Paul Allen built his arena in Portland with the NHL in mind, and there have been many rumblings over the years about him buying an expansion franchise if the league were ever to expand. He would still be able to own an NHL team there, as the NBA nor NFL would have any issues with him owning another team there (the NBA nor NHL have no issue with it as long as theres a shared venue - see Atlanta Spirit Group, and the NFL has no issues as the team's not even in the same state.
Portland has a metro area population over 2.2 million, which is comparable to Denver (2.5m) and Pittsburgh (2.3m), and larger than Columbus (1.8), and the Immediate San Jose area (also 1.8 - although, the true area including SF and Oakland runs well over 7million)
It's not as large as Seattle which runs over 3 million, but it is larger than the next largest cities in the west with links to hockey, in KC, and Milwaukee.
There's far more people in Downtown Portland that are jizzed about hockey than in Phoenix as well so it seems, and he raucous fanbase that has always existed in the Northwest would easily transfer over to the NHL... as they've sold out WHL junior games in both Memorial Coliseum (12000 capacity) and have also packed it into the Rose garden with over 19000 fans including STANDING room for such an event against Seattle.
Oklahoma City, and Tulsa are also potential suitors, as they've been linked to the Penguins potential move a few years ago, but have been mostly silent since. Oklahoma City and Tulsa, both have much smaller metro areas, both under 1 million less than Portland, so I personally say 'hell no' to this sorta thing.
Houston has also been linked in the past to teams, as they have an NHL ready arena as well as a bit of hockey background, but I see many of the same problems that went down in Phoenix getting bottled up in Houston. They are a massive Population centre too, and would give Dallas a more legitimate geographical rival, but nonetheless, I feel it's just another PHX waiting to happen, really. Portland's growing... Houston's not.
Either way, there will not be a team in Quebec for at least another 4 years, so lets hold that one off until an arena is legitimately in the works...
