And the majority of teams the NHL decided to move south were all WHA teams. Hmm.
Quebec
Winnipeg
Hartford
The only surviving WHA team in their original city is the Edmonton Oilers.
That shouldn’t really come as a surprise, when you think about it. With the exception of teams in large cities like New York and Chicago, the WHA franchises were typically located in smaller cities where they had no competition from NHL teams. Many of these WHA teams were located in some of the smallest cities in North America with major professional sports franchises at the time, including the four WHA-NHL teams you listed, plus Calgary, Ottawa, Dayton, Indianapolis and Birmingham. So it actually makes sense that the former WHA teams would be prime candidates for relocation to much larger metropolitan areas 15-20 years later.