5 cities the NHL must consider relocating the Arizona Coyotes to in the near future

Sacramento

With the Oakland A’s heading to Sacramento for a few seasons, it seems as though the state capital of California is on the rise in the sports world. While not in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area, Sacramento is still close enough to adopt the old Seals nickname. Of course, that team also used the name Golden Seals, but that probably wouldn’t sit well with the Vegas Golden Knights, so we’re going with Seals as a nickname here. 

This would give the team formerly known as the Coyotes in this scenario a geographic rival with the nearby San Jose Sharks, which would also balance out the number of teams in the state of California - the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings being the other two. 

One drawback in bringing back the Seals (or if they went by another name, that would work, too) would once again involve potential realignment. For a legitimate rivalry with the Sharks, they must move to the Pacific Division. But geographically, it would make sense to put the Golden Knights into the Central, where they could have intense rivalries with the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars, among others. 

Overall, the move would mostly make geographic sense, and with the city of Sacramento trending north in the sports world, this would be a sound, under-the-radar move.