Seattle gets its NHL team

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Here are some actual facts on this:

1.Seattle has an senior amateur Western Hockey League team (mostly 18-20 year olds), that Seattle Thunderbirds, that has averaged between 4,500-5,000 a game for a number of years, which places it in the middle of the pack in the WHL.

2.From Wiki: On March 1, 2018, a ticket drive began to gauge interests in season ticket deposits. Oak View reported that their initial goal of 10,000 deposits was surpassed in 12 minutes,[19] and that they received 25,000 deposits in 75 minutes.

3.When the Major League Soccer Seattle Sounders were in the minor A-League (formerly the American Professional Soccer League - APSL) before the league was renamed the United Soccer League (USL) they averaged around 4,000-5,000 a game (after drawing about 8,000 a game or so for their first couple seasons.) At the time, they were one of the top drawing teams in the A-League.  Since being in MLS, they've averaged around 40,000 a game, which was by far the highest draw until Atlanta United entered the league.  Seattle is simple a great spectator sports city.  

In regards to MLS attendance, most of the teams play in 'soccer specific stadiums, with capacities of around 20,000, which obviously means they are in no position to compete with the Sounders in attendance, whether they could or not.

4.Quebec City is an excellent market for an NHL team, but Metro Seattle has something like four times the population as Metro Quebec City (about 4 million vs 1 million.)

5.Interest in hockey seems to have actually dropped off in Milwaukee. However, the Cleveland Monsters in the top minor league the American Hockey League  (formerly named the Lake Eerie Monsters) has averaged around 9,000 a game for a number of years which places it near or at the top.

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Also,

1.Houston has actually been a decent city for hockey support historically. Although it goes back a ways, the Houston Aeros of the old World Hockey Association in the 1970s was one of the best draws (around what the Quebec Nordiques drew) though certainly having Gordie Howe and his sons play for the team must have helped the attendance.

2.For the name of the team, being a soccer fan, I recommend Seattle Hockey Club (Seattle HC or HC Seattle), being something of a Canadian Football League fan, I also recommend the Seattle NHLers (the Baltimore team in the CFL - don't ask - was named the Baltimore CFLers - don't ask.)