NHL wants to expand to 36 teams

[Run the Jewels]

The NBA is planning to expand to Europe, Gary's poverty league is gonna give Atlanta a third go. Unreal.

 

[byrath]

Keep adding teams and most the 1 OA's are going to be past their prime when they see their first playoff games, or jump ship and have more teams will go from rebuild into rebuild.

They are going to ruin the league with this.

Don't worry, at least 20 teams will make the playoffs in a 36 team league

 

[Sasha Orlov]

1000 teams with a 500 team playoffs would be ideal imo

 

[waitin425]

Houston and Atlanta are likely the first two.

Houston in the West and Atlanta in the East.

Leafs will block a 2nd Toronto team. QC should get another shot. Put them in the East.

NHL stated they want to go back to Phoenix.....but I think that is a bad choice. So Ill say KC or Portland for that 36th team in the West.

Atlanta + Quebec City in East

Houston and Kansas City in the West.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

f*** the NHL, of course going to have the same bullshit as Seattle and Vegas where they want them to be competitive right away so every other team is going to have to pay for it

Will the owner of your team not be depositing his expansion fee check?

 

[OldCraig71]

It doesn't paint a very rosy picture of league revenues if the only way to generate more revenue for owners is through expansion fees.

It's very shortsighted and will only serve to water down the on-ice product in the coming years, which will undoubtedly drive away a portion of the current core fan group league-wide.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Which cities do you think deserve a team?

Aside from Atlanta and Houston, who exactly in these cities is willing to cut the $1.5 billion expansion fee check?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Had to google who the tweet was from,
Some dude that owns a hockey team in Hong Kong and Israel.

 

[chaz4hockey]

I only come with 3 good possibilities: Toronto, Houston, Atlanta. Each of the potential 4th team cities have deficiencies.

 

[hangman005]

Aside from Atlanta and Houston, who exactly in these cities is willing to cut the $1.5 billion expansion fee check?

Secret Lizard People.

 

[OrangePMD]

Had to google who the tweet was from,
Some dude that owns a hockey team in Hong Kong and Israel.

Well, there you have it. Atlanta, Houston, Hong Kong and Israel.

 

[Mr Nogatco]

Why not just make it a cool 78 teams while we´re at it? Or 142?

"tHis iS gOod iT wIlL gRoW tHe gAMe!"

It’s not about growing the game, it’s a business so it’s about making money.

Do you understand why it makes sense to go to 36 teams?

 

[Pinkfloyd]

No it's not, not when they let the new teams just take players from existing teams. We're the ones that have to sit here and watch our teams suck while slowly building and developing players. Then a new team gets to come and just take your players? f*** that and especially f*** that if they want to do it 4 more times in the next 5 years.

But it is still just a game. My team has been sucking for five years now and we're barely starting to put together the next competitive team that will be picked at for expansion. It's perfectly fine because it's still just a game and more places and people getting a chance to enjoy it is still a good thing to me regardless of our status as a bottomfeeding team that has never won a Cup in almost 35 years of existence. It'll be fine and more players will get more opportunities.

 

[Summer Rose]

It’s not about growing the game, it’s a business so it’s about making money.

Do you understand why it makes sense to go to 36 teams?

This is a good point. Growing the game is a side effect of expanding, but the intention for expanding by the owners is to increase revenue.

In a similar vein, the salary cap from the owners’ perspective is intended for cost certainty, with parity being a side effect.

 

[Mr Nogatco]

No it's not, not when they let the new teams just take players from existing teams. We're the ones that have to sit here and watch our teams suck while slowly building and developing players. Then a new team gets to come and just take your players? f*** that and especially f*** that if they want to do it 4 more times in the next 5 years.

Expansion draft can also help the bad teams though. Depth players can be had for cheap when teams know they’ll be lost to expansion anyway

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Quebec does deserve a team. Too bad you can't pay for 32 brand new super yachts with deserve. So the owners will opt for money instead.

But nobody in QC is willing to cut the $1.5B check, so no team for QC.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Yippee! Another 92 fringe NHLers added to the league and the better talent spread even more thin.

 

[5 Minute Major]

If it has to be, my choices would be Saskatoon, Quebec City, Milwaukee and Houston.

 

[bv29]

36 teams.. many, many fans will never see their team win a title in their lifetime.

No stopping it though. 50 teams by 2060

By 2100 March Madness type of NHL. Every 100,000+ city in USA and Canada plays in the NHL....

 

[NYRfan85]

One fact that many people forget is that the NHL is trying to catch up to NFL/NBA/MLB in the number of teams in the US. Even MLS has more American teams than the NHL. Adding four more teams in the US would put them at the same number as MLB/NBA.

NFL - 32
MLB - 29
NBA - 29
MLS - 27
NHL - 25

Atlanta & Phoenix both failed because of shitty ownership. With the right owners, they can work again. Houston has a billionaire ready to go, just needs an arena. For the 4th team, my vote goes to KC (already has an arena, new rival for STL) or Portland (complete the PNW rivalry with Seattle and Vancouver).

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Puckempire is a legit source now?

 

[ManofSteel55]

Of the ones listed, I think the cities that will get a team are quite different than those that will get a team or could handle a team. I think Quebec City, Saskatoon and one of the GTA areas "deserve" a team, but only the GTA one is likely viable. I don't know the ins and outs of that area well enough to know if Markham, Hamilton or Kitchener-Waterloo is the best location though.

In terms of realistic locations that we could see creepy uncle Gary targeting based on population, tv exposure, etc, I expect:

Houston
New Orleans
Atlanta
and we know he gets hard over the idea of a team being successful in Phoenix.

I'd really love to see a second GTA franchise, but I can't see Gary green lighting that over the 4 I mentioned above. Especially with rumours already swirling about another Atlanta team.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Gary’s strategy for the NHL has always been “how much can we abuse our fans in the interest of making more money?”

 

[ManofSteel55]

No Honolulu?

I'd prefer Juneau, personally.

 

[OccidentalSoothsayer]

Houston, Atlanta, Pheonix and Portland. In that order starting 2029-30 with a year between each expansion.