How secure is the Sabres future?

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - How secure is the future of the Buffalo Sabres on the foot of Main Street?

The team dodged a financial slapshot earlier this week when a bankruptcy judge said the Phoenix Coyotes could not move to Hamilton, Ontario.

But fans up the QEW are not giving up the fight, and a new study is raising serious questions about the Sabres' long-term survival in Buffalo.

In Hamilton, Ontario, hockey fans turned out by the hundreds. They're rallying behind billionaire Jim Balsillie's continuing efforts to start an National Hockey League franchise there.

Hamilton hockey fan Raymond Paquette said, "I think we've waited long enough, applied so many times, the tide has changed. It's ready, it's ready for the market."

If Hamilton is successful, it would put another NHL franchise even closer to Buffalo than the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Sabres have been in Buffalo 40 years, but how much longer will they last?

A new Business First study lists the NHL markets facing the biggest long term financial success and Buffalo ties for fourth.

The fans don't believe it.

Sabres fan Matt Adams said, "I don't think we're vulnerable at all. How many of them games sell out? Almost all of them."

Sabres fan Paul McCaslin said, "If you think the Sabres are leaving, you gotta be nuts. They don't know what they're talking about."

Sabres fan Adam Penleton said, "I don't think the Sabres are gonna go anywhere; Bills, maybe, but not the Sabres."

Sabres Vice President Larry Quinn seconds that motion telling News 4 "I don't know where this stuff comes from, we have positve cash flow and we're not moving."

But WNY Hockey Magazine Managing Editor Jim Kelley says it weren't for the League's revenue sharing the Sabres organization would be in trouble, "The Sabres do a pretty good job of filling the building, more than a pretty good job of filling the building. But, they do it at one of the lowest price-points in the National Hockey League. I think the Sabres will have trouble down the road. I don't think they're quite there now, but it could be a window even shorter than five years where they might run into difficulty with their cash flow."

Phoenix, St. Louis, and Carolina all fared worse than Buffalo in the Business First study.

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Read the Business First study .