Winning Stanley Cup may be easier than winning back fans

In the bigger markets (Canada and the Northern US) I don't see it being much of a issue. However in the Southern markets such as Dallas, Columbus, Florida, Phoenix etc I feel the teams down there will find it very hard to regain the small number of fans that they had.

Apathy? How about irrelevance.

Gary Bettman has shown again and again that he doesn't have a clue how to run a professional sports league. Overexpansion, lockouts, owners spending themselves out of house and home. The fan base will keep dwindling until the next lockout, which will probably end the NHL.