[air_canada]

I don't know much about either economics or pro hockey; but it seems to me that the NHL will undergo major changes over the next few years. With the exception of the NFL, every pro league (as in MLB, NBA, and NHL) have more than one struggling franchise. The thing is, expansion was a little too ambitious. Once there was a fair number of teams well settled in major cities, the NHL began expanding to less profitable areas, such as Nashville, Phoenix, or Carolina. To my knowledge, none of these franchises are very successful; nor will they ever be, unless NFL football crashes and burns. The NHL might eliminate some teams or move them to more profitable areas, not many of which remain. What would be happening is that by reducing the number of teams, we would be reconcentrating player talent to a smaller pool. Not only would that leave a bunch of less talented players out of the league, it would draw much better crowds. But then, as the NHL would see this, they'd probably go for the cash and expand again, thus restarting the whole scenario.