NHL Overhaul- Part One

The elimination of the Atlanta franchise and the re-birth of the Winnipeg Jets should be the first step of many in the overhaul of the NHL.

First problem- there are still too many franchises located in southern U.S. cities. Phoenix, Tampa, and south Florida need to lose their franchises, immediately. Carolina and Nashville are on the watch list. Meanwhile there are several deserving northern cities without teams.

One potential transition stands out for the symmetries involved. Quebec City has a larger population than Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Buffalo.  It is the seventh largest city in Canada. The top six, plus Winnipeg, have NHL teams. And if eight million-plus New Yorkers can support two teams, the eight million-plus hockey-crazed inhabitants of the province of Quebec can too- which they did, until 1995, when a loaded Nordiques team became the Colorado Avalanche and promptly won the Cup. 

The perfect relocation candidate to Quebec is the Lightning. When the Nordiques left they took some serious young star power with them. Sakic, Forsberg and Roy formed the foundation of the ’95 Cup winner. What better way for the NHL to return to Quebec than with French Canadian stars Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, plus a young center, Steven Stamkos, in the Sakic/Forsberg mold? This move is a no-brainer.