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Gary Bettman’s Dismissal of NHL Expansion is a Bunch of Hot Air

  • Frank Doyle's Author profile. Frank Doyle

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National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman has never exactly been the life of the party, so we shouldn’t have been surprised when he shot down persistent rumors that the league was planning a four-team expansion by 2017.

Maybe it was too good to be true. Last week rumors were floating around that it was a “done deal” that Las Vegas was getting an NHL franchise. The Greater Toronto area was another location mentioned, along with Quebec City and Seattle. For now, though, as far as Bettman is concerned, these rumors were a whole lot of hot air.

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“It’s a complete fabrication,” Gary Bettman told reporters about the NHL expansion rumors.

“We don’t want to build up anybody’s expectations,” he added. “We’re not in a position to expand.

“We’re certainly not in position to expand into the East. We’ve been very candid and up front that if in fact we go through an expansion process, the world will know about it. But we’re not looking to relocate any franchises, and we’re not looking to expand. We’ve been very clear about that since Day One when we were told about the building of the new arena.”

Well, this is where you have to read between the lines a bit. Bettman may tell the world when/if the NHL is expanding, but he’s certainly not going to do so before the deal is signed, sealed, and delivered. That’s why his rhetoric can be so frustrating. He says here that the NHL “isn’t in a position to expand” and when he said that he’s probably being entirely truthful.

The fact of the matter is the NHL very well might be “in a position to expand” tomorrow or next week or even next month. It’s all in how he worded this statement.

Toronto can certainly support another NHL team and Quebec City already has a new arena ready to go. Las Vegas would be an absolute no-brainer if everyone could get past their sports betting hangups and Seattle isn’t a bad option either.

The point is: don’t read too much into Gary Bettman’s dismissal of NHL expansion. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. This isn’t an idea that’s going to go away that easily. It just makes too much sense.