NHL Board of Governors to approve opening of expansion process; Atlanta and Houston believed to be leading candidates

[Viqsi]

What they could do is get rid of conferences and have 4 divisions, seat teams 1-4 for the Semifinals(1 plays 4, 2 plays 3). This way you hopefully get the best possible finals

If the schedule is such that there's more games outside of the Eastern Time Zone, the semifinals seeding isn't going to matter. The chief issue was having a majority or near-majority of regular season games starting late and ending close to or after midnight. Particularly midweek.

 

[Snauen]

Travel would kill any thoughts of a Europe team unless there is an entire division.

Yep, an European division would be nice

 

[Tawnos]

what does 2023 look like?

I'm not exactly sure of the purpose of that person's post, but this was last year, sorted by attendance change. Not a whole lot of fluctuation.

Team	23-24	22-23	Change
Florida Panthers	18,640	16,682	1,958
Chicago Blackhawks	18,836	17,167	1,669
New Jersey Devils	16,280	15,207	1,073
Ottawa Senators	17,822	16,757	1,065
Los Angeles Kings	17,940	17,067	873
Philadelphia Flyers	18,414	17,635	779
Anaheim Ducks	15,687	14,953	734
Edmonton Oilers	18,267	17,838	429
Buffalo Sabres	15,981	15,567	414
Detroit Red Wings	19,116	18,819	297
Carolina Hurricanes	18,798	18,590	208
Minnesota Wild	18,643	18,454	189
Dallas Stars	18,532	18,371	161
Columbus Blue Jackets	17,009	16,860	149
New York Rangers	17,983	17,859	124
Vancouver Canucks	18,824	18,702	122
Vegas Golden Knights	18,137	18,024	113
Colorado Avalanche	18,102	17,991	111
Pittsburgh Penguins	17,909	17,816	93
Toronto Maple Leafs	18,789	18,753	36
Montreal Canadiens	21,099	21,078	21
St. Louis Blues	18,084	18,075	9
Boston Bruins	17,850	17,850	0
Seattle Kraken	17,151	17,151	0
Tampa Bay Lightning	19,092	19,092	0
Nashville Predators	17,306	17,344	-38
New York Islanders	16,540	16,912	-372
San Jose Sharks	13,559	13,988	-429
Calgary Flames	17,490	17,956	-466
Winnipeg Jets	13,447	14,045	-598
Washington Capitals	17,841	18,573	-742

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5414095/2024/04/18/nhl-attendance-2024-riser-fallers/

 

[triggrman]

I'm not exactly sure of the purpose of that person's post, but this was last year, sorted by attendance change. Not a whole lot of fluctuation.

Team	23-24	22-23	Change
Florida Panthers	18,640	16,682	1,958
Chicago Blackhawks	18,836	17,167	1,669
New Jersey Devils	16,280	15,207	1,073
Ottawa Senators	17,822	16,757	1,065
Los Angeles Kings	17,940	17,067	873
Philadelphia Flyers	18,414	17,635	779
Anaheim Ducks	15,687	14,953	734
Edmonton Oilers	18,267	17,838	429
Buffalo Sabres	15,981	15,567	414
Detroit Red Wings	19,116	18,819	297
Carolina Hurricanes	18,798	18,590	208
Minnesota Wild	18,643	18,454	189
Dallas Stars	18,532	18,371	161
Columbus Blue Jackets	17,009	16,860	149
New York Rangers	17,983	17,859	124
Vancouver Canucks	18,824	18,702	122
Vegas Golden Knights	18,137	18,024	113
Colorado Avalanche	18,102	17,991	111
Pittsburgh Penguins	17,909	17,816	93
Toronto Maple Leafs	18,789	18,753	36
Montreal Canadiens	21,099	21,078	21
St. Louis Blues	18,084	18,075	9
Boston Bruins	17,850	17,850	0
Seattle Kraken	17,151	17,151	0
Tampa Bay Lightning	19,092	19,092	0
Nashville Predators	17,306	17,344	-38
New York Islanders	16,540	16,912	-372
San Jose Sharks	13,559	13,988	-429
Calgary Flames	17,490	17,956	-466
Winnipeg Jets	13,447	14,045	-598
Washington Capitals	17,841	18,573	-742

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5414095/2024/04/18/nhl-attendance-2024-riser-fallers/

I mean that looks like a pretty healthy league to me. Take Nashville. While it did fall by 38, that's still well over the 17113 capacity for hockey so they're still selling 101%

 

[dj4aces]

I'm not exactly sure of the purpose of that person's post, but this was last year, sorted by attendance change. Not a whole lot of fluctuation.

Team	23-24	22-23	Change
Florida Panthers	18,640	16,682	1,958
Chicago Blackhawks	18,836	17,167	1,669
New Jersey Devils	16,280	15,207	1,073
Ottawa Senators	17,822	16,757	1,065
Los Angeles Kings	17,940	17,067	873
Philadelphia Flyers	18,414	17,635	779
Anaheim Ducks	15,687	14,953	734
Edmonton Oilers	18,267	17,838	429
Buffalo Sabres	15,981	15,567	414
Detroit Red Wings	19,116	18,819	297
Carolina Hurricanes	18,798	18,590	208
Minnesota Wild	18,643	18,454	189
Dallas Stars	18,532	18,371	161
Columbus Blue Jackets	17,009	16,860	149
New York Rangers	17,983	17,859	124
Vancouver Canucks	18,824	18,702	122
Vegas Golden Knights	18,137	18,024	113
Colorado Avalanche	18,102	17,991	111
Pittsburgh Penguins	17,909	17,816	93
Toronto Maple Leafs	18,789	18,753	36
Montreal Canadiens	21,099	21,078	21
St. Louis Blues	18,084	18,075	9
Boston Bruins	17,850	17,850	0
Seattle Kraken	17,151	17,151	0
Tampa Bay Lightning	19,092	19,092	0
Nashville Predators	17,306	17,344	-38
New York Islanders	16,540	16,912	-372
San Jose Sharks	13,559	13,988	-429
Calgary Flames	17,490	17,956	-466
Winnipeg Jets	13,447	14,045	-598
Washington Capitals	17,841	18,573	-742

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5414095/2024/04/18/nhl-attendance-2024-riser-fallers/

While not necessary, it might be helpful to denote which teams are at or above seating capacity. For example, I know that Dallas' 2023-2024 average attendance figure is also the seating capacity in their barn.

 

[Curufinwe]

Absurd. If the NHL should expand anywhere its Europe, 31% of the players are European and the populated cities, hockey-knowledge and interest is here too. The NHL is run by a bunch of old jerks

Absurd is thinking regular travel from LA to Prague is practical.

 

[HockeyScotty]

Yep, an European division would be nice

Teams 37-44 for the first division; then expand with 8 more for a full European Conference!

 

[Rob Brown]

Absurd is thinking regular travel from LA to Prague is practical.

It wouldn't be regular, if anything it'd be one long Europe trip once per season kind of thing.

 

[SEALBound]

I'm not exactly sure of the purpose of that person's post, but this was last year, sorted by attendance change. Not a whole lot of fluctuation.

Team	23-24	22-23	Change
Florida Panthers	18,640	16,682	1,958
Chicago Blackhawks	18,836	17,167	1,669
New Jersey Devils	16,280	15,207	1,073
Ottawa Senators	17,822	16,757	1,065
Los Angeles Kings	17,940	17,067	873
Philadelphia Flyers	18,414	17,635	779
Anaheim Ducks	15,687	14,953	734
Edmonton Oilers	18,267	17,838	429
Buffalo Sabres	15,981	15,567	414
Detroit Red Wings	19,116	18,819	297
Carolina Hurricanes	18,798	18,590	208
Minnesota Wild	18,643	18,454	189
Dallas Stars	18,532	18,371	161
Columbus Blue Jackets	17,009	16,860	149
New York Rangers	17,983	17,859	124
Vancouver Canucks	18,824	18,702	122
Vegas Golden Knights	18,137	18,024	113
Colorado Avalanche	18,102	17,991	111
Pittsburgh Penguins	17,909	17,816	93
Toronto Maple Leafs	18,789	18,753	36
Montreal Canadiens	21,099	21,078	21
St. Louis Blues	18,084	18,075	9
Boston Bruins	17,850	17,850	0
Seattle Kraken	17,151	17,151	0
Tampa Bay Lightning	19,092	19,092	0
Nashville Predators	17,306	17,344	-38
New York Islanders	16,540	16,912	-372
San Jose Sharks	13,559	13,988	-429
Calgary Flames	17,490	17,956	-466
Winnipeg Jets	13,447	14,045	-598
Washington Capitals	17,841	18,573	-742

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5414095/2024/04/18/nhl-attendance-2024-riser-fallers/

I think A LOT of these will change.

I expect the Sharks to get a boost with Celebrini and the Utah HC to have a strong inaugural season.

I think the Caps will be down-ish until Ovie gets close to the record. Then it will be tough to find tickets.

I think the Kings, Sens, and CBJs attendances will take a dump as well.

 

[Golden_Jet]

It wouldn't be regular, if anything it'd be one long Europe trip once per season kind of thing.

Ya it would just be one trip, but it would be brutal road trips for the Euro teams.

~ 4 x 10 day road trips
~ 5 x 8 day road trips

 

[Rob Brown]

Ya it would just be one trip, but it would be brutal road trips for the Euro teams.

~ 4 x 10 day road trips
~ 5 x 8 day road trips

Yeah fair.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

It wouldn't be regular, if anything it'd be one long Europe trip once per season kind of thing.

I'm not saying's impossible - just incredibly impractical. The European team would have to do something like 3-4 roadtrips that would each be 10-14 games long so they'd be in the US for a month at time. I assume the US teams would play all the road games in one trip.

What would you do for the play-off's?

Overall - it seems unlikely that the juice would be worth the squeeze.

 

[Derailed75]

Great, I love watching my favorite team have less of a chance to win the Cup

I guess you could stretch it out and blame the size if the league when in reality there are some teams so completely mismanaged they would win the cup in a 1 team league.

A good management team will get you in contention where you have close to the same odds as the other 16 well run teams.