Bring Back the Whale and Co.

What happened to the Whale? They moved to Carolina :( What happened to Winnipeg? They moved to Phoenix :( What happened to the Nordiques? They moved to Colorado :( Why am I talking about them? Because I believe they need to be brought back. These three teams were apart of the glory days of the NHL and I believe if you revitalize these fan-bases that it would do nothing but good for the NHL. It makes sense to me, and here's my gameplan

1. Move Phoenix back. It's no secret that the Coyotes have no fan-base. Yes now this year they're doing good, but they still need to go. They still struggle to fill the arena, except when teams with well traveled fan bases like the Red Wings, Maple Leafs, Bruins, and Blackhawks come to town. Hell I remember watching a Coyote game on TV and I saw more Winged Wheel sweaters than Coyote sweaters. The Coyotes, at one point this year, were in the discussion for moving back to Canada. They need to move back to Canada. Canada deserves more teams than what they have now, it's a shame they don't have more. Step one of revitalizing the NHL: Move Phoenix back to Winnipeg.

2. Move a combination of these teams: Tampa Bay, Florida, Nashville, Atlanta, or Los Angeles. All these spots don't deserve hockey in my opinion. The only one I would be okay with staying where it is are the Kings. But the other four have to go. They have no fan-base. I have family in Tennessee, so I know for a fact they cover no hockey. My grandpa told me that the most you can find about hockey in the paper is a score and recap. He said that covered about a paragraph or two. Open the Free Press. We get a little more than a paragraph about the Wings in almost every sport's section. Move these teams to Canada or areas of the country that have good hockey followings. One of those teams can become the Hartford Whalers. How? Carolina used to be the Whale? The answer to that is the city of Hartford owns the logo. The Hurricanes don't own the old logo, the city of Hartford does. One of the best logos in the NHL I might add.

Possible places to move teams: Hartford, Winnipeg, Quebec, Milwaukee (somewhere in Wisconsin,) Seattle (I don't know if the Pacific northwest follows hockey but it's close enough to Vancouver that there may be hockey fans up there) Somewhere cold. Don't move to a big city in Texas, or some southern state. Have to move north. I am 100% sure of this fact: There are cities without NHL teams that would have a better following than those currently in the NHL mentioned before. So NHL, you want to get some fans back, take the initiative.

I know it's not easy, teams have to be sold, or owners have to decide to move the team. It's not a simple task, and it's only a pipe dream. But I believe it's something that has to be done. Maybe the owner of the Panthers will read this... realize no one watches Panther hockey, and move the team to Wisconsin or somewhere in Canada. It's a pipe dream, I know, but I think the NHL would be better off with more Canadian teams, and more teams in the North. Heck if you're feeling ambitious, move the Stars, Sharks, Ducks, and any other warm weather team. Those teams have a solid fan base, so I say you can keep them... as long as they keep the fan base. They lose it, then move em.

Oh and also, the Final step of fixing the NHL: Get rid of Gary Bettman. The man single-handedly almost destroy the National Hockey League, and yet he still has his job. Makes me sick. That's all Im going to say on him, I'll start to rant.

BRING BACK THE WHALE