With the Panthers future secured for at least the next 3-4 seasons, the Winnipeg Jets are probably the most "bubble" team in the league. It's them and Columbus at this point.
So much has to go right for such a tiny market to remain viable, and even if they do, there's voices in the league that are going to state the obvious: however much money you make in tiny Winnipeg or Columbus,, there's more money to be made for the league in one if the big US cities.
The thing is - you have no idea which are the most or least profitable franchise (and to be clear - neither do I).
Determining profitability depends not only on revenue coming in, but expenses coming out (forgive me if this is too simple, but I feel like we need to go there). Teams not only receive HRR (hockey related revenue) but other revenue as well. Just as one example, the Winnpeg Jets receive about $5 mil per year from VLTs located nearby the arena. That money helps to pay down the mortgage on the CLC Centre - and is not part of HRR.
Expenses can be an even greater mystery. The biggest one is often debt servicing - and the amount of debt any one franchise has is not at all public.
It takes extreme circumstances for the league to force a sale - which is why Arizona stayed for so very, very long. No owner wants to set the precedent that the league can easily force a sale. So that's why, even if theoretically moving the Jets to Houston might be more profitable (and I'm not sure it would) the league would never force a move. Because once you set that precedent then any franchise can be forced to sell.
Generally speaking, now that Arizona has FINALLY been moved - it's hard to say what might be the most "on the bubble" franchise. If you want to go by attendance the bottom three are San Jose, Buffalo, and Winnipeg. I don't think any of them are moving though. If you want to go by revenue (according to Forbes) the lowest are Ottawa, Columbus and Florida. I don't think any of them are moving either. (this excludes Arizona for obvious reasons - they were at the bottom of both lists).
Those of us at BOH were somewhat spoiled by the Arizona story - it was so obvious, and so public, for so very, very long. The next relocation though is more likely to be like Atlanta - nobody saw it coming until a few months before it happened, because it was all behind the scene machinations.