Then why, oh why are you so against expansion in Canada? I support teams in the US, hell, whatever helps the sport but it shouldn't come at our expense. Kitchener, Winnipeg, Quebec, AMONG OTHERS could likely support a team. Why do you think KC could? Oklahoma? Florida, on a consistent basis? The list goes on.
The safest business option would be another Canadian team, not another gamble in the States. The only place I would support expansion to instead of Canada would be to Las Vegas.
Firstly, there is no "our expense". That asserts a Cdn vs. US mentality, which I simply do not and will not subscribe to. Hockey fans are hockey fans. I think any assertion that Canadian fans are better than US fans or that Canada "deserves" another team is just so much utter bulls**t. The word "deserves" has absolutely no place whatsoever in the discussion.
Secondly, I am not "against" expansion in any particular place. What I am against is expansion in markets that, in my business judgment, would have an unacceptably high degree of risk of failure. That would be bad for the NHL. Failed franchises are bad for any and every professional sports league. I am also against the location of an NHL franchise in a place where it would have a negative impact on another franchise. It must "add value" to the league. It must be capable of supporting a team both immediately and in the long term offer growth possibilities both for the team and the league.
Thirdly, given that the proper litmus test for the location of an NHL franchise is the probability of success and adding value to the league (that is, not being successful at the expense of cannibalizing an existing franchise), I have looked at the pros and cons of various NHL locations proposed. I am probably more familiar with the Jetties' campaign, since they try so hard they have produced a fair bit of reading material on the subject. For other locations, I have done some research here and there. For still others, I have some personal knowledge (i.e. Hamilton, where I have lived for many years). In my business judgment, there are no Canadian locations that could either support a franchise and/or offer the necessary growth opportunities.
See, the thing that bugs me more thqan anything else is that, when one applies a business mentality to this decision (which is the only way to look at it, since it is a business decision), the question of on what side of the border a particular location is situated is completely irrelevant. While Canada has markets which generate revenues ranging from slightly below average (Calgary/Edmonton) to very solid (Ottawa/Vancouver) to awesome (Montreal/Toronto), there is no uniformity to it. NHL hockey does not sell in Canada everywhere, and particularly not just because we are Canadians. That is a fallacy brought about by the type of simplistic assumptions that many people bring to this board, and to this question in particular. NHL hockey is not just "hockey". It is a high-priced commodity that is dependent upon a huge amount of corporate support and places high demands upon its consumers to fork over ever-increasing amounts of cash for tickets, parking, concessions, sweaters, branded merchandise and the like. The corporate support element is an absolute must; the modern day sports franchise does not exist that can even live without it, much less prosper. Our country has only a few areas of strong corporate presences. Each of them has an NHL franchise. Our country only has so many areas where the populace has the wherewithal to fork over the necessary dollars on a consistent and ever-increasing level. That does not mean Canadians don't like hockey. There are several millions of us who do (although far, far from the majority of Canadians, I feel - another misconception based on the assumption that hockey fans myopically make, that everyone loves hockey like they do), but there are not nearly as many that are prepared to hand over their debit cards to support.
Incidentally, IMO for all the reasons I have stated above, Vegas would have no chance either. I would have my doubts about OK or KC as well; I would have to see what type of corporate community exists there. I know there is some, but I definitely dunno.
I hope that clarifies things.