NHL Expansion: Exploring Future Options

The NHL has been an evolving league since it was founded in 1917.

The original six teams in the league consisted of the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Since that time the league has expanded to 32 teams with the most recent additions being the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken.

The Utah Hockey Club is the newest club in the league, but they relocated from Arizona so were not an expansion team.

Recently there have been talks about expanding the league into even more cities and creating more teams.

I think this is not the greatest idea for the league.

To start we need to mention that there are positives to league expansion.

One is that there would be more opportunities for players who might not have a chance. If the league expanded we would see many AHL players who haven’t gotten the chance to play in the NHL.

We would see the development of new players into stars. Some great examples from the most recent teams include Johnathan Marchessault for the Golden Knights and Jared McCann for the Kraken.

Both were undervalued by the teams they were playing with, but when they joined their new team became stars.

Another positive would be that you would grow the sport in different cities. Hockey is a popular sport but it doesn’t compete with sports like football or baseball.

If the NHL were to expand they would create new fans in different cities who haven't had a hockey team before.

They can also tap back into fan bases of former teams such as the Atlanta Thrashers fan base.

With that being said I feel that the negatives out way the positives for the league.

My first negative is the fact that the team quality throughout the league will decrease. We’ve already seen that there are teams who have struggled mightily such as the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks.

If the league were to expand the newer teams would have less talented players and we would have a problem when it comes to the level of competition in the NHL.

This could lead to more fans being turned away from the sport because their team is not good.

Another negative to expansion is how much it costs. When the Kraken joined the NHL they had to pay a 650 million dollar expansion fee.

Along with this they also had to pay to build a stadium and anything else they might need. This money could potentially come out of taxpayers' dollars which will make them mad and already start the team off on a bad foot.

The NHL is in a great spot where they are now.

They have a high level of competition and solid viewership.

I think if the league were to expand it might not be the worst thing but would not work out the best.

They need to focus on growing it with the teams they have and keeping the level of competition.

Expansion is not the right move for the NHL at this time.

Andrew Matz is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email atm5759@psu.edu.