Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy6
We will likely see Arizona move to Houston and an expansion team will likely be going to Seattle.
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There's no reason why the league can't have both Arizona and Houston. I think a lot of people underestimate just how large the Phoenix metro area is.
A bit off topic, but the NHL is just now getting to the point where it is beginning to receive incoming talent from these areas (Phoenix) so it would be unwise to move on now of all times. Franchises that have been in their current locations a bit longer (Dallas, for example) are producing more and more high level hockey players with each passing age group. Bishop signed in Dallas partly because he played junior hockey in Texas.
This is long something I've mentioned before, but the % that Canadians make up in the NHL has been declining pretty steadily over the past few decades. Because Americans tend to have fairly similar surnames to Canadians (relative to Europeans, anyway) the change is a bit more difficult to pick up on at first blush. There will eventually be a time when Canadians are no longer dominant in the league, although it'll take longer to change that mindset amongst fans.
This season there has been 10 players born in California, two in Arizona, five in Texas, six Floridians, three from the Carolinas...and these numbers will only increase in the future if youth participation rates are anything to go by.
tl;dr the NHL is beginning to realize the upsides of players born and developed in the 90s expansion areas, so moving a team like Arizona would be a poor business decision.