Oh, and that's not to say that that's a "Definitive list" of where the NHL should/shouldn't go.
Because revenue comes from MORE than just fans: TV dollars, sponsorship dollars, etc.
Like, Las Vegas is near the bottom for the NHL markets at $323 because of their relatively low population and having the NFL. But Vegas as a city just has a TON of advertising dollars to capitalize on.
You also have to factor in "secondary markets" for TV, like Houston, Austin or San Antonio would get the others as secondary markets for TV.
The fact is, the more of the same people you have providing that dollars, the more susceptible you are to the ebbs and flows of the team or the economy being bad. So you'd probably rather be in the second tier than Louisville, because even though it's cheaper per person for their 1.4 million, you're not getting the same demand for 18,000 seats as a place with 2.8 million people.