NHL to add more teams within the next two years according to NHL agent
The NHL has had an immense amount of success with the addition of both the Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights to the league. Both teams have found an incredible amount of success and seen their franchise values at least double in the last three years. It always seemed inevitable that the NHL would look to expand even further in the near future.
The NHL has been very reluctant to commit to expansion, but they have been reportedly looking at multiple different sites and potential ownership groups. Gary Bettman has said the league will look at expansion when it makes sense. With such a non-committal answer, it's difficult to know exactly when the legal expand, but according to one player agent, it will be within the next 2 years.
While that goal seems very ambitious Allan Walsh provides a very important reason as to why this will be the case. According to Walsh, the NHL will look to expand before the expiration of the NHL collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA is set to expire at the end of the 2025-26 season.
So why is it so important to have expansion done by then? Walsh explains.
The new Director of the NHL Players Association has already made it clear. He intends to get the players their piece of the pie. So it is very likely that the owners currently receive all proceeds from expansion, will look to get deals done before the players can negotiate a cut.
With a salary cap set to rise approximately 4 million next season, it's hard to understand how the league has seen franchise values reach record levels. While the cap has remained flat. It is very likely that we are going to be headed towards a work stoppage if both parties can't come to an agreement and pay will be the primary concern.
| POLL | ||
Will we see another NHL lockout? | ||
| Yes, we will | 260 | 32.9 % |
| No, we won't | 152 | 19.2 % |
| I really hope not | 215 | 27.2 % |
| With Bettman it's guaranteed | 164 | 20.7 % |
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