A look at potential relocation candidates for NHL in Houston

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With the NHL crowning Seattle as the sole candidate to become the league's 32nd team, local hockey fans bemoan the lost opportunity for expansion in Houston.

However, there are still several avenues that could bring hockey to the Bayou City.

With expansion of more than one team unlikely in the near future, all of the routes leading to Houston come in the form of relocation.

Four teams top the list as potential suitors to be Houston's NHL team: The Calgary Flames, Arizona Coyotes, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators.

RELATED: 10 reasons Houston should have an NHL team

Below is a breakdown of each team's current situation, and what it would take to relocate those teams to Houston:

Calgary Flames

The Coyotes are a team that could possibly move to Houston if the NHL chooses to relocate a current team. Browse through the slideshow to see a breakdown of the teams that could make a move. The Coyotes are a team that could possibly move to Houston if the NHL chooses to relocate a current team. Browse through the slideshow to see a breakdown of the teams that could make a move. Photo: Norm Hall/NHLI Via Getty Images Photo: Norm Hall/NHLI Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close A look at potential relocation candidates for NHL in Houston 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

The Flames might be in meltdown mode in Calgary.

A standoff over a new arena between the city and ownership may have reached a point of no return. Flames ownership has indicated that the time for negotiating is over, and that the Flames will no longer pursue a new arena in Calgary.

Whether this is a bluff to get the city to cower will only be determined in time, but for now, even the commissioner sounds dismal in regards to the future of hockey in Calgary.

"As I think everybody knows, the club has stopped the pursuit of a new arena because they think it's futile," Gary Bettman said, according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN.

Although the historic Battle of Alberta rivalry between the Flames and Edmonton Oilers would be lost, a frustrated ownership group bailing out of Calgary would swing the door wide open for hockey to return to Houston.

Of the five teams on this list, not only are the Flames the most talent-laden with a solid young core of players, but the arena situation is the most imminent. It will be interesting to keep an eye on what happens in Calgary in the coming weeks and months.

Arizona Coyotes

Many culminating factors make the Coyotes a top candidate for relocation to Houston. The club has the least value, according to Forbes, and consistently ranks at or near the bottom of annual attendance averages in the NHL.

With the Hurricanes locked into a purchase agreement with a new ownership group, the Coyotes become the undisputed point of reference when discussing relocation options.

The team's operating income has been in shambles over the last decade. The team lost $19 million in that department last year, according to Forbes, a spiral from the previous year's $-8 million.

Although the Coyotes' name has been tossed around as a relocation option more than most teams in recent years, Bettman seems to remain committed to keeping a franchise in Arizona.

"They are still working on getting a building in Arizona," Bettman said, according to ESPN. "And so I don't view [the Coyotes] right now as a candidate for moving."

The Coyotes find themselves in a perpetual arena quandary.

They want to get out of Gila River Arena in Glendale and move the team back to Phoenix, but have so far been unsuccessful. If the Coyotes continue to have difficulty getting a new arena in Arizona or filling whatever building they do inhabit, the club would be primed to move to Houston.

Like with the situation in Calgary, a move to Houston hinges on what develops with the respective club's future arena situation.

Also, both the Flames and Coyotes provide a seamless transition when it comes to divisional alignment. The tentative expansion team in Seattle would hypothetically occupy a spot in the Pacific Division, while the relocated Calgary or Arizona team could move from the Pacific to the Central so that there would be eight teams in each division.

Not only would it balance the divisions, but a move to the Central opens the door for a hockey rivalry between Houston and Dallas.

Florida Panthers

Florida is the only team on the list without some sort of arena qualm. The Panthers have an agreement with BB&T Center and Broward County until the year 2028, so the team at least on paper is set to stay in South Florida in the foreseeable future.

However, the Panthers do have an attendance problem, as bad as any of the other four potential relocation teams and, more significantly, the Panthers continually lose money.

According to Forbes, the Panthers' operating income has been millions of dollars in the red over the last decade, including -$11 million in 2016-17.

Apart from consistently low attendance ratings in recent years, there doesn't seem to be much of a viewership at home, either. Forbes says the Panthers had the 2nd-lowest cable rating last season and only makes $10 per fan. By comparison, the Coyotes, the NHL team with the least value according to Forbes, makes $12 a fan. The Ottawa Senators make $88 per fan and Flames make $73.

The main issue with the Panthers is perhaps the perpetual lack of relativity. The team has only made the playoffs five times since the team's inception in 1993-94, including being swept out of the Cup Final in 1995-96. Even when the team last made the playoffs in 2015-16, the Panthers still ranked as the seventh worst in the NHL in terms of attendance during that season.

Some playoff prevalence could change everything for the club. The Panthers' intrastate rivals, Tampa Bay Lightning, are a drastically different story in terms of regional interest and on-ice success. The Lightning won a Stanley Cup in 2004, appeared in a Cup Final as recently as 2015 and have been a benchmark for hockey's success in the Sun Belt. The Lightning rank 6th in the league in attendance so far this season.

Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators' average attendance numbers don't scream failure, but accessibility to the arena could be an issue. Canadian Tire Centre is located on the far Southwest side of town in the suburb of Kanata, just under a 17-mile drive from the center of downtown Ottawa. The location is desolate, and can be a hassle to get to if you live in one of Ottawa's Eastern suburbs or in the neighboring city of Gatineau, Quebec to the North.

The season attendance average has been declining marginally in recent years, but it is the playoff numbers that are perhaps the biggest indicator that there is a potential for change.

Game 1 of last year's playoff series against the New York Rangers drew 16,744, with just under 10 percent of seats available for a second-round playoff game. The numbers are not overwhelmingly lacking, but the Senators' empty playoff seats did cause a stir.

Attendance issues did not plague Ottawa throughout the playoffs, as the fan base responded and Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final, the last game played between the Penguins and Senators before Ottawa was eliminated from the playoffs, drew a crowd of 18,111.

A new arena in downtown Ottawa is a goal of the Senators and the NHL.

"A new downtown arena is vitally important to the long-term future, stability and competitiveness of the Senators," Bettman said, according to the Ottawa Sun.

Once Ottawa gets a new downtown arena, the Senators will be another team crossed off the list of potential suitors for Houston. However, until shovels break ground, the Senators remain a candidate to move from the team's current residence.

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