The NHL has seen considerable change to their league structure over the past 15 years, more than any of the other big four American sports leagues in all honesty. The Atlanta Thrashers became the Winnipeg Jets in 2011, Vegas and Seattle were awarded expansion teams in 2017 and 2021 respectively, and the Arizona Coyotes just became the Utah Hockey Club in 2024.
Although it is not much of a surprise, it appears as though Gary Bettman's quest to grow the game across North America is not finished. Multiple insiders have reported that Atlanta and Houston are currently the next two in line for a NHL franchise, and it really is not so much a matter of if, but when it takes place.
Friedman on 32TP: "The NHL has indicated to the Player's Association that expansion is coming, we just don't know the time table yet"
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) March 21, 2025
Of course, I am all for growing the game of hockey and NHL exposure, but at some point, you have to think about what is realistic and sensible. In all honesty, the league has no business expanding given their current situation and how tough they have had it since the COVID-19 pandemic.
NHL expansion would hurt league structure, be overly ambitious plan at this time
The NHL is currently at 32 teams when it had been at 30 for the longest time, and one thing lots of people have complained about is the overall league format. That includes the way the conferences and divisions are aligned, the convoluted schedule matrix, and more than anything, the way the playoffs are set up.
Even if they refuse to do it, having 32 teams in the league gives them an opportunity to switch to a new format that makes sense and is easy to follow. If the league decides to add two more teams, then that idea is completely out the window.
Looking at how the NHL used to do it and how the NFL, NBA, and MLB are structured, it makes sense for the NHL team count now to be a number that is divisible by six or four. That way, they could have three divisions per conference with five or six teams, or have four teams per division, which is a good number.
With 34 teams in the league, the math does not work out and the league format would be even more confusing than it is now. If the league eventually grows to 36 teams, then they might eventually have something that works, but for the purposes of this discussion, it is a total mess from an overall structure perspective.
Secondly, from a business standpoint, the NHL would very likely be trying to bite off more than they can chew with this decision. You do not have to be some business savant to know that the league has struggled big time since the turn of 2020, and there are several hurdles they would have to clear before they could truly justify expansion.
Until teams don’t require revenue sharing to survive, expansion needs to be off the table. Secondly, players need to be getting a cut of those “fees” because “extra spots” is not enough. Thirdly, the league is watered down enough.
— Rachel Doerrie (@racheldoerrie) March 22, 2025
This isn’t a good idea. https://t.co/4IWHpyDbBs
Even if it would not happen any time soon, it is baffling why Bettman and the NHL would not focus on improving the current league and 32 teams before taking on more work and responsibilities. Not only that, but if they are trying to add more teams, why is Atlanta a city they are focusing on?
They have already had two NHL teams in the past, and both have relocated. Of course, it is not all the fault of the city that they lost their teams, but the fact is they have had two chances and failed, and giving them a third chance would be playing with fire if past history means anything.
Lastly, from a league competitive balance point of view, there are not problems that warrant expansion. Sure, there are certain teams that have happened to stay good or bad, and teams that have recently repeated Stanley Cup Finals appearances if not Championships.
But we still see enough teams go through good times and bad times, and the NHL is nothing even close to college sports where certain teams are just known to be worse than others. Even if parity is not perfect, it is good enough to where they do not need two more teams to make things more competitive.
At least as of right now, expansion seems like it would be the wrong idea for the wrong league and with the wrong cities (at least one of them) involved. As mentioned, it would not happen right now, so maybe the outlook would be more favorable in future years, but there is lots of work to be done and the odds are not exactly in their favor.
NHL expansion would not benefit Nashville Predators, and may not even affect them much
When Nashville Predators fans heard about a potential expansion, surely the first thing that came to their minds was an opportunity to shed one of the bad contracts on the team. Well, I have bad news for that crowd - all players on contracts with no movement clauses must be protected by their respective teams.
So unless one of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, or Brady Skjei waives his no movement clause, all three of them will be protected by the Predators. Even if one or all of them did get exposed to future expansion drafts, those new teams would have to willingly absorb those contracts, and as we saw with Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen in the 2021 expansion draft, that is no guarantee.
Adding onto all of that, we have established that the expansion would not be for several more years, so by that time, at least the Stamkos and Marchessault contracts might be up, or close to it.
With expansion being that far down the line, it is hard to know what the Predators roster will look like then, and who would and would not be worthy of protection. I am sure there would be some tough decisions to be made, as with any team in any expansion draft, but in all honesty, that is essentially a non factor right now because it is so hard to predict.
On another note, the Predators are one of those teams to watch because they are a Western Conference team that could easily be moved to the Eastern Conference. Depending on what other cities the league acquired, the Predators could be one of the first teams to be affected in a new league realignment.
But Atlanta and Houston are the headliners of this current discussion, and all realignment would have to entail would be adding Atlanta to the East, and Houston to the West. That would still leave the league the way it currently is, with half of the league in the Eastern time zone, and the other half spread out among the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones.
So for those Predators fans who understandably want to see the team moved to the Eastern Conference, I am afraid I have bad news there as well.
Now, if the league does eventually expand to 36 teams, there might be another discussion to be had depending on what the new cities would be. And for the purposes of hypotheticals, if the Predators were to move to the East, they would likely develop new Southeast rivalries with both Florida teams, Carolina, and possibly a new Atlanta team.
But given what we know is current right now and what has been talked about as a future possibility, expansion would not positively or negatively impact the Predators. In fact, there is really no way to predict how they would be impacted at this time.