A few corrections. Cleveland was 'absorbed' into the Minnesota North Stars (now Dallas Stars) and the California G-Seals were declared insolvent and their player contracts were sold to Kansas City, where the Scouts lasted two years before moving to Colorado to become the Rockies and then to New Jersey.

I think it's a combination of factors. The movement of teams, The Flames to Calgary from Atlanta, Winnipeg to Phoenix (and now Utah), Quebec to Colorado and another Atlanta team, the Thrashers, to Winnipeg. The fact this has mostly happened under Gary Bettman's reign tells you some of the story. The fact that for nearly 40 years, the American and Canadian Dollars were within 10 cents of each other and in the last 25 years, it's been 25-35 cents in favor of the Greenback over the Loonie (with a few exceptions), also plays a role. It's why Hamilton and Halifax don't have franchises and Raleigh, Tampa and Miami do. Winnipeg might be moving again and there are cities that want an NHL team. Houston, Kansas City and the siren call for Hartford is always there as well.