Speculation: NHL gearing up for another round of expansion!

[Blackhawkswincup]

Figure this is worth its own thread as there could be updates/discussion thru year about it

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836768357036568980

I am happy with this

More NHL teams is good thing and its great if Houston finally is in. Should have been one of the late 90's expansion teams if not for the mutliple bids, potential legal fights, etc that sunk Houston's chances

And I think Atlanta will do great in suburbs like Braves. And area will only continue to grow

With all the speculation/interest reported this past year it's not surprising. And for this process to begin its clear NHL and those interested have been having preliminary talks for a while now

Atlanta and Houston seem safe bets for #33 and #34

Wonder if any other interested parties will put together enough of a bid to be #35 and #36

Click to read more...

 

[Mrfenn92]

No more teams

 

[GIADF]

After watching how awful the Blackhawks were (yes, by design) the last two years... Not to mention San Jose, Anaheim, and Columbus.

Hard pass on expansion from me, although it seems inevitable.

 

[hawksfan50]

Watering down tge league again..ph my!

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Atlanta and Houston were always gonna get teams.

 

[CallMeShaft]

32 teams is such a good number. 16 in each conference; 8 make the playoffs, 8 stay home.

But let's ruin that balance by making it 34...

 

[x Tame Impala]

Bedard is going to have 200 point seasons in 5 years at this rate. I hate the expansion. Building through the draft is going to be rough. How many players from each draft class play even 100 games in the NHL? A dozen?

 

[clydesdale line]

Got a couple of buddies who live in Atlanta now. They are beyond stoked about this.

 

[Pez68]

Cool. A further dilution of the talent in the league.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Gross

 

[x Tame Impala]

Cool. A further dilution of the talent in the league.

Some people don't believe this is a thing. That the league really is just opening up 44 more roster spots and it'll allow these players a chance to shine that they otherwise never would've gotten. I don't see it, personally.

 

[LavalPhantom]

With odds of winning a Cup on any given year being 1/32 or 1/34, it is almost a certainty that teams will have stretches of 100+ years without winning. Terrible

 

[Hawkaholic]

Some people don't believe this is a thing. That the league really is just opening up 44 more roster spots and it'll allow these players a chance to shine that they otherwise never would've gotten. I don't see it, personally.

It's already watered down. Look at the shitty teams in the league,they all have 10 players that shouldn't be in the NHL

 

[statswatcher]

i was a thrashers fan in a previous life, so this comes as good news to me.

 

[hawksfan50]

Tge Blackhawks could hardly ice a team of legit NHL talent last season.. So too SJ and AnH and other bottom 8-10 teams. Now they want to make it even harder to ice NJL level talent for the non-co.petitive teams?


Way too early to expand again until the points differential from tip to bottom teams reduces to a slimmer more competitive roster balance.

But the owners care less about league competitive "oarity" .. alk they care for is more expansion$$$$lining their pockets.

 

[WarriorofTime]

They gotta be careful here. People are fans of their team first and less so fans of the NHL on a macro level, especially in the U.S. Every expansion means you're increasing the "middle" group of teams that people generally don't have a ton of interest in because they don't have a realistic shot at winning a Cup now or in the near future.

 

[x Tame Impala]

It's already watered down. Look at the shitty teams in the league,they all have 10 players that shouldn't be in the NHL

Goalies especially. Look at the SV% by year. It's gone down every year since Vegas arrived. I know some of that is goalie pad reduction, what year was that again?

So I'm assuming these Houston and Atlanta teams will be here two years from now. Meaning from 2017/18 to 2026/27 the league will have added 4 new teams and 80 + roster slots. There's a cascade effect here that forces sub-NHL talent to be put on NHL rosters. It also means there's less and less viable options to find a legitimate 1C, 1D, top line forward, etc...

It'll be harder to build through the draft as everyone's picks get downshifted by 2. Whether you're a rebuilding team or not, it's going to suck.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Tge Blackhawks could hardly ice a team of legit NHL talent last season.. So too SJ and AnH and other bottom 8-10 teams. Now they want to make it even harder to ice NJL level talent

This point, on the other hand, is kind of bad. It's all pretty relative. If you had a 2X NHL and the entire AHL was now in the NHL, it would just take our brains a little time to adjust but then you'd roll with it and it would seem "normal" for whatever the new NHL player standard is. The 3rd line NHL guys don't go to IIHF World Champs and clown all over random EuroPros, there are plenty of players not in the NHL that can "hold their own" so to speak.

 

[Pez68]

This is the modus operandi for hockey nowadays. Watering down the talent at every single level. Look at how many "AAA" teams Illinois has now.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I'm mainly okay with the fact that another Central Time Zone team is getting added. Will make for more better broadcast times for us, hopefully.

If Atlanta gets a team, hope they become the Firebirds as an homage to their previous teams and referencing their phoenix municipal seal.

 

[belfour30]

I'm mainly okay with the fact that another Central Time Zone team is getting added. Will make for more better broadcast times for us, hopefully.

If Atlanta gets a team, hope they become the Firebirds as an homage to their previous teams and referencing their phoenix municipal seal.

Hopefully they reboot the Thrashers and return team history to ATL/WPG.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I don't know.... the Thrashers were kind of a walking suck factory. I think starting from fresh there branding-wise makes the most sense.

But hey, it'd give them something to tap back into for eventual retro and outdoor gear if they get a team.

 

[Darkstar]

This league is watered down as it is. Why does Atlanta deserve a 3rd shot?

 

[HawksDub89]

Mickey Mouse ass league lol.

I love and hate the nhl all at once. My goodness.

Why stop at 34 ? f*** it let’s do 40.

 

[Rick C137]

At least if an expansion happens in the next few years, the Blackhawks are in phenomenal shape to not lose anything of value.