Elliotte Friedman reveals next potential expansion city for the NHL

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Cooper Godin
May 16, 2023 (8:32)

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The National Hockey League might not be in expansion mode at this current time, but with the success of the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken, it might be something to consider in the next few years.

If we're being honest here, the expansion fee is something the NHL and its teams won't say no too either, which should be significantly north of the $600 million USD the Kraken paid in 2021.

During Monday's edition of the '32 Thoughts' podcast, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman mentioned that the owner of the NBA's Sacramento Kings, Vivek Ranadive was going to make a bid for the Ottawa Senators. Friedman added that people in the industry are now wondering if Sacramento could be an option for an expansion franchise in the future.

"We reported about Ryan Smith, the owner of the Jazz, and I do believe Salt Lake City is interested in an NHL team somewhere down the road and they're expected to get a new rink should the win the Olympics in 2030 or more likely 2034. I think there are people who believe the NHL will be in Salt Lake within the next decade, but now people are kind of wondering about Sacramento, they have a new arena there." Friedman said.

He added, "One of the names that kind of surfaced late and out of nowhere for the Senators was the owner of the Sacramento Kings, Vivek Ranadivé .I don't know if this guy makes a bid for the Senators, but what I do know is when he showed up and his name was mentioned it perked up a lot of people and it made them wonder if there is anyway that he's thinking about a team in Sacramento?"

There will be a lot of talk this week regarding the Arizona Coyotes and the results of their arena vote on Tuesday and if the vote goes south, there's a good chance they'll need to be relocated.

Could Sacramento's 17,000+ seat Golden 1 Center become an option for the Arizona Coyotes? It certainly not out of the realm of possibility, but they won't be the front-runner by any means, that would be Houston.

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MAI 16 \| 264 ANSWERS Elliotte Friedman reveals next potential expansion city for the NHL If the Coyotes move to Houston, where should the NHL expand to next?
Atlanta, Georgia	16	6.1 %
Sacramento, California	12	4.5 %
Salt Lake City, Utah	34	12.9 %
Quebec City, Quebec	202	76.5 %
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