NHL Expanding to 32 teams from the 2021/22 season!

Big news coming from the NHL this week as the board of governors has unanimously approved Seattle’s bid to become the 32nd franchise in the league.

They will enter the league in the 2021/22 season and will be part of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, pushing the Arizona Coyotes into the Central Division. This also means the balance of Conferences will be restored, with both Conferences having 16 teams each.

This will be the 2nd expansion happening in the NHL in less than 5 years with the Las Vegas Golden Knights joining in the 2017/18 season and instantly making it to the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the Washington Capitals 4-1.

“Today is an exciting and historic day for our league as we expand to one of North America’s most innovative, beautiful and fastest-growing cities,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “And we are thrilled that Seattle, a city with a proud hockey history that includes being the home for the first American team ever to win the Stanley Cup, is finally joining the NHL.”

The hype around having a professional Hockey team in Seattle is huge which was shown back in March when the team launched a season-ticket drive and reached 25,000 deposits within the first hour of selling. For comparison it took the Vegas Knights two days to reach 5,000 deposits.

With this expansion the NHL will match the NFL for most teams in a professional sport in North America. $800 million will be invested in Seattle’s Key Arena where the team will play it’s home games after the renovation is completed.

What do you make of this latest expansion in the NHL? Should the NBA follow a similar path and expand beyond 30 teams? Let us know on Twitter!

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