Where should the NHL expand?

Two bits of information to start this post off. First, ever since the lockout, speculation has been rampant that the league would be interested in adding two new teams now that the lockout is over. Why? Because there would be an expansion fee payed to the league and distributed among all the teams for any team added to the league. Second, I am reading Barry Melrose’s “Dropping the Gloves” and am getting a pretty good idea of what hockey is like as a cultural force in Canada.

What am I driving at? I think there will be two new teams added within the next three years, and both will be in Canada. The NHL can look at where ticket sales are still strong and try to retrench there. Fans in Canada will watch hockey, and do watch hockey no matter how bad it might be. The league is going to wait on allowing the Phoenix Coyotes to move until they can extract the expansion fees. Why do they think that they might be able to do this? Because there are already arenas going up in Quebec City and Markham, Ontario. With an arena already in place, finding someone to run the team shouldn’t be a problem, especially when it is likely a money maker in the Toronto and Quebec areas.

So what of Seattle, the American city that tops a lot of lists for hockey relocation. They are stuck without a team, I think, unless they want to foot the expansion bill. Of course, that all changes after someone steps forward and brings back the Quebec Nordiques and introduces the Markham Marlies to the universe. THEN when the owners have wrung every last penny out of the situation, they will allow Phoenix to move to Seattle.

So what’s the end game with 32 teams? 4 8 team divisions, which will reduce travel and make for early round playoff hockey that is a bit more rivalry based. If expansion and relocation goes as I expect it will, the new divisions would look (I think) something like this:

Division A: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver

Division B: Buffalo,Chicago, Detroit, Markham, Minnesota, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg

Division C: Carolina, Columbua, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, Saint Louis, Tampa, Washington

Division D: Boston, Montreal, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Quebec

So what do you think? I’m more sure about the three locations of new teams within the next 5 years than I am about the potential division alignment. The new teams, despite the overall struggles of the league is just the type of weird thing that the NHL would do.