NHL Expansion Update: Agent Names Two Cities Ahead of Quebec on Gary Bettman's List

The announcement of the two Ottawa Senators preseason games, which will be played in Quebec City next fall, has been received very positively.

While some see this as a positive sign that Quebec City is positioning itself well to obtain a National Hockey League team, a prominent player agent does not see Quebec on Bettman's radar for a future expansion.

A prominent agent names the two cities that would get NHL expansions before Quebec

In an interview with TVA Sports, Allan Walsh stated that the cities of Houston and Atlanta will be the league's next expansion destinations.

"I have always supported the return of the NHL to Quebec.

It's a hockey market, they have the arena.

But Gary Bettman has been pretty clear-he doesn't want an expansion there.

If I had to make a prediction, the league is heading to Houston and Atlanta."

Allan Walsh

Another agent, Alain Roy, is not very optimistic about Canadian franchises in the near future due to the economic disparity between Canada and the United States.

"No, it's not encouraging for Quebec at all. Can you imagine if we had 12 Canadian teams in the league right now? Oh, boy!"

Alain Roy

Moreover, Allan Walsh questions the NHL's true intention of returning to Atlanta, but it becomes clearer why a new expansion would be appealing to league executives.

"Let's just say the NHL has practically set up an expansion plan for the next collective bargaining agreement.

I expect expansion fees to be $1.5 billion per team to join the country club.

That's $3 billion straight into the owners' pockets.

So, if the fees are painful, everything should be covered by expansion."

Allan Walsh

With the current exchange rate, $1.5 billion in Canadian dollars would be nearly $2.2 billion!

Let's just say the price is simply too high for Canadian investors to want to take on such a challenge.