Potential National Hockey League expansion

rdf:langString Potential National Hockey League expansion

rdf:langString The National Hockey League (NHL) has undergone several rounds of expansion and other organizational changes during its history to reach its current thirty-two teams: twenty-five in the United States, and seven in Canada. The newest additions to the league are the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken in 2021. The league has also relocated several franchises, most recently in 2011 when the former Atlanta Thrashers became the second and current incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets. To gauge interest and help determine whether the NHL should entertain further expansion, the NHL Board of Governors accepted applications for new franchises during the 2015 offseason. Two potential ownership groups submitted applications for prospective teams in Las Vegas and Quebec City. The geographic distribution of teams between the NHL's two conferences was not a primary consideration for expansion, and the earliest time when a new franchise could start play was the 2017–18 season. On June 22, 2016, the NHL approved expansion to Las Vegas starting in the 2017–18 season with the Vegas Golden Knights, but deferred Quebec City's bid for a team. With the Quebec City bid still shelved by the league's board of directors, the league opened up another expansion window in December 2017, specifically to allow an ownership group from Seattle to place a bid; no other cities were allowed to submit bids in that window. The Seattle bid was approved on December 4, 2018, and the team began play in the 2021–22 season as the Seattle Kraken; commissioner Gary Bettman then stated the league would not expand any further for the foreseeable future, while deputy commissioner Bill Daly stated that the league may revisit expansion in the near future if it is deemed in the best interest of the league.