How soon could we see NHL expansion?

Expansion seems to be back on the menu in the NHL, with reports coming out that the league may be looking to expand from 32 to 34 teams very soon, and possibly even to 36 teams at some point. It’s been well known that Arizona is on the table to return once they find a full-time arena for a team, but as of right now, the frontrunners for the two teams appear to be Atlanta and Houston.

Both cities are strong American sports markets that already have NFL, NBA, MLB and even MLS teams, so both teams would be excellent fits on paper. But at the same time, this would be Atlanta’s third attempt at a hockey team, with the Atlanta Flames moving to Calgary in 1980, and the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg in 2011.

Frank Seravalli talked about whether there was any smoke to the current rumours of expansion on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: There’s smoke for sure, but I’d say that there’s a false alarm in terms of any urgency to do it. Yes, you need to check a lot of the boxes to get there: owner, arena, market and frankly a lot from the owners to do it. I don’t believe we’re going to see any expansion until after this collective bargaining agreement is over.

Marty Walsh has acknowledged to me on Frankly Speaking that he wants to ask for expansion money from the players as part of the CBA. I think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that they get it, but nonetheless, until that issue is done and settled and it remains 100% that that money goes directly to the NHL and owners, then I don’t see any reason why the NHL would want to start an expansion process until that’s finished.

You can watch the full episode here…