November 1, 2024/Midnight

Erie, Pa.-– One of the biggest debates within the professional sports community in recent years is whether expansion is a good thing or not. While it’s been over two decades since the NFL, NBA, and MLB have expanded, there has been a lot of interest recently in expanding within the next few years.

Yet, the league most likely to expand next is the National Hockey League, which has seen three new teams join the league within the last seven years. Most believe that NHL expansion is inevitable, but does that mean it’s a good thing?

A Recap Of Previous NHL Expansion:

For 17 years, the NHL operated successfully with 30 teams. With interest growing in expanding into different markets to grow the game, the league approved an expansion to Las Vegas following over 13,000 season–ticket deposits and a $500 million entry–fee from owner Bill Foley, according to the NHL’s official website. The Vegas Golden Knights instantly became a success making it to the Stanley Cup Final in the team’s first season.

A year later, the NHL approved an expansion team in Seattle to begin play in 2021–22, this time with a $650 million entry–fee. While not having as much success on the ice, the Kraken has had some of the highest attendance rates in the NHL.

After being unable to secure land for a new arena, the Coyotes “relocated” to Salt Lake City in 2024 to become the Utah Hockey Club. According to Associated Press, this forced the formerly known Arizona Coyotes to play at a 4,600–seat college hockey arena. While this transfer did not go through a typical expansion process (such as having an expansion draft), Utah is treated as an expansion team that bought the contracts from Arizona and therefore has its own history with a brand–new slate.

Could there be expansion in the future?:

Despite all these team changes over the past decade, the NHL could still look into adding another team in the near future. While commissioner Gary Bettman says that the league is not actively looking to expand, it feels inevitable that another team joins the league before the end of the decade.

A potential expansion would bring the league to 33 teams, which would be the most out of the four major leagues. According to the Sports Business Journal, Commissioner Gary Bettman has received interest from Atlanta, Houston Cincinnati and Omaha while a return to Arizona has not been ruled out.

Personally, I believe that expansion in the NHL has its pros and cons which can greatly benefit the league. But it might be too soon to add yet another team to the league.

As we have seen with the success of Las Vegas and Seattle, expansion can bring a lot of revenue and expand the game to markets that don’t have a lot of hockey fans. The NHL makes the least amount of money out of the four major sports which is why the salary cap is so low compared to the NFL, for example.

Expansion will also give nearly two dozen players a shot at making the roster and live their hockey dream. It can also lead to the creation of divisions that reduce travel and save costs.

But it can negatively affect the on–ice product as well. Expansion means that the talent will spread leading to teams having less star players. There is also a chance that expanding the league could be unsuccessful and lose money as seen in Atlanta (twice!).

With an expansion team, the playoff format will inevitably be modified. With half the league making the playoffs currently, adding another expansion team or two would reduce the chances of teams making the postseason unless it’s increased.

As a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, who has had to watch his team miss the playoffs by just a few points in back–to–back seasons, I feel for a fan who would watch his team miss out because of an extra expansion team.

In conclusion, expanding the NHL has a lot of great benefits especially for hockey fans that desperately want a team in Atlanta and Houston. As we can see with Vegas, Utah, and Seattle, these teams have a great fanbase and culture while growing the game. We also know that expansion can also have a negative impact especially on the exiting NHL teams that feel it is hard enough to chase the Stanley Cup with 32 teams.

I do believe that there should be expansion in the near future, but it is probably a good idea to wait three–to–five years and allow Utah to have its moment.