Should the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets comes back in the NHL?

Question

Everybody knows that Quebec City is one hell of a hockey town with great hockey fans as well as Winnipeg, I mean this is a Canadian sport we should have more teams in Canada and create natural rivals such as Montreal/Quebec City feud, it was awesome! With salary caps, I think that a small market should be able to survive easely in the NHL, what do you think?

Answer 1

Unfortunately being great hockey towns are not enough. Winnipeg and QC should have teams, but their problem was with telelvision access. HNIC and Radio-Canada were dominated by Leafs and Habs respectively. Winnipeg was known as the house of white, mostly because they could not sell great amounts areana advertisements. It was always interesting to see their stadiums being so much less cluttered than others, but that is because they could not get enough television viewers to justify a company buying the space. Not only that, but the city markets would be less covered too, since the teams were so reliant on the gate revenues. If the CBC/RC would follow their own rules, constitution, guidelines and show all representations of all communities in Canada, showing an equal amount of all teams, then QC, 'Peg, even Halifax, Hamilton would be able to have team. But this is not likely to happen. Hello, KC, Vegas, and Houston.

Answer 2

I do believe that we should have two more Canadian teams rejoin the NHL ranks. The whole point of the CBA was to make a more level playing field due to the fact that excessive amounts of money would not be a necessity when it came to competing. The Edmonton Oilers proved this by going to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Now, these smaller market Canadian teams should be able to compete. All we need is a couple of investors interested in keeping hockey in Canada, and bringing it back to the best fans in the world. The Oilers are going to be able to spend an amount of money close to the salary cap this year, even though they didn't in the first season under the cap. Winnipeg and Quebec should be able to build teams, even successful teams if given the opportunity.

Answer 3

first and foremost there shouldnt be any more new teams. moving the coyotes back to winnipeg would be great but i would hate to see the pens leave pittsburgh. move the panthers to quebec city. that would put 8 teams in canada. i dont think there needs to be a team in saskatchewan or any more teams east of quebec city. the nhl and nhlpashould make a 5 year plan and commit to modest financial growth while solidifying talent and fan base. players and owners have to understand this is not a sport that will ever make huge amounts of money. be happy with what you are getting and dont get greedy. strengthening the talent in the nhl will have a trickle-down affect for the minor leagues and those teams can fill in the fan base for hockey. outside of the two cities above and places that already have teams, i cannot think of another city that should have an nhl team. portland would not support an nhl team, seattle doesnt want one, anchorage is too far (although i do think a team could work there), and san diego barely supports the minor league team they already have. thats just the west coast. can you think of another city that would support a team that doesnt already have one? maybe kansas city or cleavland. prove steady financial growth over five or ten years first. strengthen the talent base also. lets give the league a chance to fill in to what it already is. then think about moving teams or adding one or two more.

Answer 4

I'm American and as much as I care about my country, I also feel that the major Canadian cities should have an NHL team rather than places like Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, Carolina, and Columbus. I think Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Hamilton, Quebec City, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and even St. John's deserve membership. The league is too over-expanded anyway and they need to resolve the issue of the exchange rate. If Europe can unite and come up with the "euro", the NHL should be able to deal with the difference in dollar value.

Answer 5

I would love for that to happen but for someone like Joe Sakic to be the only player still on the Colorado Avalanche team as the only original Quebec Nordique, what would that do for him? To be on a team that gets sold to the States only to have Quebec franchise another NHL team would suck! Not personally but I would say leave things as they are.
I am a huge Colorado fan but was never a fan of the Nordiques so wether or not there ever will be another Canadian team, I don't care. I still love the Canadian players! Joe Sakic for one and my beloved Patrick Roy! It was because of Patrick Roy's trade from Montreal to Colorado that I became a fan of the Avalanche. I have no regrets!

Answer 6

I think that with a little bit of help, these teams could make it finacially. In spite of the salary cap, you still have the reduced canadian dollar, the NHL would need to assist a little bit with a subsidy to cover the cost differential.

At the same time, I think that they would need to be relocated franchises. There just isn't that much hockey talent to support two more teams. It's possible to have two franchises relocate, likely the penguins and maybe the kings. This would keep the talent pool stable yet allow hockey citites like Winipeg and QC to get teams again.

Answer 7

I'm not sure either team will come back per se, but I think that both cities should be strongly considered whenever the next team moves.

With how little money the NHL is making (horrible television contract), it is going to be quite a while before there is any expansion - and again, considering how little a following it has in the major markets, moving teams to even smaller markets is probably not in the cards until there is a major resurgence in the game's popularity.

Answer 8

Good idea but if would have to be new teams since both formentioned teams are well established now as different teams. The only problem is that you don't want to have to many teams. I mean you really can't get rid of any teams. I mean then again, Canadien teams in profesional sports don't do as well as other markets. Look at the Montreal Expos. I know hockey is a bigger sport than baseball, but it's the same reason why they left. I don't think it would ever happen, but not a bad idea.

Answer 9

I would love to see Canada get back the teams.
I also would like to state that with the salary cap I think you could see more teams and then there would be better hockey.
It would force the expansion teams to step up or shut down.
It would also make it better for the fans by driving down ticket prices and making for more games to be enjoyed.
Not to mention that it would make it easier for kids to get in and play. Oh and by the way I am a American and we Americans do love hockey so dont start on the holier than thou attitudes about how Canada is a much better place for the game.
It was not invented there or here either.

Answer 10

It would be great but it's the fans fault in the first place that those teams had to leave. just like anything people take for granted what they have and then one day it's gone and their wondering what happened to their beloved team well what happened was they decided to watch the game on TV instead of going and supporting them by buying tickets and merchandise that's why the big cities still have their teams support.. there is a better chance of another team in Ontario than Quebec or Manitoba..