Reports: NHL Considering 2017 Expansion To Las Vegas, Seattle, Quebec City, Toronto
BOSTON (CBS) -- After settling the lockout in 2013, the NHL created new divisions -- divisions that seemed to be designed to accommodate expansion teams. According to some reports, those teams may be on the way soon.
The (Vancouver) Province's Tony Gallagher said that the NHL adding a Las Vegas team is a "done deal" and that an expansion team in Seattle appears to be on track. Howard Bloom of Sports Business News reported via Twitter that four teams will be added to the NHL by 2017: Quebec City, Toronto, Seattle and Las Vegas.
Toronto, of course, already has a team, but the hockey-rich market could surely support a second team. Quebec City was home to the Nordiques until 1995, when the franchise moved to Colorado.
When the reports spread throughout the hockey world, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly denied their accuracy.
"It's not in our plans," Daly told TVA Sports.
Of course, where there's smoke, there tends to be fire. File this news under "stay tuned."
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