Connecticut governor Ned Lamont sat down with This Week in Connecticut and shared details about plans to bring an NHL team to Hartford.
The 69-year-old shared that there is an ownership group in place with the funds to buy the Arizona Coyotes and move them to the state capital.
"I've talked to Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL. Right now the Coyotes don't have a place to play on a permanent basis, so they're looking around, trying to find options," Lamont said. "Connecticut is definitely on the radar screen. It's a hockey centre here, we love hockey."
"There's a lot of balls in the air," Lamont later added about his conversation with Bettman. "I had to tell him this place is hockey enthusiasm. You're not going to have to subsidize this team, people are going to love this team."
Lamont said that the XL Center, the current home of the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack and the University of Connecticut Huskies men's and women's basketball teams, would need to be upgraded to be NHL-ready.
Last week an $80 million renovation deal was agreed upon by Lamont and legislative leaders, which the governor said isn't enough to draw an NHL team, but is enough to cover lower-level luxury suites.
"I think people are ready to go. We've got to do this. The XL [Center] is badly in need of a real facelift," he said. "And more than that, we've got some great teams starting with the UConn teams and the Wolf Pack."
Along with the Wolf Pack and Huskies, Connecticut is also notably home to the WNBA's Connecticut Sun and the 2023 men's hockey NCAA Divison 1 champion Quinnipiac Bobcats.
Despite Lamont's enthusiasm about a team moving to Hartford, during Bettman's recent State of the NHL press conference, he said the NHL remains committed to finding a solution in Arizona.
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