The city that probably deservers a team again: Phoenix, AZ
In all fairness, it would be difficult to do a list like this one without including Phoenix, AZ, among the most realistic and deserving candidates to be considered in this round of NHL expansion talks with the league.
It's easy to argue that it wasn't really Phoenix's fault why the Coyotes left Arizona a couple of years ago for Salt Lake City and to eventually become the Utah Mammoth. The Coyotes weren't ever able to build an accessible arena where the majority of the population around downtown Phoenix and the surrounding cities and suburbs in the metropolitan area would be able to easily and conveniently attend games on a regular basis.
If you could find an owner who would be willing to invest and work with the city to build out the necessary infrastructure to support the construction of an accessible arena for an expansion hockey team, that could give Phoenix a much higher floor for success this time around with the NHL.
Phoenix is the third-largest TV market in the country, only ranking behind Houston, that doesn't have an NHL team. It is also the second-largest TV market in the United States that's in a state without an NHL team, alongside Atlanta, GA.
Phoenix is already the fifth-largest city by population in the United States. And the broader Phoenix metro area is projected to grow by over 10 percent by the 2030 census.
There's also something to consider that the NHL has had a lot of success with franchises winning on a leaguewide scale in the South in the last couple of decades. The Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and Tampa Bay Lightning have all won at least one Stanley Cup in the last 20 years. No other region of North America can realistically match the NHL success that has been found in the South lately.
A combination of factors, including the rapidly expanding Phoenix metro, the size of the TV market, and the broader success of teams in the Southern United States in the past few decades makes Phoenix a potentially appealing option in this round of the expansion talks in the NHL.
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