Unless a catastrophe on the scale of a World War, the Mortgage Meltdown or the Great Depression occurs, a returned Quebec Nordiques to the NHL would be a permanent franchise, and a very successful one too.
From the early days of their WHA creation back in 1972 to their untimely ending as an NHL franchise in 1995, the Nordiques never had any problem with a fan-base; it was at the arena and ownership level that the problems occurred.
Right from the start, the Nordiques were one of the WHA’s better franchises and when the league merged into the NHL in 1980, Quebec along with Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Hartford made the transition into the well-established older league.
It is untrue to say the Nordiques were not a success. Within a few years they became a competitive team, established themselves as the Montreal Canadiens’ most bitter foe, and created good rivalries with Boston and Buffalo as well their traditional Hartford expansion colleague.
In hindsight, right at the beginning of joining the NHL, the end of the Nordiques might have been foretold.
In 1980, there were three Canadian cities with a million-plus in greater metropolitan area population; Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. Beneath them, lay a group of six cities between 500,000-700,000; Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Quebec, Winnipeg, and Hamilton.
Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary would all take off in population growth and prosperity while Quebec, Winnipeg and Hamilton stagnated. It showed in their hockey development.
Even before they joined the NHL, Edmonton built a proper arena that they still use today, the only WHA city to show any real faith in the league and its team’s future. When Calgary and Ottawa joined the NHL, they immediately began construction on the long-term asset of a modern arena. They viewed themselves as big league NHL cities which planned to be in the league permanently.
In contrast, Quebec and Winnipeg merely expanded their old WHA arenas from 10,000 to 15,000. They did not act like big league cities.
Consequently when times became bad and the Canadian dollar fell in value and player salaries rose, Quebec lacked a proper arena to get them through the tough times. They still kept their fanatical fan base, but nobody wanted to build an arena that would ensure the team’s survival. Nor did they attract any new investors to keep the Nordiques in Quebec.
Sadly, despite fan support, the Nordiques were sold and moved to Denver in 1995. Like Winnipeg, there were immediate calls to get the team back. The candles kept burning in both cities.
In 2010, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made a tour of the three lost NHL cites, Quebec, Winnipeg, and Hartford, and stated the price of readmission to the NHL: an adequate fan-base, good ownership, and a modern NHL-sized arena.
There was never any problem with a fan-base in Quebec. 80,000 fans signed a petition clamoring for a return of the Nordiques. Politicians and investors took notice.
Shortly after, media giant Quebecor, which was trying to enhance its status in the province by buying the Montreal Canadiens, turned its attention to the Nordiques problem after its bid for the Canadiens failed.
They purchased the naming rights to any new NHL-sized arena Quebec might build and probably will front a bid to get an expansion franchise or purchase an existing NHL team should one be available for moving to Quebec.
Meanwhile, Quebec City residents elected a municipal government that was in favor of investing taxpayers’ money for a new arena. Then the Provincial Government came on board as well.
Quebec has now realistically faced up to the ownership and arena problems, the two things that crippled the team in the past. Just as importantly, the city seems to have turned the corner in prosperity and population growth. It has pulled away from Hamilton and Winnipeg and now sits a solid seventh in Canada at nearly 800,000.
Now with a proper NHL-sized arena, prosperity, increasing population growth, and good ownership, it is very unlikely that a returned Quebec Nordiques will fail again. A returned Nordiques will be a permanent NHL team this time.
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