if Islanders and Atlanta Flames swapped franchises, would Islanders have moved?

Bood12

Registered User
Oct 12, 2016
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1,066
both came into the league in 72-73, Atlanta had a better attendance early on, but they never got above mediocrity and their attendance started to weaken, while the Islanders were one of the better teams in the league by their 3rd year and never looked back over the next 12 years or so

If Al Arbour and Bill Torrey build the team that they built on Long Island in Atlanta are they still in Atlanta and are the Islanders going to Calgary? I don't see how the answer is no personally, especially based on the Islanders weak attendance over the years outside of their good years.
 

GrkFlyersFan

Registered User
Jul 30, 2011
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South Jersey
Yes, those 4 Cups are the only reason there's still a team on Long Island(or New York City area). Just like the Devils success couldn't have waited much longer to keep a team in North Jersey.
 

blood gin

Registered User
Jan 17, 2017
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Yes, those 4 Cups are the only reason there's still a team on Long Island(or New York City area). Just like the Devils success couldn't have waited much longer to keep a team in North Jersey.

It's always been overstated. The Devils didn't have to win the Cup in 1995 to save themselves from moving. It was a typical bluff by McMullen that worked. Now granted, suppose things go horrible wrong and the Devils are terrible post 1995...then yea it would've reared its head again and maybe they would've moved. But 1995 was not a back against the wall type scenario
 

Zegras Zebra

Registered User
May 7, 2016
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Winnipeg, Manitoba
If the Atlanta Flames were in New York and the Islanders were in Atlanta, but both cities kept their original owners I think eventually both would have moved, but at different times. My understanding is it was ownership issues that were the reason why the Flames moved to Atlanta, so regardless of fan support or how good the team was the Flames still move to Calgary. If the Islanders were bad throughout their early history, they would probably move sometime in the 1990's, most likely to a southern market which was eventually given an expansion franchise, or to Houston who were actually interested in an NHL franchise at the time.
 

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