In response to Bookboy007's comment:

"Interesting.  Moving the Coyotes to Portland could make sense as well.  The Coyotes AHL affiliate is in Portland, so I would imagine that they have a bit of a fanbase there already." -Drewski

First things first - the Pirates are in Portland, Maine, not Portland, Oregon.  Portland, Maine doesn't have a deep pocketed investor.  Portland, Oregon does, and they also have the Winterhawks - a solid WHL junior franchise that draws in the top 3 for attendance (over 6K) for that league.  Neiderreiter and Johansen are recent grads, and Ty Rattie, Tyler Wotherspoon, and Popeye's boy all play there - they're eating the league right now at 41-7-1-2.  So in principal, yes, there should be some kind of market there.

But then you look at Phoenix and the fact that the Roadrunners were around in one league or another for the better part of 40 years.  When the IHL was a trying to be a real league, Phoenix had about average attendance for the IHL even though the team was always lousy (I believe they had a minor league agreement with the Kings...). 

My mistake on the Portland mix up, thanks for catching.  I was just brainstorming and threw out Portland (Oregon) as a place that may be able to support an NHL team.

I am actually surprised that Phoenix cannot be more profitable.  I understand that its not a hockey climate (literally); hoewver, there is a ton of money in Scottsdale and Tempe is a college town.  I am surprised that the market is as bad as it is.  

In response to SanDogBrewin's comment:

In response to Not-A-Shot's comment:

If they move back to Quebec, they need to whatever money is requested for the Nordiques name.  The idea of a team playing in Quebec City and not being the Nordiques is absurd.  Just as it was dumb to for the team in Minnesota to be the Wild instead of the North Stars.

Let them be the Nordiques and let them have their Nordiques numbers listed.  Retired numbers don't belong to corporation papers.  They belong to fans.

As for Phoenix, I guess we can see just how important that corner of the US is to the NHL marketing machine.

NAS, the Avs chose to unretire all of the old Nords numbers. One would hope that the Avs wouldn't put up a fuss if a new Nords wanted to re-retire Tardif's, Goulet's, Stastny's and Tremblay's numbers.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2013/01/31/bet-on-coyotes-moving-to-seattle-as-sale-to-jamison-falls-apart/

Forbes magazine is betting Phoenix heads north to Seattle.

In response to SanDogBrewin's comment:

In response to Drewski5's comment:

In response to SanDogBrewin's comment:

Seattle could work.

Washington state has 3 teams in the WHL so I agree.

From a management standpoint if Hansen and Don Levin can come to a business agreement in regards to the rink and a secondary tenant in the form of an NHL team, with Levin spearheading that club, I think a Seattle team would start out on very good footing.

Agreed on Phoenix to Seattle...I think the league is itching to get that move done before GTA and QC get too far along. I don't see Seattle stepping up as a pure expansion, and a move from Phoenix to GTA *or* QC would be a PR nightmare. The best way out of all this mess for the league is Phoenix relocation to Seattle while the iron is hot, and then a 2-team expansion in both GTA and QC to keep the peace.

That's a lot of clocks to chime at the same time....this could be awesome or an absolute train wreck to see unfold.

I don't personally like this idea at all, but there's one oher city that needs to be included in potential relocation talks.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/01/state-aid-va-beach-arena-gets-committees-ok

The Virginia state Finance Committee approved the funding scheme 15-4, and the bill would provide Virginia Beach with the funds to build an 18,500 seat arena

Virginia state Finance Committee approved the funding scheme 15-4, and the bill would provide Virginia Beach with the funds to build an 18,500 seat arena

[/QUOTE]

Ugh. Lived there for several years. Absolutely no way that population would support hockey. The few who do watch are fine with the Caps and Canes or whatever team they grew up watching before being military or amusement industry transplants. I know it's not a scientific analysis of the area, but sometimes things don't pass the most basic of litmus tests. This is one of those times.

In response to asmaha's comment:

In response to 50belowzero's comment: