The Kansas City Penguins? Get Used To It.

The Pittsburgh Penguins could have a new home next year. A failed attempt by the Isle of Capri gaming group to get a slots license has left the Penguins not knowing if they can build a new arena in Pittsburgh or if they must look elsewhere (The Isle of Capri offered to build a $300 million arena free of charge to Pittsburgh and the hockey team if they received a license to build a slots parlor in the city). Owner Mario Lemieux had a deal nearly in place to sell the team a couple of weeks ago, but that fell through. Now, he’s announced the team is off the market, and when the team’s lease with Mellon Arena (the arena they’ve played in since their formation in the 1960s) is up at the end of the season, they could be in the market for a whole new city.

It would be disappointing to see the Penguins leave Pittsburgh. They have had some great teams in the past and have a great rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers. Plus, they have one of the most promising teams in the entire league. Their young core, including Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury is the best in the NHL. They actually have their last seven first-round picks playing on the team right now.

Some city is going to be lucky to have these young guys moving to town because they will be competing for the Stanley Cup in two or three years at the most (assuming the new location and potential new owners have the resources to pay for all the budding superstars).

With that, here are some of the possibilities for where they might go, and how the league should look at re-aligning teams to make the divisions accurate after the move. And, just a note, not sure if the name Penguins will be with the team next year either.

1. Kansas City – The most likely destination. Kansas City has been after a team for quite a while, and they have a brand new arena waiting for more tenants. With a modern arena in place and a city that wants a team, this makes the most sense. I’d say this is the likely location for the Penguins next year.

If this is indeed the move that is made, just a couple of teams could switch divisions to make this work. Kansas City slides into the Central Division creating some instant natural rivals (St. Louis being the most obvious). Nashville slides to the Southeast Division and Washington moves into Pittsburgh’s old spot in the Atlantic. Nashville is new enough that they don’t have big rivalries that would be affected. They are an up and coming team like Atlanta, and of course the last two Stanley Cup Champs reside in the Southeast.

Washington is a natural fit for the Atlantic because they used to play in a division with Philadelphia, New Jersey, the Rangers and Islanders. Re-igniting old rivalries by moving the Capitals into that division could actually save them. The Caps are in desperate need of something to spark some more support. They are averaging just under 13,000 fans a game and even then, not all of the “paid attendance” is showing up to games. Allowing them to play a ton of games against their old rivals from the 80s and 90s would energize the fan base, plus it would be easy for visiting fans to make the trip to D.C. This really would help the Caps (another up-and-coming team like the Penguins) probably as much as the Penguins.

I hesitate to make just a switch with Columbus moving to the Atlantic because Columbus is so close to Detroit and close enough to Chicago that they draw plenty of fans from those cities when the Red Wings and Blackhawks are in town.

2. Portland, Ore. – Portland supports one professional sports franchise already. They also have a junior hockey team in the city, so they have shown support for the sport before. This is probably the second most likely location for a move.

Moving to Portland could mean the Penguins move to the Northwest Division. From there, Colorado moves into the Central Division (who wouldn’t love to see the Red Wings and the Avalanche square off eight times a year). Nashville moves to the Southeast and Washington to the Atlantic. It’s a bit more of a stretch, but still doable. The second option would be to move Minnesota to the Central instead of Colorado, which is a very viable alternative.

3. Las Vegas – Vegas is probably a long shot, but this is a city that has been clamoring for a professional sports franchise for a long time. Hockey isn’t necessary the biggest sport for betting, so that would certainly help. Funding would probably be easy for a new arena. But the stigma of Vegas will be a serious drawback.

Moving the Penguins to Vegas would likely lead to a move to the Pacific Division. Then Dallas is off to the Central, Nashville moves to the Southeast and Washington to the Atlantic.

4. Winnipeg – They had a team once and they moved to Phoenix. Now they have a successful AHL team in the Manitoba Moose, so this is probably the least likely destination. If they couldn’t cut it as an NHL city once, what makes the league believe it would work a second time?

For this move, the Penguins would be moving into the Northwest, so that would lead to a similar scenario as if they move to Portland.

Clearly Kansas City, with a new arena and a desire to have a team makes the most sense. For re-alignment purposes, it could totally work, and it would provide the easiest divisional switches.

What do you think? Post your comments below on where you think the Penguins might end up and what divisional re-alignments would make sense.

Photo Source: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/hockey/061216/h121615A.jpg