The rumors, speculation and debate about the NHL expanding in Seattle have raged for quite some time. Seattle has almost always been first on the list when discussing where the league may elect to add a new franchise. Other strong options are usually thrown in the mix as well, but Seattle seems to be the favorite.
Should we expect a team there in the near future? Not yet. Gary Bettman slowed things down quite a bit after he stated that the uncertainty surrounding an arena prevents any serious discussion about the NHL coming to Seattle. The report, as seen in The Seattle Times, pretty much quiets all talk regarding expansion.
Bettman said:
Until there is some better certainty about a building and its availability to an NHL team. There’s really not a whole lot of point in even going further in the thought process.
This doesn’t rule out the NHL coming to Seattle at some point in the future, but it looks like they’ll need some more concrete plans regarding a rink before the process moves forward. The whole thing makes a lot of sense, which is actually new territory for the NHL.
It would have been nice to hear Bettman cool the talks of expansion down by saying he was going to correct current troubling situations in other cities first, but that’s wishful thinking.
