The NHL will host an expansion draft at the end of next season, in which the new Las Vegas franchise will be allowed to select players from other teams, but who they can select will be restricted. It will pick third in each round for the remainder of the draft. The Central Division will remain at seven teams and Bettman said there is no timeline or plan for adding a 32nd team to balance the conferences, although the league has made its interest in Seattle plain. “We’re dedicated to it. We’ll leave no stone unturned in our dedication, in our pursuit of hockey for Las Vegas, not just for our team, but for the community”.
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The Black Knights, said Foley, would be his preference.
Bettman said fans shouldn’t count on Quebec City being a landing spot for a relocation because he has no expectation of any team moving.
The venue was built by MGM Resorts International and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), owners of the Los Angeles Kings NHL franchise, and opened its doors in April.
“We knew that we were not going to get our team back”, said lifelong Nordiques fan Jean-Francois Côté, 51.
The NHL has already laid out what the regular season breakdown will be for the 16 Eastern Conference teams, and the now 15 Western Conference squads. And while Quebec City always seemed like the safer option, Las Vegas represents an interesting gamble that could elevate the NHL’s status.
“The NHL, I think, likes the Quebecor application”. The addition of Las Vegas to the NHL could be a solid success due to the major factor that it will be the only major league team in the city, or it could be a failure over the long term once the initial excitement levels off.
“This expansion comes at time [when the NHL] is more competitive than ever, ownership is stronger than ever, the player base is more talented than ever and the business and future opportunities for the business is greater than ever”, Bettman said.
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Also addressed today: the status of an expansion bid for a Quebec City franchise from Quebecor, which was deferred and not rejected. My choice of course would be Las Vegas Wayne Newtons. Quebec City could be among the candidates, as they had also tried to expand, but according to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, it just wasn’t the right time. The Phoenix market is most notable in this scenario because many people both inside and outside the hockey media including hard core fans of the league to the casual observer feel that the NHL should have relocated the Coyotes franchise years ago. “These components, the ones within the control of the Quebec City applicant, are first-rate”. Vegas was an economic boomtown in the previous decade, and Foley is betting that its slowed growth hasn’t curbed the city’s appetite for sports and spectacles. “We will continue to work with determination to achieve this goal”. News stories displayed here appear in our category for Sports and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization.
