Look, I am as critical of the NHL - they drive me crazy with some of their boneheaded decisions.
However, on the expansion front, they are not wrong. The NHL needs to expand. They have to add two teams to the Western Conference to bring balance to the NHL.
Currently there are 16 teams in the East, 14 teams in the West. That is inherently unfair to the Eastern teams. They have to even that out.
Also, unlike in the mid 90s when the league did over expand, there are now plenty of NHL caliber players to go around. One of the under told stories in all of sports has been how much hockey has grown in the United States.
According to its website, in 1990-91, USA Hockey’s national membership stood at 195,125 players. In just 10 years, that number ballooned to 439,140 in 2000-01. Just last season, USA Hockey boasted 510,279 members, the second most all-time and just under 1,000 less than the record 511,178 set in 2011-12.
It has especially grown in areas like Western Pennsylvania, Chicagoland, the Potomac Valley, the Delaware Valley, California and Texas. That was not the case the last time the NHL expanded.
As an example, Shayne Gostisbehere, Flyers' gifted young defenseman, was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Auston Matthews, who will be the number one overall pick in this year's draft, was developed in suburban Phoenix.
That is a radically different picture than the last time around.
Now, because the NHL is the NHL, of course they screwed up the rollout. You don't announce an expansion until you have already chosen your teams. Holding an open competition for one invites precisely the type of insanity that has ensued.
They needed to wait for Seattle to sort out it's arena situation – which is close – before starting this process. That is where the NHL wants to be – Las Vegas and Seattle. However, publicly financed sports venues are tricky politically and often take years to pass. Seattle had still not reached that point.
What absolutely cannot happen is for the NHL to bow to Canadian pressure and grant an expansion franchise to Quebec City. That market is too small and the loony is far too weak right now to pull that off. If Canada can straighten out it's economy, the QC market would become much more attractive. However, as things currently stand, they are a firm no vote for anyone with a brain.
I think the threat of QC should be used to leverage new arenas in American cities. Also, if say the Florida Panthers fail, and I am watching the playoffs and they still have thousands of empty seats – not a good sign, QC would be a good place to put them.
