Which defunct team would you like to see make a comeback?

[eva unit zero 271]

Technically, none of the teams you listed are truly defunct, and one of them plays only 40 miles away from the "defunct" team listed, although the NHL does not recognize the continuation.

The Whalers are now the Hurricanes.

The Nordiques are now the Avalanche.

The Jets are now the Coyotes.

The Scouts are now the Devils.

The North Stars are now the Stars

And of course, my favorite:

The Seals are now the Sharks.

Yes, I know that last one brought about a "huh?" reaction from most of you. But here's the thing. The Seals were part of the 1967 expansion, and in 1974 the Seals' owner tried to sell the dreadful team, but there were no takers. The NHL eventually took over. They were nearly moved to Denver (and Pittsburgh to Seattle) but both arrangements fell through. In 1975 Melvin Swig, along with minority owners George and Gordon Gund, purchased the team and convinced Swig and the NHL to allow them to move them to their hometown of Cleveland, and the name 'Barons' was chosen because of the city's old AHL team. The Gunds eventually bought Swig out. After two years, in 1978, the Gunds were allowed to purchase the troubled Minnesota North Stars and merge the two teams.

Flash forward twelve years. George and Gordon Gund threaten to move the North Stars to the Bay Area. A compromise is reached where the Gunds will receive an expansion team in the Bay Area and new owners will take over the Stars, with the two teams participating in a dispersal draft.

So the short story:

Gunds part of ownership of Seals. Seals move from Oakland to Cleveland as Barons, then merge with North Stars through Gunds purchasing North Stars. North Stars split into North Stars and Sharks, with Gunds owning Sharks and giving up ownership of North Stars.

If only it were an officially recognized history.

As for the topic? The following is a list of the TRULY defunct teams that have been in the NHL. As the NHL considers the Seals/Barons defunct, I'll include them:

Brooklyn/New York Americans

Montreal Maroons

Montreal Wanderers

Oakland Seals/California Golden Seals/California Seals/Cleveland Barons

Quebec Bulldogs/Hamilton Tigers

Ottawa Senators

Philadelphia Quakers

St. Louis Eagles

Now let's trim that list down to cities based on which cities already have teams.

Cleveland Barons

Quebec Bulldogs

Hamilton Tigers

Well, looking at those three, the winner is...

QUEBEC BULLDOGS!

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I forgot about the Montreal Maroons.

What a great name that is. I'm sure it would still fly well today.

[Hockey13Playa 240]

Technically, none of the teams you listed are truly defunct, and one of them plays only 40 miles away from the "defunct" team listed, although the NHL does not recognize the continuation.

The Whalers are now the Hurricanes.

The Nordiques are now the Avalanche.

The Jets are now the Coyotes.

The Scouts are now the Devils.

The North Stars are now the Stars

And of course, my favorite:

The Seals are now the Sharks.

Yes, I know that last one brought about a "huh?" reaction from most of you. But here's the thing. The Seals were part of the 1967 expansion, and in 1974 the Seals' owner tried to sell the dreadful team, but there were no takers. The NHL eventually took over. They were nearly moved to Denver (and Pittsburgh to Seattle) but both arrangements fell through. In 1975 Melvin Swig, along with minority owners George and Gordon Gund, purchased the team and convinced Swig and the NHL to allow them to move them to their hometown of Cleveland, and the name 'Barons' was chosen because of the city's old AHL team. The Gunds eventually bought Swig out. After two years, in 1978, the Gunds were allowed to purchase the troubled Minnesota North Stars and merge the two teams.

Flash forward twelve years. George and Gordon Gund threaten to move the North Stars to the Bay Area. A compromise is reached where the Gunds will receive an expansion team in the Bay Area and new owners will take over the Stars, with the two teams participating in a dispersal draft.

So the short story:

Gunds part of ownership of Seals. Seals move from Oakland to Cleveland as Barons, then merge with North Stars through Gunds purchasing North Stars. North Stars split into North Stars and Sharks, with Gunds owning Sharks and giving up ownership of North Stars.

If only it were an officially recognized history.

As for the topic? The following is a list of the TRULY defunct teams that have been in the NHL. As the NHL considers the Seals/Barons defunct, I'll include them:

Brooklyn/New York Americans

Montreal Maroons

Montreal Wanderers

Oakland Seals/California Golden Seals/California Seals/Cleveland Barons

Quebec Bulldogs/Hamilton Tigers

Ottawa Senators

Philadelphia Quakers

St. Louis Eagles

Now let's trim that list down to cities based on which cities already have teams.

Cleveland Barons

Quebec Bulldogs

Hamilton Tigers

Well, looking at those three, the winner is...

QUEBEC BULLDOGS!

True, I guess I used the wrong terminology. The correct word I suppose would be non-active. I am just saying like if you could bring one of those teams back that DID exist as a new franchise, not swapping out a current team.

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

The Seattle Metropolitans. The NHL needs a team in the pacific northwest. It's the only region in the US completely devoid of hockey.

I mean, sure you could go to Canada where any franchise would be successful, but those people are already following hockey, buying jerseys, tickets, and pumping money into the league. They should go sell the game in a fresh market and help expand the sport.

that's exactly what gary bettman kept saying....and look where the league is now.

i agree that maybe seattle should have a team, which would give the canucks a healthy rival, but like you said before Canada would support a franchise more than ever cause we're sick of losing them to places that make the team way worse off. aside from the avalanche.

[eva unit zero 271]

that's exactly what gary bettman kept saying....and look where the league is now.

i agree that maybe seattle should have a team, which would give the canucks a healthy rival, but like you said before Canada would support a franchise more than ever cause we're sick of losing them to places that make the team way worse off. aside from the avalanche.

Where would Canada support a team?

Canada's population works like this:

Vancouver has a good, solid number of people.

Calgary and Edmonton are dense population centers.

Winnipeg and Saskatoon have a moderate amount of people, only noticeable due to the fact that their provinces are so completely barren otherwise.

The area from Windsor, north to Sault St. Marie, and east to Toronto and the "Golden Horseshoe" holds a huge percentage of Canada's population and most of Canada's English speaking population.

The area from Montreal to Quebec City is a bit thinner than the triangle west of Toronto, but still holds quite a bit. The area from Toronto to Montreal is similarly dense to the area of Quebec between Montreal and Quebec City.

So where do you propose a new Canadian team? Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa all have teams. Using the most dense areas, Windsor/Sarnia and Hamilton/or anything else in the "Horseshoe" could potentially affect existing teams. This leaves the top five areas for Canada to support a new NHL team as:

Quebec City, Quebec

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Barrie/Midland, Ontario

Fredericton, New Brunswick

Somehow, I don't see those last two or three getting a team anytime soon.

As far as the US, the top five areas are:

Seattle, Washington/Portland, Oregon

Houston, Texas

Kansas City, Missouri

Salt Lake City, Utah

Milwaukee/Madison, Wisconsin

If Phoenix moves, it is to Winnipeg; the BoG has already decided this. Buffalo, Florida, Columbus, Atlanta, the Islanders, Phoenix, and Ottawa are all teams that have recently been reported as having financial issues, being for sale, or both. Even that is still only seven teams. Say all seven are sold in one offseason and approved for relocation. Say Balsille buys the Sabres and he simply moves them across the border to Hamilton. Phoenix is moved back to Winnipeg. This leaves five locations from the ten I listed above. Quebec, Seattle, Houston, all would definitely get teams. Kansas City would definitely get a team before Barrie, so it comes down to Halifax vs Salt Lake City. We've already increased to nine Canadian teams, so that's not nearly as much of a factor. Population would be, though. So it's more than likely SLC gets the team.

So we would see conferences of:

WEST

Central: Colorado, Kansas City, Minnesota, St. Louis, Salt Lake City

Northwest: Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Southwest: Anaheim, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Jose

EAST

North: Chicago, Detroit, Hamilton, Nashville, Toronto

Atlantic: Boston, Montreal, New Jersey, New York, Quebec

Southeast: Carolina, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington

Makes for some pretty interesting divisions also.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Cleveland Barons!

Edited June 5, 2010 by Drake_Marcus

[LeftWinger 5,152]

Hamilton Tigers

[McAwesome 754]

Where would Canada support a team?

Canada's population works like this:

Vancouver has a good, solid number of people.

Calgary and Edmonton are dense population centers.

Winnipeg and Saskatoon have a moderate amount of people, only noticeable due to the fact that their provinces are so completely barren otherwise.

The area from Windsor, north to Sault St. Marie, and east to Toronto and the "Golden Horseshoe" holds a huge percentage of Canada's population and most of Canada's English speaking population.

The area from Montreal to Quebec City is a bit thinner than the triangle west of Toronto, but still holds quite a bit. The area from Toronto to Montreal is similarly dense to the area of Quebec between Montreal and Quebec City.

So where do you propose a new Canadian team? Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa all have teams. Using the most dense areas, Windsor/Sarnia and Hamilton/or anything else in the "Horseshoe" could potentially affect existing teams. This leaves the top five areas for Canada to support a new NHL team as:

Quebec City, Quebec

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Barrie/Midland, Ontario

Fredericton, New Brunswick

Somehow, I don't see those last two or three getting a team anytime soon.

As far as the US, the top five areas are:

Seattle, Washington/Portland, Oregon

Houston, Texas

Kansas City, Missouri

Salt Lake City, Utah

Milwaukee/Madison, Wisconsin

If Phoenix moves, it is to Winnipeg; the BoG has already decided this. Buffalo, Florida, Columbus, Atlanta, the Islanders, Phoenix, and Ottawa are all teams that have recently been reported as having financial issues, being for sale, or both. Even that is still only seven teams. Say all seven are sold in one offseason and approved for relocation. Say Balsille buys the Sabres and he simply moves them across the border to Hamilton. Phoenix is moved back to Winnipeg. This leaves five locations from the ten I listed above. Quebec, Seattle, Houston, all would definitely get teams. Kansas City would definitely get a team before Barrie, so it comes down to Halifax vs Salt Lake City. We've already increased to nine Canadian teams, so that's not nearly as much of a factor. Population would be, though. So it's more than likely SLC gets the team.

So we would see conferences of:

WEST

Central: Colorado, Kansas City, Minnesota, St. Louis, Salt Lake City

Northwest: Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Southwest: Anaheim, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Jose

EAST

North: Chicago, Detroit, Hamilton, Nashville, Toronto

Atlantic: Boston, Montreal, New Jersey, New York, Quebec

Southeast: Carolina, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington

Makes for some pretty interesting divisions also.

I agree with just about everything here, except that Nashville is much worse off than Ottawa, they would be a more likely candidate for relocation than the Sens. Glad someone else thinks a team in SLC would be a good idea, I have a ton of friends in Utah who not only follow the game (bunch of dirty Avs fans) but grew up playing youth hockey and a few have gone on to play on intramural/club teams at BYU, Utah State, and U of U, all of which now have D-II programs. There is a lot more interest in hockey there than most people realize.

Edited June 5, 2010 by McAwesome

[MulesWillFly93 199]

Winnipeg...that seems like the biggest gaping hole to me. No, it's not as big a population center as other areas in Canada, obviously, but the people who are there are actually HOCKEY FANS for a change.

Also, I think it'd be rad if Seattle had a team. It's one of Bettman's "large metropolitan areas" where it would actually make SENSE to put a hockey team.

Edit: Forgot to say, I would like to have the San Diego Gulls back, please. We came this close to getting the Charlotte Checkers this season, but it fell through for some really dumb reason (can't remember what it was, but it seemed like something that could've easily been ironed out). Need...hockey...please!

Edited June 5, 2010 by MulesWillFly93

[Guest mindfly]

Would be nice with the Canadiens-Nordiques matchups again

[TheDetroitRedWings 286]

Would love to see the return of the WHALE!!!

[Electrophile 3,554]

I said the Jets. One, Canada needs more hockey teams and two, it would solve the problem of putting the current Coyotes (and former Jets) in a more suitable market. Kills two birds with one stone.

[Hockey13Playa 240]

http://www.whalerssports.com/

Good website!

[Guest Lidstromboli]

What are you doing? You promised me breakfast.

Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ's sake. It's only the second period and I'm up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

[Seraph 240]

Eva must be a math major or something. Laying it all out there like a proof. Can't argue much with that.

[rick zombo 3,739]

Quebec would be the shortest drive for me to see the Wings play.

[TX Wing 26]

the whalers, still one of the best major league sports logos of all time.

as far as adding teams in america though portland and houston are obviously on the top of that list.

[Hockey13Playa 240]

Yeah I really want to see Hartford make a comeback, the link I previously posted, they are trying to push to get a team back there. That would be so awesome if they did! As long as they don't move a current team there, add em' as a new expansion team, along with a team in seattle or Quebec!