NHL Cities: Population

A discussion with Bruce Mr. Turk over the viability of Hamilton as an NHL market made me think to come up with this little table.

1. New York Metro(3 teams): 18.7 million (6.2 million per team)
2. Chicago Metro: 9.4 million
3. Washington DC/Baltimore: 8 million
4. Boston Metro: 5.8 million
5. Dallas: 5.8 million
5. Philadelphia Metro: 5.8 million
7. Toronto Metro: 5.4 million
7. Miami Metro: 5.4 million
9. Atlanta Metro: 4.9 million
10. Detroit Metro: 4.5 million
11. Los Angeles/Anaheim (2 teams): 4.2 million (2.1 million per team)
12. Phoenix: 3.8 million
13. Montréal: 3.6 million
14. Minneapolis/Saint-Paul: 3.5 million
15. St. Louis: 2.8 million
16. Pittsburgh Metro: 2.4 million
16. Tampa Bay Area: 2.4 million
18. Denver Metro: 2.3 million
19. Vancouver Metro: 2.2 million
20. San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland: 2 million
21. Columbus Metro: 1.7 million
22. Raleigh-Durham: 1.5 million
23. Nashville: 1.4 million
24. Ottawa: 1.1 million
25. Edmonton Metro: 1 million
25. Calgary Metro: 1 million
26. Buffalo: 282,864

Possible NHL Locations (by population):

1. Seattle Metro: 3.8 million
2. Portland: 2,127,881
3. Québec: 717,600
4. Hamilton: 714,900 (although all of southern Ontario is a potential market)
5. Winnipeg: 706,900

All figures courtesy wikipedia.org

Obviously, a lot more goes into the equation for a viable hockey market than population. However, it's interesting to note that Portland, who has been rumoured in the past to be interested in an NHL team, lords over the Canadian markets in terms of population. Nonetheless, the future home of the Pittsburgh Penguins (should they move), will have more to do with Mr. Balsillie's personal factors than a city's size.