The NHL’s board of governors will begin exploring procedures for expansion when they meet at Pebble Beach next week.
During Saturday Headlines, Damien Cox reported that the league is trying to decide on how many players currently in the NHL will be available to a potential expansion franchise.
“You’re also going to see, not a decision on expansion, but the beginning of a discussion: What kind of expansion do the governors want?” he said. “Specifically, how bad do they want the teams to be, they will maybe make more players available.”
The NHL has been looking at the possibility of adding expansion franchises, and Las Vegas and Quebec City both submitted bids back in July. Seattle is another potential city the NHL would consider, given the lack of NBA team and the location out west would help balance the conferences.
The NHL last expanded in 2000, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined the league. All teams at the time (except for the Atlanta Thrashers and Nashville Predators, who had only recently joined the league themselves), were given the option to protect either one goaltender, five defencemen and nine forwards, or two goaltenders, three defencemen, and seven forwards.
The rest of the roster was available to be selected in an expansion draft.
The Blue Jackets have yet to win a playoff series and took nine seasons to finally post a winning record, while the Wild took just three, going all the way to the conference finals in the 2002-03 season.
