I’m an Original Six or nothing fan———silly I know,but that’s the way I feel.
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I've long said that there are only about nine solid NHL hockey markets in North America -- and by "solid" I mean a market where the team can regularly attract 14,000+ fans for a late-season game even if they are out of playoff contention. Those nine markets include the Original Six, plus Philadelphia, Edmonton and Buffalo.
Some others are starting to creep into that group simply because of the sheer size of the metro areas where they play and/or the long period of time they've had to build up a fan base. Those would include teams like the L.A. Kings and the Vancouver Canucks.