Toronto arenas then St.Pats. Should be Arenas/St. Pats. Also old Winnipeg Jets maybe be included depending on how you look at. I mean new jets are not the same franchise as old jets. So technically Winnipeg should be included.

Knight-Thorn, U have the right idea, however many NHL skaters
also played another professional league, known as the W.H.A...

I bring this up, since I 1st learn'd the term "defunct", from this
very league, the World Hockey Association...

Your notions & ideas seem short in producing enough viable
NHL skaters, in the database here @ Wi$...

The "Indianapolis Racers" come to mind, since I actually did
alot over the years to save & preserve that very NEWSPAPER
article, declaring the team "defunct"... That team in the late
1970's had Wayne Gretzky under professional contract...

Just sayin' that it's a way to broaden the skaters available...

The Senators would have a huge advantage in this league. The Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg would be good and Hartford a little less so. The rest of the teams wouldn't even be able to make a 50 million roster. My two cents

In if it flies, I would love to try the Seals.

If it flies I'd do the whalers. But maybe up the cap to 100 million and limit to like 8 teams that would be most competitive --- whalers, nordiques, jets, Rockies/scouts, Atlanta x 2, north stars, seals

Or just lower the cap significantly, that way you get more franchises and they are more evenly matched.