"After a bid opened in 2015, it was announced in 2016 that Vegas would be welcoming an NHL team and started their first season in the 2017-2018 campaign. Just a few weeks into the Knights first season, the city of Seattle came together with the Oak View Group to renovate KeyArena, making it possible place for an NHL team. A year after that, the NHL approved Seattle as an expansion into the league, with them starting their inaugural season in 2021."
"With these 2 teams joining the league, it evened out the conferences and divisions. 16 teams in each conference, 8 per division, making things easier for the league and scheduling games, with teams in each other's division playing each other 3-4 times per season, teams in their conference outside of their division three times, and teams outside their conference twice."
"CNBC recently had NHL league commissioner Gary Bettman on air to sit down and address what many NHL fans have recently been speculating about-will there be an expansion? And, if there is-how much would be needed to fund it, how it could work with 32 teams already in the league, and what most people are wondering-where it would be located."
The NHL is weighing potential expansion questions including required funding, integration within a 32-team structure, and likely locations. Recent expansions added the Vegas Golden Knights (2017-18) and Seattle Kraken (2021), which balanced conferences to 16 teams each and eight per division. That alignment simplified scheduling with intra-division matchups three to four times, intra-conference outside the division three times, and inter-conference twice, and it equalized playoff access with three division qualifiers and two wild cards per conference. Fan opinion is divided, with Canadian supporters pushing for additional Canadian franchises and current teams clustered on North American coasts.
Read at Puck Prose
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