Commissioner Gary Bettman addressed numerous concerns at his annual state of the League press conference Saturday night, one of which is the hot topic of NHL expansion. The serious contenders to become expansion teams are Quebec City and Las Vegas. So far, little progress has been made, and no recommendations have been made yet regarding if and when an expansion will take place.
"The executive committee, which is the group of owners charged with making the study and going through the process and ultimately making a recommendation to the Board of Governors, met two weeks ago," the Commissioner stated, according to NHL.com. "The process is continuing, and we're not ready to make a recommendation. That is something that will be done over the next few months, and that recommendation can be no expansion, one team or two teams. So the process is ongoing, but I don't have a firm date for you."
The weakening Canadian dollar may affect Quebec City's expansion bid as well. The new expansion fee is $500 million, as opposed to the $80 million paid by the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL's last expansion in 2000. One thing is for sure, though, which is that rumors of Seattle becoming an expansion team were shot down.
"If someone wanted to give us an application right now, we wouldn't take it," Bettman said, according to The Star. "As things stand right now, there's no prospect of an arena in greater Seattle."
The expansion would require three-quarters of the owners' approval before it can be passed, but there has been growing anti-expansion sentiment throughout the league.
"I've always said the earliest we would expand is '17-18 and whatever we do the clubs need at least a full year," Bettman said. "As long as there is at least a year lead time, we could make '17-18, but if we don't make '17-18 we don't make '17-18."
The main focus is on not rushing into an expansion that might cost the league in the long run.
"If we do expand, we want a competitive expansion club," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, according to NHL.com.
"They've been doing a lot of work on this we know," Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille stated. "They are going to make sure that by the time they make the decision, it's going to be the right decision. You have to do it right. You have to protect everyone and just do it right because this is going to impact a lot of people's lives."
