NHL: League discusses expansion, says questions remain and no timetable set

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF.— NHL expansion remains in the deliberation stage with no timetable on a decision, commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday.

The board of governors’ executive committee discussed expansion applications from Quebec City and Las Vegas.

Bettman said the board has roughly 99 per cent of the information it needs on expansion but that there are plenty of questions which still need to be answered.

The executive committee met for three hours at a coastal resort on the Monterey Peninsula to talk about the expansion presentations given by Quebecor and Bill Foley’s Black Knight Sports & Entertainment in September.

Bettman gave no indication when the issue will next be discussed, though the board next meets at all-star weekend in Nashville at the end of January.

The earliest the NHL could expand is the 2017-18 season, something Bettman said was still a possibility if the decision was made to add one or two teams.

Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins, Murray Edwards of the Calgary Flames, Peter Karmanos Jr. of the Carolina Hurricanes, Craig Leipold, of the Minnesota Wild, Henry Samueli of the Anaheim Ducks, Larry Tanenbaum of the Maple Leafs, Jeff Vinik of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Rocky Wirtz of the Chicago Blackhawks, Ted Leonsis of the Washington Capitals and Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers make up the executive committee. Bettman called reports the league is slowing the expansion process to wait for another city to join “categorically untrue.”

There had been some speculation about Seattle joining the fray, but Bettman said Quebec City and Las Vegas were the only places being considered this time.

Bettman provided a very early projection of the 2016-17 salary cap, saying the range was from the current $71.4 million to around $74.5 million.

That increase would include the NHL Players’ Association’ using its 5 per cent escalator clause.

Bettman said revenues were growing despite the sagging Canadian dollar, which is worth roughly 74 cents U.S.