The Latest On a Potential NHL Expansion

The rising early success of the Vegas Golden Knights has done wonders for the National Hockey League. If the team can make the playoffs within its first year, it would be one of the most successful starts to a franchise in pro sports history.

On the contrary, the Golden Knights have used five goalies already, and we’re not even at the halfway point of the regular season yet. Based on rumors and reports, a few cities are expressing interest of receiving a possible NHL team in the not too distant future.

As rumored, the city of Houston, Texas is in the running for that next expansion team. The league Commissioner Gary Bettman has had public discussions with the new Houston Rockets owner (Tilman Fertitta) about the possibility of having the NHL in Houston someday. The hypothetical franchise would likely be viewed as the Dallas Stars’ cross-town rival in the long run.

In addition, the city of Seattle, Washington has been dealing with arena issues for years now. The NHL has made no secret about wishing to expand into the Northwest, and potentially attempting to find a natural rival to the Vancouver Canucks. Seattle currently has Key Arena, but it is not made for hockey.

It has been reported that a decision is going to eventually be made on whether or not to build a new arena for the future NHL expansion team.

That is where Quebec City comes in, as they have a new arena already built like the one in Houston. Back in 1995, the then Quebec Nordiques were on top of the hockey world. However, there was trouble from the local government in hopes at that time to get a new arena.

In the end, Quebec City lost their team to the city of Denver. The Colorado Avalanche was then born in the summer of 1995. Two Stanley Cups later, it turned out to be the best move for them. Although, there has always been a dim desire to bring hockey back to Quebec City. In fact, even the owners of the Montreal Canadians (Quebec’s main rival during the 1980’s) would love Quebec City to own a team once again. The race for the next expansion team is still ongoing, and it’s a complex decision.