Utah, Colorado and All the Teams Since ’95

A rankings list of relocated and expansion teams since 1995.

New city or bust!

From winless in the first four games, to winners of the last four, the Colorado Avalanche certainly have had a memorable start to the season. 

The fourth win in the current stretch also capped a three-game road trip and marked the Avs’ first official visit to Salt Lake City, the NHL’s newest market. Colorado and Utah could be one of the great new rivalries in the league, especially if the Hockey Club’s ownership — led by Jazz owner and entrepreneur Ryan Smith — spends the money on players that the Coyotes’ owners refused to for so long.

I can’t remember who called it this on social media the other night before the game, but the term “Ski-Town Showdown” was thrown out there and I loved it.

After the 5-1 win, highlighted by another stellar Justus Annunen performance, I started to think about all the new teams in the league since the Avalanche relocated to Denver. Like so many other things that guys do when they sit around and talk about nothing, I got to ranking the success of both relocations and expansion franchises. 

Let’s remember this before you go any further: I made this list without any help from anyone else and I made up my own parameters for determining what I deemed to be either a success or a failure. So the rules are completely made up so there is no need to be upset if you disagree with my rankings and grades.

I looked at both relocated and expansion teams since the summer of 1995 to make this list, so the horrible, terrible, very bad move from Minnesota to Dallas is the first one to be excluded. Which is fine by me: the less I have to talk about the Stars, the better.

So let’s start with the list, topped by the obvious choice: