Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Attendance Watch 2015-16 --- aka Mr. Bettman's Box Office

For those that crunch the numbers on the NHL, beyond the salary caps, a free agency calculations, the bottom line for many NHL teams comes from one simple thing, bottoms in the seats.

And this year like the last few of the past, there are some locations that are giving indications that hockey just isn't winning the battle for hearts, minds and wallets.

With Las Vegas and Quebec now on the short list for expansion, it's not really known what kind of success they might have in going the relocation route should that option present itself.

Something that we imagine will be further explored as they proceed down their current course of the expansion franchise.

Still, at some time this season, someone is going to look at the listings of the NHL's trouble spots and
go, "how long can the league let this go on".

When they do, somebody somewhere will have a ready to go market up for consideration.

For hopeful hockey fans in Hamilton, Suburban Toronto and now Seattle, watching the attendance figures becomes more important than which team is actually leading its division or closing in on a playoff spot.

Once again this year, we will track the teams that some suggest are on the bubble, secure leadership or not, financially flush as they may say they are, no one likes to lose money, so we'll scan the attendance numbers through the year, looking for those bargain basement teams that could be looking for a relocation plan.

As last year, we shall use attendance at the 13,000 mark as our cut off for review.  Only those games that have drawn less than 13,000 or less in attendance will be listed below.

We also will list which team was in town as the visiting squad for the night, perhaps offering an explanation as to the night's recorded attendance.

The review can be accessed from our GM's office links on the right hand sidebar.

Attendance Figures as of March 3, 2016

Bottom Feeders (our three dim star selection)

The three teams with the lowest attendance, teams the most times below the 13,000 benchmark.

1. Carolina Hurricanes (21)
2. Arizona Coyotes (20)
3. Florida Panthers (11)

Arizona (20)


March 3 -- 11,999 (Anaheim) (Event Summary)
February 18 -- 11,853 (Dallas) (Event Summary)
February10 -- 12,255 (Vancouver) (Event Summary)
February 2 -- 12,261 (Los Angeles) (Event Summary)
January 21 -- 12,251 (San Jose) (Event Summary)
January 18 -- 11,134 (Buffalo) (Event Summary)
January 16 -- 11,745 (New Jersey) (Event Summary)
January 14 -- 12,014 (Detroit) (Event Summary)
January 12 -- 11,391 (Edmonton) (Event Summary)
January 9 -- 12,345 (Nashville) (Event Summary)
December 22 -- 12,234 (Toronto) (Event Summary)
December 19 -- 11,878 (NY Islanders) (Event Summary)
December 17 -- 11,120 (Columbus) (Event Summary)
December 12 -- 12,668 (Carolina) (Event Summary)
November 28 -- 12,727 (Ottawa) (Event Summary)
November 27 -- 11,495 (Calgary) (Event Summary)
November 25 -- 11,578 (Anaheim) (Event Summary)
November 5 -- 10,270 (Colorado) (Event Summary)
October 30 -- 12,166 (Vancouver) (Event Summary)
October 15 -- 12,029 (Minnesota) (Event Summary)

Carolina  (21)

February 23 -- 10,896 (Philadelphia) (Event Summary)
February 20 -- 10,422 (Tampa Bay) (Event Summary)
February 19 -- 11,756 (San  Jose) (Event Summary)
February 16 -- 10,489 (Winnipeg) (Event Summary)
January 24 -- 9,934 (Calgary) (Event Summary)
January 15 -- 11,657 (Vancouver) (Event Summary)
January 2 -- 12, 149 (Nashville) (Event Summary)
December 26 -- 11,654 (New Jersey) (Event Summary)
December 6 -- 9,021 (Arizona) (Event Summary)
December 5 -- 10,687 (Montreal) (Event Summary)
December 3 -- 9,254 ( New Jersey) (Event Summary)
November 25 -- 10,911 (Edmonton) (Event Summary)
November 22 -- 10,154 (Los Angeles) (Event Summary)
November 20 -- 10,327 (Toronto) (Event Summary)
November 16 -- 9,305 (Anaheim) (Event Summary)
November 12 -- 9,511 (Minnesota) (Event Summary)
November 7 -- 10,005 (Ottawa) (Event Summary)
November 6 -- 10,188 (Dallas) (Event Summary)
November 1 -- 9,081 (Tampa Bay) (Event Summary)
October 30 -- 9,345 (Colorado) (Event Summary)
October 13 -- 10,901 (Florida) (Event Summary)

Colorado (1)

October 21 -- 12,826 (Carolina) (Event Summary)

Columbus (10)

February 25 -- 12,590 (New Jersey) (Event Summary)
February 11 -- 12, 117 (Anaheim) (Event Summary)
January 25 -- 11,927 (Montreal) (Event Summary)
January 21 -- 12,492 (Calgary) ( Event Summary )
January 19 -- 12,291 (Washington) (Event Summary)
January 5 -- 12,411 (Minnesota) (Event Summary)
December 14 -- 12,494 (Tampa Bay) (Event Summary)
December 12 -- 12,342 (NY Islanders) (Event Summary)
November 17 -- 12,161 ( St. Louis) (Event Summary)
October 31 -- 12,860 (Winnipeg) (Event Summary)

Florida (11)

December 10 -- 12,810 (Washington) (Event Summary)
December 8 -- 11,571 (Ottawa) (Event Summary)
November 23 -- 10,997 (Los Angeles) (Event Summary)
November 19 -- 10,947 (Anaheim) (Event Summary)
November 16 -- 12,067 (Tampa Bay) (Event Summary)
November 12 -- 11,271 (Buffalo) (Event Summary)
November 10 -- 11,242 (Calgary) (Event Summary)
October 31 -- 11,207 (Washington) (Event Summary)
October 27 -- 11,694 (Colorado) (Event Summary)
October 17 -- 12,834 (Dallas) (Event Summary)
October 15 -- 11,616 (Buffalo) (Event Summary)

New Jersey (5)

October 31 -- 11,605 (NY Islanders) (Event Summary)
October 27 -- 12,847 (Columbus) (Event Summary)
October 20 -- 12,171 (Arizona) (Event Summary)
October 16 -- 12,464 (San Jose) ( Event Summary)
October 13 -- 11,117 (Nashville) (Event Summary)

New York Islanders  (11)

January 25 -- 12,086 (Detroit) (Event Summary)
December 4 -- 12,873 (St. Louis) (Event Summary)
November 30 -- 11,585 (Colorado) (Event Summary)
November 16 -- 11,841 (Phoenix) (Event Summary)
November 3 -- 12,122 (New Jersey) (Event Summary)
November 1 -- 11,278 (Buffalo) (Event Summary)
October 29 -- 11,494 (Carolina) (Event Summary)
October 26 -- 11,582 (Calgary) (Event Summary)
October 17 -- 11,577 (San Jose) (Event Summary)
October 15 -- 10,542 (Nashville) (Event Summary)
October 12 -- 11,183 (Winnipeg) (Event Summary)



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