Las Vegas: National Hockey League team owners on Wednesday authorised officials to begin evaluating prospective ownership groups and cities for potential expansion clubs, with an August 10 deadline for applications.
The move comes as several cities and groups have been mentioned as possible expansion sites, but also with a few of the NHL’s 30 teams in troubled states in their current cities.
Owners also approved rule changes for the 2015-16 season, most notably tweaking the overtime format in hopes of having fewer games decided by shoot-outs and adding a video review challenge option for coaches.
Quebec City, once home to the NHL Nordiques until they relocated to Denver and become the Colorado Avalanche, has an NHL-standard arena built and an ownership group hopeful of satisfying the hunger for the return of a team at the highest level.
Las Vegas, where the NHL is holding its annual meetings, has an arena under construction and an ownership group was given the extraordinary approval to test season ticket interest.
Seattle, where there is interest in building a new arena for an NBA team and NHL club, and Portland, where an NBA arena already exists, are two northwest US markets also mentioned as prime contenders for expansion or relocation.
Any groups seeking an expansion team will be able to obtain applications from the NHL starting on July 6 with a deadline to file them with the league of August 10.
