The folks who own sports teams are a pretty well-heeled bunch.

And though not every franchise rises to the level of the Dallas Cowboys or New York Yankees and their combined value of more than $16 billion, it's safe to say that those paying the bills across MLB, the NBA and NFL won't be scouring the couch cushions anytime soon.

It's a similar story in the NHL, where the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings are worth at least $2 billion each, and the team on the lower end of the value spectrum—the Arizona Coyotes—is still good for a cool $500 million.

So, it's no surprise that a lot of people in a lot of cities want to get in on the action.

It seems part of the league's annual calendar that at least some time is spent talking about expansion or relocation, and it's revved up in recent weeks with a group from Salt Lake City formally requesting a start of the process to add a new team while the Utah capital is simultaneously being suggested as an ideal landing spot for the Coyotes.

Such chatter is all the excuse the B/R hockey team needs to take a look at the issue in its own way, which means ranking the six cities most likely to be next in line to get an NHL team, regardless of method.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments section.

6. Portland

Portland is the coolest, or certainly the weirdest, city without an NHL team.

It's home to a long-time NBA franchise and proximal to football and hockey entries in Seattle, but Oregon's largest city hasn't had a big-league ice operation to call its own since the Rosebuds folded in 1918, two years after losing to Montreal in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The fans have supported smaller outfits, including the WHL's Winterhawks, whose average attendance of nearly 5,000 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum was fifth in a 22-team league in 2023-24.

And the Moda Center (formerly the Rose Garden) with its near-20,000 capacity provides a worthy stage for a relocated or expanded NHL operation, complete with instant geographical rivals in Seattle (175 miles away) and Vancouver (315 miles).

So, yes, it would be cool.

However, without a persistent drumbeat from a city leader or another representative, the noise for Portland seems fleeting. Which seems to indicate that while the rivalries with nearby parties would be instant, the presence of two teams in the region doesn't necessitate a third.

5. Quebec City

When it comes to pedigree, Québec City is a no-brainer.

The province's second-largest city beyond Montreal was host to a successful World Hockey Association franchise that made the jump to the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and New England Whalers prior to the 1979-80 season.

The Nordiques made the playoffs nine times in 16 years, advanced to the tournament's final four twice and were home to a half-dozen Hall of Fame players before relocating to Colorado to become the Avalanche in 1995 when predictable issues for the league's smallest market—difficulty attracting high-profile players—became too much to overcome.

It's still a small market and a unique challenge given the largely French-speaking fanbase and media coverage, but a new NHL-quality arena arrived in 2015 and the population has grown, which means it's always worth a mention when the topic arises each year.

And if it means bringing back the old uniforms, we're all-in.

4. Kansas City

The evidence shows that 1970s expansion wasn't always a slam dunk.

Like the concurrent story of the Flames in Atlanta, the Scouts of Kansas City are another franchise that's faded into NHL oblivion.

They joined alongside the Washington Capitals in 1974 and were terrible across two seasons before heading to Denver to become the just-as-forgettable Colorado Rockies and subsequently to New Jersey where they remain as the Devils.

A record of 27 wins in 160 games doesn't make anyone crave a Midwestern sequel, but construction of the T-Mobile Center downtown has provided a suitable home, and a fanbase that's passionately supported the NFL's Chiefs and MLB's Royals seems at least capable of turning out to give the coolest sport on ice a 21st century opportunity.

Still, an analysis by Kansas City Star columnist Sam McDowell last spring suggested getting big businesses on board would be a significant hurdle, which, along with the fact that the city has already had a bite at the apple, makes a second go-round seem a long shot at best.

3. Atlanta

It hasn't been a great story in Atlanta.

In chapter one, the Flames were completely forgettable across eight seasons after arriving in the heat of the NHL's turf-claiming battle with the WHA, and they exited after a sale to a new ownership group in Calgary was finalized in 1980.

In chapter two, the Atlanta Thrashers generated equally flaccid sentiment through 11 seasons in which they reached the playoffs just once, eventually succumbing to ownership problems and economic hardships on the way to reappearing in Winnipeg for 2011-12.

The dual failures made Georgia's capital the only city to lose two NHL teams, but there may still be a happy ending if Anson Carter has his way.

The former player and current TNT analyst is point man for another collective—the Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment Group—that has also asked the NHL to initiate an expansion process with the goal of bringing another team to the largest TV market without one.

They've got numbers going for them, for sure. But without something to offset the Flames/Thrashers aftertaste, it seems a stretch.

2. Houston

Until Salt Lake City moved the needle, chatter in Houston was running loudest.

The WHA's Aeros won a pair of Avco Cups and hosted the comeback of 40-something legend Gordie Howe for four seasons in the 1970s but bowed out of the big-time hockey race when the city was not included among the four absorbed into the NHL in 1979.

Relocation talk spiked intermittently over then-wayward franchises in Cleveland (now defunct) and Edmonton (new ownership), before the city's fortunes became the mantle inherited by Tilman Fertitta.

The Rockets' boss began talking up H-Town after joining the NBA ownership ranks seven years ago and speculation remains active these days, particularly after the latest round of comments from Fertitta about the potential of downtown hockey.

"We are talking to the NHL, but it's got to be good for both of us," he told Shelly Hagan and David Wethe of Bloomberg News. "We just know that when there's a concert downtown, how it activates downtown, we know what the Astros do for downtown, we know what even soccer does for downtown."

1. Salt Lake City

Call it recency bias. Salt Lake City isn't as big or as brassy as Houston, but the Utah location gets the nod thanks to its newer entry to the "we want the NHL" fraternity.

Ryan Smith, chairman of the company that owns the Utah Jazz, said the city could host a team immediately at the basketball team's Delta Center home. The venue has hosted five NHL preseason games, and the city was home to the 2002 Winter Olympics and has an active bid for the 2034 Games.

Smith's group is also in charge of Salt Lake City's teams in Major League Soccer and the National Women's Soccer League. The city has been a previous home to teams in the IHL and remains the home of the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies, an affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche.

The Athletic's Eric Duhatschek suggested recently that the league choose relocation over expansion by moving the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City, which, he said, would save Smith and Co. millions of dollars in fees and allow a quicker path to competitiveness.

As for the NHL, deputy commissioner Bill Daly is saying there's a chance.

"Utah is a promising market," he said, "and we look forward to continuing our discussions."