The NHL has seen two true expansion teams and one relocation in the last seven years, significantly altering the league's landscape. And fans shouldn't get too used to the league's set up as it is now, as another franchise could be on the verge of joining the fray.
On March 20, ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported that the NHL was targeting Houston as its next potential expansion team (among other candidates). If that were to pan out, Houston would become the 33rd team in the league with another likely on the way to even things out (perhaps a revival of the Arizona Coyotes?).
But if commissioner Gary Bettman is truly going to pick H-Town as the next NHL franchise, the team will need to come up with a killer name to garner enough fan interest. Here's some early brainstorming.
3 catchy names for Houston's potential NHL franchise
Houston Wranglers
The city is well-known for it's cowboy culture, especially the popular rodeo scene. The Houston Wranglers would embrace that culture and open the potential for some epic logos featuring horses, lassos and/or Stetson hats.
In fact, this name is already popular among some in the hockey community. One Redditor came up with a seriously stylish concept for a jersey featuring a rust and gold color scheme plus a longhorn logo.
Houston Apollos
Houston is the well-known headquarters for NASA's mission control, located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Dozens of successful missions to outer space and the moon have been coordinated through that building, lending Houston the nickname "Space City."
The most famous of those missions were the Apollos, those that featured manned spacecraft that landed on the surface of the moon. Honoring those astronauts and the people that worked tirelessly on those missions would be an ideal pick.
Houston Hockey Club
The Utah Hockey Club may or may not keep its temporary branding permanent. The team let the fans vote between that and other names, with the winner to be revealed at some point before next season.
Houston could capitalize on the alliteration this seeming placeholder of a name offers. Perhaps it could learn from the mistakes Utah might make, as well as the Washington Commanders made in the NFL — who abandoned Washington Football Team a couple of years ago.
Ultimately, a lot more has to go into the development of the NHL franchise before a name can be chosen. But fans should know that from a business perspective, the focus groups and marketing teams are already hard at work developing options.