A decade ago, the N.H.L.’s Canadian franchises were the league’s economic weak links, with two teams leaving for the United States and at least half the remaining six close to insolvency.

Now the skate is on the other foot. The Canadian clubs are worth more on average than the league’s American clubs, according to estimates by Forbes magazine. And two Canadian teams are being sought for purchase by billionaires  not to move them to the American Sun Belt, but because they are so lucrative where they are in Canada.

The turnaround is largely because of the weakened United States dollar, which was worth about $1.50 Canadian throughout the 1990s and well into the 2000s, but is now at par. The increased relative value of the loonie, and the salary cap instituted in 2005 after the N.H.L. lockout, effectively increased the values of Canadian teams by nearly half.

The rank of the average Canadian team in Forbes’s annual N.H.L. franchise valuation estimates was 21st among the league’s 30 teams in 2001. It was 13th last year, and is 11th this year.