There just really isn't a hockey culture in the south. It's all football and baseball. Yeah, people follow it and know what's going on in the NHL, but even if we want to watch it on tv, we can't because the only station that has rights to air it is Versus. People follow it down here, but it's not really part of our sports culture.
I went to a few Atlanta games before they dropped the franchise, and the games are fun as shit. It's just not something I could follow like I do other sports.