The New York Metro area has 3 teams. All have had varying degrees of success and the Rangers are the dominant team, but New Jersey plays in an arena too close t

The New York Metro area has 3 teams. All have had varying degrees of success and the Rangers are the dominant team, but New Jersey plays in an arena too close to New York and the Islanders play too far from the city. The Hamilton-Buffalo connection is overrated. People in Hamilton don't support the Sabres and you see lots of Habs fans there, simply because they hate the Leafs. Giving them a team would create an instant rivalry and allow fans who have wanted their own team since forever. It's akin to people saying Devils fans only support the Rangers and Flyers. It's just not true. New Jersey teams don't play close to the majority of the state's population, so fans go where it's easier to get to. The Newark arena helps that a bit, but there are some problems with that city and people's perceptions, which don't help anyway...plus it's still not close to most of Central Jersey on most game nights. Hamilton would be successful and it's not going to hurt the Leafs or Sabres, as much as they'd like you to believe.