You know honestly, since Houston's arena is owned by people that seem disinterested in the NHL, Austin might be the value play for the NHL to get a second team into the state. Kinda like how they slid into Columbus since Cincinnati and Cleveland already were sort of saturated with sports. But IMO an Austin franchise means giving up on the idea of a Houston one simply due to proximity.
The more I think about it the more I'd rather have a team in Austin than Houston. If you look at
this (admittedly ancient) article you see that the largest markets without major pro sports at the time of its writing were:
1. Ontario California (a big suburb of LA)
2. Vegas (which now has three sports teams)
3. *Austin, TX*
4. Virginia (where the Caps and Wizards are going to relocate to soon)
5-10. Cities too small to justify a team.
Austin is the final frontier as far as new cities that can add their first sports franchise and support it well. The NHL should capitalize and try to make a true hockey hotbed in Texas where hockey is #1 instead of Houston where it would be like, idk, #7? Behind their other three franchises and NCAA for sure.