Where would you put an Ontario expansion team?

[renojedi]

I like to expand the default NHL set up and came across a Gretzky "Ask me Anything" from a couple of weeks ago.

I am going to use his picks: Kansas City and Houston followed by Quebec five years or so later. For the fourth team, another Canadian team seems fair if I am going to have Quebec anyway (whether or not QC is realistic is a debate for another day).

Ontario has the population centers but Hamilton and parts of the GTA have been tried and are always shot down because they are less than 50 miles to either Toronto or Buffalo. I thought about Kitchener/Waterloo or London since they are more than 50 miles away but they are a bit small for NHL.

Of course, maybe Hamilton or even a GTA location that doesn't displace an OHL team works better...if a billionaire sweetens the pot enough for MLSE/Sabres (sort of like the Washington Nationals did for the Baltimore Orioles in baseball).

So, where would you "realistically" put a team in Ontario?


BTW, here was Gretzky's full response:

@Just_in_Time With Vegas and now Seattle in the fold, which city deserves the next NHL expansion team and why?

I haven’t thought about it a whole lot, but just looking at it from a practical point of view, the three that I would say: I think Kansas City because the Chiefs and Royals do so well. I think the city of Houston because the Stars have helped grow hockey down there. The third one that’s most obvious is Quebec City. There is nothing like hockey in the province of Quebec. I have no knowledge of this, but those are the ones I’m interested in.

[igor7111]

Originally Posted by renojedi

I like to expand the default NHL set up and came across a Gretzky "Ask me Anything" from a couple of weeks ago.

I am going to use his picks: Kansas City and Houston followed by Quebec five years or so later. For the fourth team, another Canadian team seems fair if I am going to have Quebec anyway (whether or not QC is realistic is a debate for another day).

Ontario has the population centers but Hamilton and parts of the GTA have been tried and are always shot down because they are less than 50 miles to either Toronto or Buffalo. I thought about Kitchener/Waterloo or London since they are more than 50 miles away but they are a bit small for NHL.

Of course, maybe Hamilton or even a GTA location that doesn't displace an OHL team works better...if a billionaire sweetens the pot enough for MLSE/Sabres (sort of like the Washington Nationals did for the Baltimore Orioles in baseball).

So, where would you "realistically" put a team in Ontario?


BTW, here was Gretzky's full response:

@Just_in_Time With Vegas and now Seattle in the fold, which city deserves the next NHL expansion team and why?

I haven’t thought about it a whole lot, but just looking at it from a practical point of view, the three that I would say: I think Kansas City because the Chiefs and Royals do so well. I think the city of Houston because the Stars have helped grow hockey down there. The third one that’s most obvious is Quebec City. There is nothing like hockey in the province of Quebec. I have no knowledge of this, but those are the ones I’m interested in.

It's a crime that Quebec City doesn't have a team.