Barrie Colts helping crowd give the Belleville Bulls a last standing ovation in their final moment. Relocation sucks. I wouldn't wish it on any fans

Imagine 50 years from now, if hockey keeps growing in the States, and there are hundreds of NHL capable arenas. Not all of them 20,000-seaters, but capable. I think the alternative then could be a relegation system, something like Italy's Serie A, B, C1 and C2. Something like multiple AHLs, where grown men play, not development leagues like the CHL.

Your hockey club is always tied to your city, and is often a historic part of it. But if financially lean years happen, instead of moving the franchise and losing that part of the city, the club's spending would presumably take a hit, its play would deteriorate and it would probably be relegated. In the present, this could obviously hurt a team like Phoenix or Florida. However, if you can retain enough talent for a year, you'd most likely excel in the lower league given your lineup, win enough games to be top-5 and be promoted to the higher tier the next year. Also as an added bonus, this system would eliminate tanking for the lottery.

To continue the Italian soccer analogy, it's hard to think a big name like AC Milan, Inter or Juventus would ever be relegated, but it can happen and it has. Legendary club Napoli, who Maradona called home at the peak of his career in the 80s when they won multiple titles, spent years in the lower leagues during the late 90s-early 2000s, before returning to the Serie A and becoming a threat again. The fans were there all along for the good times and bad. I imagine the Habs wouldn't lose many supporters if they had one bad year and ended up in the B league. Of course, this may not happen everywhere in Canada or the States. But imagine if the local hockey team with a 12,000-seat arena somewhere in Pennsylvania or Nova Scotia made it to the big leagues? You could do it in 3 seasons. Again, this could only happen decades in the future if hockey and hockey clubs became more intrensic in more cities. And of course, unlike Europe, there are more than one main sport at the major level.

Having said all that, as a Sens fan, this is a double-edged sword. Melnyk would probably love to operate on a $10M budget. But I'd take a stint in the 'minors' over the Ottawa Senators moving away, like they almost did in 2003.

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