Remember the report we ran a few days ago about the NHL coming to Las Vegas? You know, the one the NHL quickly refuted? Apparently the NHL’s statement of denial wasn’t enough to silence the talk of expansion. You can add Dan Patrick to the list of sources suggesting that an NHL team will play in Vegas in the near future.
Via his show and as seen on SI.com:
“We will have an NHL team in Las Vegas in 2016. This is from a financial person who is involved in this. The paperwork is already done. This is, as has been reported, a done deal. We’ll have a hockey team in Las Vegas in 2016. The question is, is it going to be an expansion team or is it going to be a relocation?”
As always, consider the source when it comes to reports such as this one. Still, the list of sources is growing and fast. Patrick may not be the top source when it comes to hockey news (or a source at all, frankly), but he’s a connected man in the sports world and he probably does have some sources who know more than the rest of us.
Patrick’s last point, that concerning relocation, is one we really haven’t seen from other sources. It’s not surprising given some of the turmoil around the NHL and the fact some markets have foggy futures, but it has mostly been assumed that a team in Vegas would be a new organization. In fact, the original report which cited Vegas as a “done deal” made no mention of relocating a franchise, a task which it’s safe to assume is a lot more complicated than setting up a new club.
Make of this what you will. We’re not sure what’s going to happen, but now there have been several big names suggesting hockey in Vegas is going to happen.
