Hey NHL, relocate the Florida Panthers!

The National Hockey League is not known for swift action. This is a league that still allows fighting without suspension, and has the marketing strategy of “Come and Find Us.”

Apparently, the negligence is bleeding over into the location of the franchises. When Wayne Gretzky was dealt in 1988 to the Los Angeles Kings, the team began to sell out The Forum on a consistent basis. This made the NHL believe that expanding into warm-weather climates was a great idea. In fairness, the results have mostly been good.

In the dozen years following Gretzky’s trade, the Minnesota NorthStars relocated to Dallas, the Hartford Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Atlanta Thrashers, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers happened.

Dallas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Anaheim and San Jose have been hits. The Coyotes are a mess, the Hurricanes are hit-and-miss and the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg. Then, there are the Panthers, who are nothing short of a bad joke at this point.

Take in the game on Monday night between Florida and Tampa Bay at the BB&T Center, somebody should be.

Florida is in its 23rd year of existence and crowds of this size are commonplace, and have been for well over a decade. The team is technically located in Sunrise, a suburb of Miami. Nobody cares about football or basketball there, even when the Heat were in the midst of a dynasty. People are expected to care about a sport that is foreign to these beach-goers?

This season, the Panthers are only outdrawing the woeful Hurricanes in terms of capacity and rank 28th in average attendance, bettering the New York Islanders as well. Florida was supposed to be good this season, so a bad team with low expectations is not an excuse, either.

The NHL is constantly beating back talk of a new team in Las Vegas, or a franchise heading up to either Seattle or Quebec City. Quebec had the Nordiques from 1979-1995 before the team moved to Colorado because of stadium issues. The city is pining badly for a new team and would move mountains to make it happen. Why not move the Panthers and make it happen?

The best part is the divisions would not need realigning. The NHL just changed up the divisions, and the Panthers are sitting in the Atlantic. Moving them into Quebec would actually make the travel easier on teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, who are also in their division.

The move makes so much sense, and yet the NHL is moving at a glacial pace to make it happen.