Last time I checked, Bettman was still running the show, so I guess it's a good sign that I'm stuck in Gary Bettman world.
Jokes aside, from my knowledge, Carolina and Tampa Bay are among the most successful southern teams (I would include Nashville too) and they're starting to build up a solid fan base. The only teams I would say who are "on the bubble" would be Phoenix and Florida (maybe Atlanta too, but I don't know much about them). And while I do agree that the league should probably downsize in order to concentrate talent, I'm not so sure if it will happen. I'm not a huge sports fan (aside from hockey), but have any major sports leagues downsized in the past 15-20 years or so? Sports is a business and generally speaking, more teams = more money.