No probs!
What you guys reckon when the league expanded to add the teams like Columbus and Atlanta? I was against it initally thought it had already too many teams.
I never thought they had too many teams, in fact if anything they need more. There is without a doubt 24 forwards, 12 D-Men, 2 starting goalies and 2 backups capable of playing in the NHL right now who aren't. They're either playing in Sweden/Russia/Finland (of which 90% would come to the NHL) or playing in the AHL, Canadian Juniors or still in College (of which almost all would take a spot in the NHL). That's two expansion teams right there.
The main reason the league expanded so many times in the 90s was due to the fall of the Iron Curtain which meant far easier movement for players from Russia, The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Finland, which meant a huge number of instantly NHL-ready players with no teams yet to go to.
Every team in the league sold at least 80% of its seats last season. Every team!
Lastly, why pick on the "newer" markets? Boston - an original six team - was 5th last in attendance. Washington (even with Ovechkin and a division title) and Los Angeles were all in the bottom 10 and they've been around since 1967. The Islanders (also around since 1967) were dead last! If you complain that these teams were awful and didn't deserve good attendance (a very tenuous case in the case of Washington and Boston who both made the playoffs, might I add), then neither did most of the newer markets in the bottom 10: Phoenix (second last, 8 points out of the playoffs), Columbus (3rd last, 11 points out of the playoffs), Florida (6th last, 9 points out), Atlanta (9th last, 18 points out). Also, a perennial playoff contender at a brand new arena with a massive 25th anniversary promotion going on last season (New Jersey) finished 23rd. 8th last! Nashville was 4th last but remember that team was gutted in the off-season (losing Hartnell, Kariya, Forsberg, Timonen and Voukoun from last season's roster) and had plenty of fans thinking "Why bother. the team is moving anyway."
