NHL Expansion into Southern Cities As the population in the Southern states continues to increase, the NHL is moving teams to large Southern cities. In an effort to increase profits and popularity, the NHL increased the number of teams in the league and moved into Southern cities that had never had hockey teams before. The problem is that hockey isn't as popular in the South as it is in the North. This expansion into the South led to huge monetary losses for Southern teams and very low attendance numbers. The NHL should not have expanded the league into Southern cities and should have kept the NHL teams further north. There are a few reasons why the NHL began expanding into Southern markets. But one of the biggest events that opened the door to Southern expansion was the trade of Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings. In 1988, the best player in the NHL brought attention to hockey in the South. Gretzky's name and popularity brought people to the arena and allowed other NHL teams to expand into the South. After the Kings acquired Gretzky, the first new team to expand to the South was the San Jose Sharks in 1991. The Sharks were followed by the Tampa Bay Lightning who joined the league in 1992. In 1993, Florida was given the second team in two years, the Florida Panthers. California was also awarded the third team, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. In 1998, Nashville received an NHL team called the Predators. Subsequently, in 1999, the Atlanta Thrashers were born. All of these teams were expansion teams, meaning they were simply started and not moved anywhere else. These teams were placed in these Southern markets because the NHL was looking to take advantage of the growing cities. In 1970, two years... amidst... paper salaries and lower ticket prices, the NHL should focus on where it is wanted and loved, the Northern United States and Canada. Hockey means a lot to Canadians and children. It makes no sense for the NHL to focus on the South and not help teams in Canada or bring more teams to Canada. When the NHL understands where hockey matters and where people want hockey, it will be able to be profitable and increase fan support. There's no point in trying to impose hockey on the southern United States because it's not wanted there. Time and money should be spent helping loyal fans go to games in the North, rather than trying to attract new fans in the South. The Southern hockey experiment should end now, before loyal fans tire of hockey professional. If the NHL doesn't do something soon, it may be too late and NHL fans will be lost forever.