the fact that we did make a profit last year (which I know you mentioned). With that said, I would like to address two things that I hope begin to change the perception of the Canes and Raleigh, North Carolina (this isn't a direct knock at you). I think the majority of people do not know that Raleigh consistently has one of the top growth rates in the country and is also consistently at the top of the "best places to live in the US" according to Forbes. Does this justify Raleigh as an NHL market? Maybe, maybe not. But people tend to throw Carolina around as a joke when they do not know the facts and it can be extremely frustrating. Also, not to mention the fact that most of that growth came from migration from traditional hockey markets up in the northeast. Personally, my family is from NY and PA and moved down here for the same reasons so many currently are.

Although I was raised in Newfoundland, and am currently a fan of the Ottawa Senators, I was born in Kitchener, Ontario, and would absolutely cheer for Hamilton as my new number one (forever), but I would obviously prefer a team in Kitchener

Love the addition of Hamilton, I didn't see that coming. Awesome!

Makes me think of the WPHL. Ever do any reading on the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, based in Pittsburgh, started in 1896? First hockey league to have professionals, first to trade players, and first league to import players from Canada. It's pretty interesting.

Totally missed on Wisconsin. I would have a team their before at least 10 teams on this list especially Oakland, Portland,Columbus,Atlanta,Houston and Hamilton. You talk about location and the potential rivalries in Chicago,Minneapolis and St. Louis that are close.Not to mention the Wisconsin Badgers put a lot of quality players in the NHL. I believe hockey would do very well in Wisconsin as Wisconsin fans in general are loyal and supportive. I live in Arizona but I was born and raised in Wisconsin and I’m loyal to this day.Just my 2 cents keep up the good work as You are one of my favorite you tubers.

I believe that Milwaukee should fit in the west

I hope Hamilton gets a team they support the tiger cats so much

Great video Shannon. Maybe next expand on this video and show what team names you would give along with uniform colors and logo ideas? That'd be pretty sweet. Keep it up, I look forward to your videos everyday after work.

Thank you Shannon! This was interesting. It would be cool to see your picks of possible relocations. I know it is going to make people angry but I think you once said you like arguments 😁. Yeah so it would be nice to see that which cities you would give a relocation and which teams would relocate. Personally I think that in the near future (10 years) we are going to see few teams relocating.

Wish the Nordiques would come back, though I assume we'd have to have a urgent relocation ala Thrashers, as I don't see NHL going to 33.

Can you do a continuation to 50 teams, I know it would get pretty far out of hand but it would be fun to see where you put it next

I'm from wisconsin and we really need a hockey team. Wisconsin Badger mens and women's hockey is huge. And with a few renovations the Bradley center is a perfect place now that the bucks have a new arena.

Pretty reasonable list! I'd probably move Nashville down a few notches - probably below Dallas/Houston/Portland simply because Texas Triangle markets are far larger and Portland is much less risky than Nashville IMO. A lot of people do mention Milwaukee, but I think KC wins out due to Milwaukee's relatively small size and proximity to Chicago. In terms of NJ, I'd personally put it in Trenton rather than Newark to create a central Jersey team to create an additional split in the traditional North Jersey/South Jersey division between NY & Philly. IMO Columbus wins out over Cleveland since there's far more for hockey to compete with in Cleveland than there is in Columbus. I'd probably also pick either Miami or Orlando over Tampa Bay in regards to Florida since Miami is large and Orlando is in a more central location for Florida. I'd also consider Indianapolis, Cincinnati if you put Cleveland in, Charlotte if you want to push more southward, Baltimore, or a third CA franchise, though I do believe you picks probably win out over those. Overall, you have some very good picks!

i always thought hockey in KC would work too, natural rivals denver st. louis and chicago, those are good choices overall.

Detroit has consistently been at the top of the league for ticket sales (as a percentage of arena capacity) for years!

Watching this in March 2024 Amazing to see growth of this channel. From the location now used, this looks like it was filmed in the washroom 😂

I agree with your list, though I would try to squeeze in Oklahoma City somewhere. They're a budding sports market. Maybe Indianapolis too.

i would have said milwaukee, wisconsin for the last west team. wisconsin has huge hockey fan base.

If I had this task at hand my league would turn out almost identical to yours with one exception: the Ohio NHL team would be in Cincinnati

I think many nhl fans would be shocked at how much support Columbus shows for the CBJ. Same with the crew soccer team and of course the Buckeyes. The crew fans save the team from a crap owner moving them. This is a legit sports town, no question about it. The support for the CBJ has continued to grow and still is on the upswing.

You have a lot of good points, and that is more or less my same picks if I was building a hockey league from scratch. The only deviations I have will be having a team in the Milwaukee area, which is often overlooked. I am more pessimistic about Atlanta, so I will be passing on that city and giving that franchise to Milwaukee. It's not a knock on Portlanders, but three franchises in California makes a bit of sense, considering the demographics. Mine will likely be in San Francisco / Oakland, Los Angeles and Anaheim. These are the only changes I will make.

You gotta give Salt Lake a chance, man. Utah is absolutely a sports state but most people wouldn't know that since they aren't from here. Utah Grizzlies have some good attendance and would for sure embrace another pro team

I dont know which one of these teams Id take out but id put in Milwaukee as a natural rival to Chicago and Minnesota

Before I watched your video, I created my own list using essentially the same rules without seeing your selections. I came up with an extremely similar list to yours -- the only differences were: I replaced Tampa with Miami, since the Miami market is bigger. I agree that the Tampa market is reasonable, but the main distinction is the marketing and the location of the Panthers' stadium within Miami. If those situations were addressed, Miami could be a strong market. I did not include a team in Atlanta, instead I put a team in Baltimore. Tampa would also be a strong candidate instead. I did not select Nashville or Kansas City, instead I selected San Antonio and Milwaukee. Other than these 4, my other 28 teams are in the same cities as you selected. I did include both Hamilton and Newark in my initial list, if these are not allowed due to being too close to the same markets as New York and Toronto, then I selected as replacement cities Indianapolis and Hartford I picked Cleveland and not Columbus (despite being a huge Jackets fan myself).

I thought in this video you will build the roster of new Seattle team, that would be exciting to see how you do it.

Hey Shannon! What teams do you think will be the top ten in the 2018 draft?

Love seeing Quebec City on here. I miss the Nordiques and that rivalry .

I realize this is an old video (and I've been a follower for a year or so now) but this somehow slipped from me.. But this was such an interesting topic and a great view! I would change one team from each conference, San Jose > Oakland and Atlanta > Hartford, because of personal preference :) inspired by this and the "Potential Names For Seattle Expansion Team" video, I was left yearning for your name suggestions for these teams! Could we possibly get to hear them someday, maybe in a form of a video..?

I love this. I would put Detroit and Chicago together because they are ancient rivals. I would consider a 36-team NHL and create six divisions of six teams each ... Canadian East: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Hamilton, Halifax Canadian West: Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon American East: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Washington American North: Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland American West: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Salt Lake City American South: Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa, Charlotte As much as I'd love to see Hartford back in the NHL, they are odd man out ... for now. If we expanded to 42 teams, where each region had to add another team, then Hartford comes back! I'd love to hear the Hockey Guy's thoughts on whether Halifax and Saskatoon could support NHL hockey. I'm from Wisconsin. I think Milwaukee or Madison could support a team, but who knows.

Agreed, that would be a fun league to watch! But please stop pretending that MLS doesn't exist... the Crew have been in Columbus since 1996.

Very interesting picks. 👍🏻 You should do a 16 Canadian teams only NHL.

Very happy to see Kansas City. Like you said great sports town. Would be a great rivalry with St Louis and other teams in the Midwest and Denver too. Atlanta absolutely, if little ol'e Nashville can support a team so can Atlanta. One thing I didn't hear you mention explicitly is the number of people from up north who are moving to sunbelt cities. They are bringing the hockey bug with them and it's contagious if you have a well run team. Now in the fall in the much of the southern states you're competing against college & football which is huge here. -BECAUSE of the lack of major league teams here until relatively recently.- Offer good prices on tickets and you can fill some seats, football season ends and sports fans are desperate for someone to root for and against & get into hockey much more. The following year they're still obsessed with college football but they're also keeping an eye on their hockey team. You start hearing a lot more about it on sports radio and it's now become a thing. Of course it helps to have a really cool team logo like the Preds do but folks picked up on hockey pretty quickly & we now have catfish being thrown on the ice! Take that Detroit! In the end outside of born in the blood hockey areas you need a well run team with good outreach to the community. People respond to that. I'd like to see you do a video on that sort of thing this offseason. We're all seeing Laila giving some good interviews and being a part of the TV show around the Blues now that they're in the finals. PK Subban did some nice stuff for a boy bullied about his race. Maybe I'm just overly sentimental now that I'm in my 50's but those things go a long way to making me embrace players, teams & the sport. The end of a series too when the opposing players can shake hands means a lot to me.

You're off on Detroit. The actual city of is the mess you describe but the suburbs are quite affluent and they draw a lot from Windsor area in terms of support. Ticket sales are a direct reflection of quality of the team over the last almost 10 years.

Utah City, Utah would be a decent market I think

As a person who grew up in nova scotia I was wondering could you do a video looking at the possibilities of an nhl team coming to Halifax, what are the chances of it happening, I'm a firm believer that it would work there, they have the mooseheads in the QMJHL and all of nova scotia and cape breton have major hockey fans all over. Could I be right in saying this could work and should happen or am I wrong and the market here is too small. Let me know what you think and make a video about it if you think it's worth talking about. Love your channel keep up the great work.

Canes fan sine 97 here, only recently (yesterday lol) discovered your channel. While I dont agree with all of your choices and omissions, I can accept your reasoning behind them, and Im glad that the south has representation in your league. I feel getting a hold on southern markets in nontraditional cities is vital for the growth and development of hockey. Having said that, I was wondering if you prefer the idea of expansion or relocation in terms of teams going into new markets?

If I were doing a list, my inclination would be to pick an Orlando team for Florida, over Tampa. I'm not suggesting they'd do better there than Tampa Bay, but I'd pick them if I had no preconceived knowledge about how a Tampa team would do. They could put the arena right next to the Camping World Stadium on Church St., and build that area up well with clubs, bars, etc. Or put the arena near Disney World., visible from highway 4. It'd attract a lot of tourists, I think. The name of the team could fit the tone of Disney World/Universal Studios in some way without infringing on trademarks (e.g. Orlando Magic), such as Orlando Kingdoms, Orlando Hearts, Orlando Caribbeans. I would stay away from coastal cities like Miami. Reason being, those places are associated with summer activities, like having margaritas on the beach, boating, fishing, outdoor festivities, getting sunburned. It just doesn't fit the atmosphere of hockey, whereas a cold brisk day in Minnesota would be ideal. No one's traveling to Miami to attend a hockey game.

Would love a NHL team in Hamilton.

Personally i like the ideas, but would want Regina or saskatoon, cleveland over columbus, a team in Windsor Ontario over Hamilton

I really like this video. I think another interesting video would be trying to come up with names for the new cities that you put up there

Solid list, I still hope Hartford can make a comeback some day!

Buffalo is a hockey city. Ever since I was born hockey has been in my life. We have the best fans in the league, in pretty much every sport we have. No matter how much we suck, we still show up! Haha! #SharpenYourSwords

Indiana a NHL team they love hockey there and lots of Blackhawks fans there and Norte Dame hockey fans

I think Regina would work as well. Theyre not a big market, but I can see that crazy support for the Roughriders transition into hockey and be a team the whole province will support.

Love, love, love the idea of bringing Houston and Dallas in at the same time! The expansion draft alone would be the highest rated TV show in the state before the season started. #nhlinhouston

Yay Portland!

I might have a bit of a San Jose bias because I was born and raised there until the military got me......but go to Oakland and you’ll understand why teams are leaving Oakland. Fingers crossed they hold on to the A’s and the warriors. I’d say San Jose or San Francisco.

So glad I found your channel today

As habs fan I want to believe that the birth place of is Montreal but alot have argued that the birth place is actually Kingston Ontario. However the birth place of organized hockey is Montreal

I was watching your video again. the thing the stuck with me was you had Oakland has one of the cities. Just remember Oakland is losing there NFL team.

I like your idea but I would at two more teams in the East, Baltimore and in the West, Milwaukee.

Can you do this again Shannon? Lots of perspective as we've grown to 32 and the questions about Hamilton grow as the Nordiques persist.... lots of food for great thought imo!

I think what would be awesome is (really far into the future) putting together a mega-league with around 50 teams or so. Rather than dividing it into multiple subleagues like the CHL, just restructure the playoffs. Let 12 teams make the playoffs along with, not four, but eight wildcards. The wildcards could play each other in a three game series till only four remained, then it would be normal playoffs (4 rounds, 7 games each). That would give the league the chance to expand into markets and relocate others. On top of your main list, I could see teams in SLC, Windsor, Oshawa, a second Toronto team (probably just named "Ontario ___"), Miami, Saskatoon, a second Chicago team, perhaps Victoria, and a multitude of other places. That would be a really cool thing to see one day, and I hope that's the general direction the league is moving with it's growth.

Alaska not many people but it's cold there and they love hockey

Why does everyone have Minnesota so low on their own lists. Literally is the most "hockey state" out of all the states. That's why it's called the state of hockey... more hockey players than any other state even with their small population. I literally just get in my truck and can have a choice of 5 outdoor rinks filled with rink rats within a 5 min drive. During the winter of course...

London Ontario . If the OHL ‘s London Knights fans are any indication London fans would be delirious! They could build an 18000 seat arena out South Wellington.

I would pause before you wrote down a team and would predict what you say. I had all but 1 correct. I would put Milwaukee over NJ but makes sense for the population. As a result I would have Nashville in the East and Milwaukee in the West. Excellent video.

It's a shame that Quebec City hasn't already gotten their team back. No other team entering would have brought such rivalries right off the bat. Mtl, Bos, Tor, Ott, Buff. To have those battles once again would have been great for the NHL and about as exciting as it gets to watch.

Some place in Wisconsin they love hockey and crazy about college hockey

yeah NJ is there, was not expecting that

I personally love the idea of neutral site rivalry games; base the NYC team in Bronx or Brooklyn, have them play Jersey once or twice a year in Madison Square Garden, Seattle and Vancouver play a game in Victoria, Winnipeg plays the Alberta teams in Regina or Saskatoon, Atlanta and Tampa play a game in Jacksonville, Cleveland plays a game or two in Cinncinati, Chicago and Minneapolis play a game or two in Milwaukee or Madison, Minneapolis and Kansas City play a game in Omaha or Des Moines (venue permitting), Atlanta and/or Nashville play one of the Texas teams in New Orleans, hell you could have the Texas teams and the California teams play a couple of games a year in Phoenix

New Jersey!! 😈

Instead of Oakland, why not San Diego? Gulls have been well supported since coming back.

I liked your approach, though I have a few comments and disagreements:1) I know you said only one team per city. However, I may have started (or later added) another team in NY and Toronto. As you said, these could easily support two teams. Would suggest an urban team and a suburban team, like one on Long Island and one in Mississauga. 2) Would have added St Louis, and possibly Denver at the same time as Minneapolis3) Would have added a San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose team at the same time as LA and Vancouver to better anchor the west and create more rivalries.4) I would have not included Atlanta. Two failed franchises, for whatever the reason, in a relatively short period of time, is enough to keep me away5) Putting teams in non traditional hockey cities is very risky. In my opinion, if there if an NBA team exists in the non traditional city, the NHL team will struggle. Nashville and Tampa do well, while Miami, Phoenix and Carolina (NCAA basketball) have it tough. I know there is more than one reason teams struggle. However being the new kid in town, with a semi-unknown sport and competing against an already established league that has solidified their presence may be too much. BTW, Dallas and LA do well as the metro area is huge and can support the four major leagues. 6) Continuing with the above thought, to me Houston is a question mark. Its a big sports town, and has a large population, but hardly a hockey town (Aeros anyone?). It may be too hard to complete with the Rockets.7) KC is an interesting choice. They love their teams and I believe the NHL will thrive there. May have picked them ahead of Portland. 8) Yes, bring Quebec City back! And Hartford too!

Thank you for choosing my hometown of Kansas City. We love sports and I frequently see other hockey fans like myself.

I would support Hamilton 100%!!!!

What ticket issues does detroit have. Every game is a sellout, for years

I would love to have a team here in KC. I feel the same way, we are diehard fans of the Chiefs and Royals. The only issue though is finding an owner. We have the perfect arena for it and a hockey fanbase with the Mavericks. If it's an expansion we will need to find some people willing get a team started

Good stuff, sir!

Milwaukee? Saskatoon/Regina? Halifax? Indianapolis? and why did you cut carolina?

Hamilton is a miss for me, I think only having Tampa bay and Atlanta down south makes other E.C. Teams very angry. That’s an awful road trip. Gotta have Carolina or even Nashville in the eastern conference to keep other organizations happy in terms of travel.

Excellent video Shannon

Vancouver, Seattle, Portland makes a ton of sense. It is just about 500 miles from Vancouver to Portland, so there is not much distance there travel wise. Also they already have a decent rivalry in the MLS. Houston and Dallas would be a good choice. Kansas City and St. Louis too would be a great rivalry for who control Missouri. Overall, some great choices, but I think a team in NJ area overloads the NY area still much like how currently we have NYR/NYI/NJD. But that being said, only so many locations on the East to place team and Hartford may not fully work, Carolina has been so-so. So overall these choices make a lot of sense and maybe one day the NHL will get it right with either expansion or relocation. I do not really like relocation as I hate seeing cities lose their teams, but can the NHL support more than 32 teams?

Cali would need 3 or 4 teams.

Canadians do you guys hate that there is soo many US teams even though Canada invented hockey and wish there was more Canadian teams?

I made my own list of a 44 team league with 4 divisions of 11 teams each. I ignored whether the city has a suitable arena. I also think it would water down the on ice talent too far though. I agree with you that a few of the expansion teams of the past failed because the on ice product sucked. (Kansas, Cleveland, Oakland,

Here's a wild card: Mexico City. Huge population and plenty of sports fans. Hockey interest would have to be cultivated but imagine a 50,000 seat arena filled to the rafters.