I propose the West Virginia Miners, located in Huntington, West Virginia, the state's most populous metro area.

For one, it's time to forge into currently unoccupied territory in top-flight professional sports in North America. Also, I wholeheartedly invite "Miners/minors" jokes to flood in so we have that one team in the big leagues. The area itself is surrounded by interested people in the sport, so perhaps it's time for an outbreak of hockey fever into Appalachian country. The branding would entail promoting the region's status as one of the primary sources of coal in the United States.

The mascot will even require minimum prep time to dress for public appearances and gameday duties. All he needs to do is get himself a fake beard (or grow a real one), get a prop pickax that can't really harm anyone, dress in overalls, toss some soot or mark it up like soot and stick a stuffed canary on his shoulder. No heat-trapping, cartoonish costume required.

But mostly, I want the "Miners/minors" jokes, especially in down seasons.