Elliotte Friedman revealed that Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that more expansion teams are coming to the NHL.

With the success of the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken in recent seasons, the preconceived notion that teams can’t win in their first few seasons in the league is gone.

In seven seasons in the NHL, the Golden Knights won a Stanley Cup and are one of the top teams in the Western Conference year after year: they won 312 of the 537 games they played since joining the league. They missed the playoffs only once, in 2021-22, losing the last wild card spot to the Nashville Predators, who had two more regular-season wins than the Golden Knights.

As for the Kraken, in three seasons, they made the playoffs once, but made quite a splash in the first round by beating the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in seven games. While they struggled a bit more than the Golden Knights, winning 97 games in 246 opportunities, they have drafted many good players in recent drafts, including Shane Wright and Berkly Catton.

Seeing how well these teams are doing on the ice (and financially), the demand for expansion teams has never been higher. Multiple cities are interested, and with Utah and Arizona officially out of these discussions, other markets are seeing a real possibility of having an NHL team in the coming years.

Elliotte Friedman, in the latest written edition of 32 Thoughts, reported that NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly believes more teams will join the league at the “appropriate time.”

In Friedman’s words:

“Daly was most interesting talking about expansion. It’s coming – and the union believes that as well – but was very careful not to be pinned down. ‘At the appropriate time’ was the phrase he used. It’s clear the league sees legitimate interest and is putting together a proper process, taking meetings and gathering information. He pointed out that, in the United States, the NHL is in fewer markets than its professional brethren, while Seattle and Vegas prove there is ‘a model that works, a model that allows you to be competitive out of the gate Doesn’t mean that it’s imminent, doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen in the next year or so.’ […]

Is 34 teams the maximum, or could we see 36? Is there a maximum number you wouldn’t exceed? ‘Yes. 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. 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.»

Cities like Houston, Quebec City, Atlanta, and Hamilton have shown interest in the past, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the NHL expand to these cities in the coming years.