More NHL expansion teams on the horizon per deputy commissioner Bill Daly

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Daniel Lucente
August 26, 2024 (5:56 PM)

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Bill Daly issued shocking remarks recently where it appeared he stated that more NHL teams could be added to the league in the coming years.

If you're among those NHL enthusiasts who think 32 teams are already pushing it, you might want to completely avoid what Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has to say next.

Building on the successes of the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken, the NHL is considering expanding even further. Though the exact number of new franchises remains up in the air, Bill Daly emphasized that any expansion will be driven by what's best for the League's future, whether fans like it or not. At the end of the day, it all boils down to money.

"Do I know what that number is? No. I will also say it's not just (commissioner Gary Bettman) or I making that decision, it's also our ownership group that makes the decision," Daly explained when discussing the potential number of new expansion clubs. "With the last two expansions in particular, the thought process was a lot different (than 1998-2000). Everybody was just interested in adding clubs, there was an $80M expansion fee, right? It's much more business-oriented now in terms of how clubs look at it.

They don't want to add franchises just to add franchises, they want to add franchises that will grow the value of the league. �Does this market make sense for the National Hockey League? Does it make my franchise more valuable?' Understanding that I might get a nice cheque in the short term, but this is a longer-term look at asset-value and whether they are making the league better.»

And for those worried that adding more teams could dilute the talent pool, Bill Daly was quick to dismiss all of those concerns.

«The quality of the talent on the players' side is better than it's ever been and deeper than it's ever been," he said. "I don't worry in terms of dilution of talent. Skill level is off charts, the league becoming younger and younger.....not concerned about it.»

This is no doubt tough to hear as a fan of the game, as more teams means more competition, which means it could take even longer for some franchises to win the Stanley Cup.

Source: Hockey Feed
Bill Daly hints at several more NHL teams via expansion