5 NHL cities that lost teams and then got them back later
There are a few cities that lost an NHL team only to get one back a little while later. With news the NHL could replace the current Arizona Coyotes with an expansion franchise, let's take a look back at these examples.
The Arizona Coyotes relocation news went from zero to 100 quickly. The news slowed and seemingly got more complicated over the weekend.
Even if it seems all but determined the franchise will move to Salt Lake City for next season, there are still a lot of moving parts confusing until we get clarification and an official announcement from the NHL themselves.
One of those factors is the rumored agreement the league has with current Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo on an expansion franchise.
If Meruelo is successful in building a new home for an NHL franchise, the NHL would award him an expansion franchise to take the Coyotes' place while the current Coyotes move to Salt Lake City.
A similar agreement was made in the mid-1990s when the Cleveland Browns relocated to become the Baltimore Ravens.
If the plan is successful Arizona would join a handful of teams to regain an NHL franchise after losing them in the league’s modern era.
Let’s take a look at how those previous examples turned out. We’re only looking at examples from the NHL’s post-1967 expansion era, so cities such as Seattle and Pittsburgh aren’t on this list.
Teams that had and lost a WHA franchise and gained an NHL franchise, such as Calgary, aren’t included either. Although Ohio lost the Cleveland Barons but regained the Columbus Blue Jackets we didn’t include them since they are two separate media markets.
We also aren’t counting any potential playoff appearances this year when we list playoff appearances of current franchises since the playoffs haven’t started yet.
The Bay Area
The Bay Area got one of the 1967 NHL expansion teams with the California Golden Seals. We interviewed the producer of a documentary on the team, Mark Greczmiel, so if you are interested in their history take a look at our article.
In short, the Golden Seals legacy is one of bad attendance, crazy promotions and on-ice stunts, and on-ice futility, as well as their infamous white skates.
The franchise would move to Ohio to be the Cleveland Barons in 1976 before folding altogether in 1978. They are the last team of the four major professional sports teams to do so.
The NHL returned to the Bay Area in 1991 with the San Jose Sharks. While the Sharks are currently deep in a rebuild, they have had considerable success in their short history with 21 playoff appearances in 32 seasons.
They won the President’s Trophy in 2008-2009 and made it to the 2016 Stanley Cup final. Although they rarely pay tribute to the Golden Seals, the last round of Reverse Retro jerseys was inspired by their Bay Area predecessors.
Minnesota
Another one of the 1967 expansion teams was to relocate and replace a team in the 1990s wave of NHL expansion in Minnesota.
The Minnesota North Stars owner Norm Green moved the team to Dallas to become the Dallas Stars after not securing a new arena and amid dwindling attendance and financial problems.
The NHL would return to Minnesota with the Minnesota Wild, who were announced as an expansion team in 1998 and began play in 2001.
The one ice product of the Wild has been good, but not good enough. In 23 seasons the Wild have qualified for the playoffs 13 times. They never made it past the conference finals, won a President’s Trophy, or reached the cup final, a feat the North Stars did twice.
The Wild’s greatest success has been its branding and leaning heavily into the “state of hockey” distinction.
The Wild hosted the 2022 NHL Winter Classic, but their greatest victory might have been their success in landing two of the NHL’s greatest post-lockout free agents Ryan Suter and Zach Parise in the 2012 off-season.
Both were from Minnesota and fit the “state of hockey” brand perfectly while leading the team to six straight playoff appearances.
Denver
Denver previously had the Colorado Rockies (the hockey team, not the baseball team) from 1976-1982 when the Kansas City Scouts relocated.
The team would make one playoff appearance in their six seasons but never finished with a record of NHL .500 or better. For all their problems the Rockies had decent attendance for an NHL team at the time.
The Rockies' greatest memory might be having Don Cherry as their head coach for their final three seasons.
Cherry famously said “Come to the fights and watch a Rockies game break out” which the team used as a marketing slogan. The team would move to New Jersey for the 1982-1983 NHL season to become the New Jersey Devils.
The NHL returned to Denver in 1995-1996 when the Quebec Nordiques relocated to become the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avalanche had instant success, winning the Stanley Cup in their first season in Colorado, with Colorado hockey fans reaping the benefits of the team the Nordiques had been building.
Colorado has had the most success out of the “cities the NHL has left and returned’ examples. The Avalanche have won three Stanley Cups, three President's Trophies, and 19 playoff appearances in 28 seasons since moving from Quebec.
The 2001 Stanley Cup final featured the Avalanche going against Denver’s former NHL team the Devils. Both teams used Colorado Rockies colors for versions of the Revers Retro jerseys.
The Colorado Rockies baseball team has made a few jokes about the name similarities between themselves and Colorado’s former NHL team.
Winnipeg
Yes, the city that sort of started this whole thing to begin with. We don’t need to do much explaining here since most hockey fans already know the basics of the story.
Winnipeg once had a hockey team called the Winnipeg Jets who weren’t very successful. As part of the NHL’s push to move into nontraditional hockey markets, the Jets moved to Phoenix after the 1995-1996 NHL season to chase a better financial situation in one of the United States' top-growing media markets.
Plot twist, although the Phoenix Coyotes have had a few bits of one-ice success (a string of playoff appearances in the 2000s-2010s) they’re more known for their financial problems and constant relocation rumors.
The Jets returned to Winnipeg in 2012 with the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers. In their just over a decade, they’ve arguably had more success than the original Jets with six playoff appearances in 13 seasons.
The current Jets have as many conference final appearances as the previous Jets/Coyotes franchise with exactly one apiece.
Winnipeg hockey fans embraced the return of their beloved team, although the team has had some recent troubles selling tickets.
Current owners don’t seem too overly concerned with the dip in ticket sales and contend the franchise hasn’t lost money since relocation, reassuring fans of the team’s stability. Commissioner Gary Bettman recently traveled to Winnipeg in response to the recent troubles.
Although there have been a few notable examples of players not liking playing in Winnipeg (Patrick Laine or Pierre-Luc Dubois anyone?) the team locked up franchise players Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck, long the subject of trade rumors, to seven-year contract extensions last summer.
Atlanta
You knew it was coming. It’s the city so nice the NHL left it twice! The NHL’s first attempt at a hockey team in the American South came in 1972 with the Atlanta Flames. In their eight seasons in Atlanta, the Flames made the playoffs six times.
Attendance had started strong but began to fall. Politicians and players began buying tickets to try to stabilize finances and the fact their arena didn’t have luxury suites made it harder for the team to generate revenue. They lasted until 1980 when they moved to Calgary to become the Calgary Flames.
The NHL tried again with the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999. Like the Flames, the Thrashers shared an arena with their NBA counterparts the Atlanta Hawks. In 11 seasons in Atlanta, the Thrashers only had one playoff appearance and three winning seasons.
We all know the Thrashers moved in the 2012 offseason to become the second version of the Winnipeg Jets.
As to why they moved, Dan Cunning wrote a very interesting article that pinned down a main reason: a dysfunctional ownership group with financial problems that didn’t care about the team in the slightest.
The Thrashers have grown a somewhat cult following since leaving. The local ECHL team the Atlanta Gladiators hosts an extremely popular Thrashers-themed night.
A parody Twitter account was set up to keep the Thrashers brand alive. There’s even a podcast “Live From Blueland” by Atlanta hockey fan Erris Brown covering the NHL.
Could the NHL be coming to Atlanta a third time? Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment Group, featuring former NHL player turned NHL on TNT host Anson Carter, has officially requested an expansion team from the NHL for the Atlanta area.
A new arena is being planned 25 miles away from Atlanta, so this new franchise would follow suit of MLB’s Atlanta Braves and move into the suburbs.
If the NHL grants an expansion franchise to Phoenix, that increases Atlanta’s chances. Maybe the third time will be the charm with an ownership group that does the bare minimum of caring about its team.
feed