Why the Vegas Golden Knights Should Have Been a Relocation
The Vegas Golden Knights are the newest team in the NHL. They will be getting the majority of their players on June 21 in an expansion draft where they will have to pick one player from every existing club that isn’t protected. (Full rules on the 2017 Expansion Draft here). The NHL didn’t have to expand, though. It had plenty of teams with low ticket sales and little to no success to move. The 5 teams with the lowest ticket sales in the NHL since the 2009–2010 season are the Carolina Hurricanes, Arizona Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, and Florida Panthers.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes have the least ticket sales in the last 8 years, with only 68.5% of them being sold. They are based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, and were moved there from Hartford in 1997. They have won the Stanley Cup once (2005–2006), but haven’t made the playoffs since 2009. They have been in a state of disarray for years, being in the bottom half of the Metropolitan Division the last 4 years. They traded their best player in the 15–16 season and have gone through several coaches since 2008. They have been outscored every season since 2009, further cementing their utter mediocrity. They likely weren’t chosen to move because they had been moved in 1997, which is fairly recent in the NHL.
Arizona Coyotes
The Coyotes are the 2nd-lowest-selling team in the NHL with an annual average of 77.9%. They are based out of Glendale, Arizona, after 2 moves from Winnipeg and Phoenix. The ownership is constantly changing, as it has since 2009 when Jerry Moyes declared bankruptcy in 2009. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2012 and have had losing records since the 14–15 season. They weren’t moved because they have been moved very recently and have been rejected for another move to Temple, Arizona.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The 3rd-lowest-selling team, the Blue Jackets have had an annual sale of 88.3%. They are based out of Columbus, Ohio after being formed in expansion in 2000. They first made the playoffs in 2009, got swept, and didn’t come back until 2014. They were moved to the Metropolitan Division in 2013 and made the playoffs 2 of the 4 following years, but have been eliminated both times in the first round by the Penguins. They are a young and successful team, so they get a pass with the NHL.
New York Islanders
The Islanders are the 4th-lowest-selling team in the NHL with 83.4% of their tickets being sold annually. They were founded in 1972 and caught fire in their 3rd season, going to 14 straight playoffs and winning 4 Stanley cups in a row from 1980–1983. They cooled off in 1988, not winning a single playoff series until 2016. They share a market with the more successful Rangers, and have an older roster than them too. The only reason I can see why they haven’t been relocated yet is because they had one of the 8 NHL-recognized dynasties in the 1980–1983 cup runs.
Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers are the 5th-lowest-selling team with 84% of their tickets being sold annually. They are based out of Miami after being founded in 1993 in an expansion. They have been very inconsistent in everything but attendance, which has been very low. They haven’t won a playoff series since their run for the cup in 1996, and have been through several coaches. If they weren’t first in their division, they played like trash, finishing in the bottom half of their division every time they didn’t make the playoffs (except for the 98–99 season). They are still a young franchise and have had flashes of greatness, but time is running out on this team.
Conference and Team Count
The NHL is divided into 2 Conferences, East and West. In the East, there are 16 teams. The West only has 14. If you notice, 4 of the 5 teams I mentioned above are in the Eastern Conference. If one of those teams were to be relocated, the number of teams would even out at 15 per Conference. With the addition of the Golden Knights, however, the balance is now 16–15 East for a total of 31 teams. This forces the NHL to have another expansion team, in order to return to a balance.
Full List of Attendance from 2009–2017
