Elliotte Friedman mentions three possible cities for future NHL expansion
In the last five years, the National Hockey League has expanded to 32 teams, with the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken being added. While the NHL is content with 32 teams for now, expansion could be coming a few years down the road.
Last week, TSN's Chris Johnston mentioned that expansion could be happening sooner than most expect, potentially two years, as NHL owners see it as a way to recoup losses from COVID-19 shutdowns.
While on 'The Jeff Marek Show' yesterday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said that the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken are two of the highest revenue generating teams in the NHL and that it could bode well for future expansion.
Friedman went on to add that he wonder if three potential expansion candidates could be Houston, Austin or a second team in Toronto. The latter of the three seems pretty unlikely, with the money the Maple Leafs pay in revenue sharing. It's the same reason why there won't be a team in Hamilton.
Should the NHL expand to 34 teams, regardless of the year, here's an option for realignment and the amount of teams per division. For the example, we'll use Houston and Quebec City, to represent an Eastern Conference expansion city.
Eastern Conference
Northeast (6): Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Toronto.
Metropolitan (6): Columbus, New Jersey, New York I, New York R, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh.
Southeast (5): Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Washington.
Western Conference
Northwest (6): Calgary, Edmonton, Minnesota, Seattle, Vancouver, Winnipeg.
Central (6): Colorado, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, St. Louis.
Southwest (5): Anaheim, Arizona, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vegas.
Friedman doesn't believe expansion is imminent, but he does wonder if they get there someday because of the success Seattle and Vegas have been.— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) December 12, 2022
Hypothetically, if the NHL expands to 34 teams, one per conference, what two cities would you like to see? Let us know what duo you would prefer in the poll below!
| POLL | ||
DÉCEMBRE 13 | 600 ANSWERS Elliotte Friedman mentions three possible cities for future NHL expansion What two teams would you like to see in a potential expansion to 34 teams? | ||
| Houston/Quebec City | 316 | 52.7 % |
| Austin/Toronto 2.0 | 66 | 11 % |
| Kansas City/Halifax | 122 | 20.3 % |
| Saskatoon/Atlanta | 96 | 16 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||