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NHL Expansion

NHL Met With Group Interested In Houston Expansion

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According to a report from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, the NHL has a ’strong ownership candidate emerging’ for a potential expansion to Houston. Dan Friedkin, owner and chief executive officer of The Friedkin Group, has reportedly met with league executives on multiple occasions to discuss expansion in southeast Texas.

Friedkin isn’t a stranger to sports ownership. He’s the owner and president of two European football clubs, Roma of the Serie A League and Everton of the English Premier League. According to Forbes World’s Billionaire List, Friedkin ranks 432nd with a projected net worth of $6.4BB. He made most of his worth presiding over Gulf States Toyota Distributors, which was founded by his father, Thomas Friedkin, in 1969.

Although Friedkin or The Friedkin Group didn’t confirm the news, Kaplan reports that NHL commissioner deputy Bill Daly has confirmed the ongoing discussions in an email. Still, there have not been reports suggesting that the NHL is actively seeking to add another team, as most of their discussions appear to be merely preliminary.

It’s not because of a lack of interest. The most recent expansion report indicated that a group from New Orleans, LA was interested in hosting another team. Furthermore, groups from Atlanta, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Omaha have expressed interest in NHL expansion, with Atlanta likely being the most viable candidate despite losing two NHL teams already.

Given his sports ownership overseas, Friedkin likely leads the pack in any future expansion at this point. A team in Houston would have a built-in rival already in the Dallas Stars, and have access to the fourth-highest population according to the 2020 census.

Snapshots: NHL Expansion, Stajan, Nylander, Buchnevich

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The NHL’s owners will be meeting on October 1st to vote on opening another NHL Expansion window, shares Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest. Strickland adds that the leading candidates for expansion are Houston, led by Tilman J. Fertitta, and Atlanta, led by Vernon Krause. NHL.com’s Kevin Weekes seconded the story, sharing that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the NHL grow to between 34 and 36 teams.

Adding the pair of southern cities to the NHL would maintain the balance between conferences, but it could throw off Divisional alignment. Every division currently holds eight teams, but additions in Houston and Atlanta could push the Central and Atlantic Divisions, respectively, up to nine. That could be an incentive for further expansion in the future, assuming the NHL keeps their structure the same.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Calgary Flames have hired longtime Flame Matt Stajan as a skills consultant. Stajan spent nine years with the Flames from 2009 to 2018 – the final years of his 15-year, 1,003-game career in the NHL. That career kicked off with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who drafted Stajan in the second round of 2002 and elevated him to the NHL two seasons later. He quickly became known for his reliable two-way play down the lineup, even briefly flirting with strong scoring with 55 and 57 points in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Those stood as career-highs, but Stajan’s responsible play carried into Calgary, earning him a consistent third-line role during an era of flux for the Flames. He’ll now bring that hockey IQ to the coaching stage, looking to support Calgary as they once again enter a new era.
  • New Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has shared that William Nylander will start training camp at center, with Max Domi on his wing, shares David Alter of The Hockey News. Nylander has flirted with a center role throughout his nine-year career, but hasn’t fully absorbed the role over John Tavares. Nylander was impressive at the faceoff dot when he did take draws, recording a 51.4 faceoff percentage in 2017-18, his only year taking more than 400 faceoffs in a season. On his career, Nylander has won 963 of a possible 1,909 faceoffs, good for a 50.4 percentage. Domi will offer helpful support in the event that Nylander struggles in the new role, boasting a 52.5 faceoff percentage over the last two seasons.
  • Pavel Buchnevich will also move from the wing to center, shares Matthew DeFranks of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Buchnevich has been much less successful at the faceoff dot, winning just 37.4 of his 206 faceoffs last season. He’s one of St. Louis’ most prolific scorers, forming a strong trio with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. But center depth is a sudden concern for the Blues, with players like Brayden Schenn taking a recent step back and prospects like Nikita Alexandrov failing to emerge. The Blues will look to mitigate that lacking depth by spreading out their star talent to start the year.

Phoenix Land Sale Cancelled Until Coyotes Receive Zoning Permit

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The Arizona Coyotes have, for now, lost their last bit of hope for a new arena, with the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) canceling the Phoenix land auction that was scheduled for June 27th, shares Craig Morgan of Go PHNX (Twitter link).  The Coyotes, now reduced to a short team behind ex-owner Alex Meruelo, were hoping that this land auction would provide the ground for their new arena – one fans have been waiting for since the Coyotes were booted from Gila River Arena in 2022.

But once again, the Coyotes seem to be missing logistical steps, with the ASLD sharing that the Coyotes’ arena proposal would require a Special Use Permit that the team hasn’t yet filed for. Morgan adds that the Coyotes were under the impression that the land had already been zoned, though reports from the Spring emphasize that wasn’t the case (Twitter link). It won’t be until the Coyotes have received that zoning permit that the ASLD will move forward with the land auction. This will include going through a formal process with the City of Phoenix’s Planning and Development Department, including a vote from the city’s Board of Adjustment.

In other words, the Coyotes seem a long way out from even considering buying more land in their old namesake city. The permit application process can take upwards of two or three months, depending on Board activity, effectively sidelining the Coyotes while the succeeding Utah Hockey Club settles into the league. No representatives from the prevailing Coyotes organization have yet commented on this matter, leaving it unclear as to whether the team intends to move forward with the land purchase at all now.

More importantly, the NHL hasn’t commented on this setback. The team previously shared that Meruelo was grandfathered into NHL ownership should he compile the pieces necessary to build an arena. But he’s now moving backward in that quest, with no indication of the next steps. That uncertainty won’t be able to stick around for much longer if Meruelo really does want to bring hockey back to the desert – with plenty of other cities – like Houston, Quebec City, and Atlanta – vying for NHL expansion of their own.

Atlanta-Based Owners Request Initiation Of Formal NHL Expansion Process

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Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, a new Atlanta-based ownership group named Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment Group, led by former NHL player Anson Carter, has formally requested the NHL begin an expansion process that would bring the league back to Atlanta, GA. Aside from Carter, the group is also composed of Neil Leibman of Top Tier Sports, Peter Simon of Simon Sports, and Aaron Zeigler of Zeigler Automotive Group.

Mentioning that discussions for an Atlanta-area expansion have been ongoing since 2019 with Commissioner Gary Bettman, the ownership group has also created a partnership with New York Life in the hopes of using the North Point location in Alpharetta, GA. The location would be around 30 miles north of central Atlanta, and about 20 miles northeast of the recently built Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves of the MLB.

Atlanta has not seen an NHL team since the 2010-11 season when the team was purchased by True North Sports & Entertainment for a reported $170MM and subsequently moved to Winnipeg to create the second version of the Winnipeg Jets. Before the Thrashers began play in the 1999-00 NHL season, Atlanta had not seen an NHL team since the 1979-80 season, with the Atlanta Flames becoming the Calgary Flames only a year later.

If the NHL Board of Governors is not warm to the idea of expansion, the new ownership group could also look to relocate a current NHL organization, namely the Arizona Coyotes. After reportedly securing a land parcel in the Phoenix area, the Coyotes organization has been extremely quiet about their future home in Arizona. Given that the Seattle Kraken paid a reported $650MM to become the 32nd team in the league, it may be more financially prudent for the Atlanta-based ownership group to relocate.

Houston Rockets Owner Tilman Fertitta Hoping To Add An NHL Team

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The owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Tilman Fertitta, is reportedly in talks with the NHL about bringing a team to Texas’ biggest city, Bloomberg reports (subscription required). The NHL is the last of the major male sports leagues to not have a team in Houston, with the NBA, NFL, MLB, and MLS all existing in the city since 2005. Fertitta told Bloomberg, “We are talking to the NHL, but it’s got to be good for both of us… We just know that when there’s a concert downtown, how it activates downtown, we know what the Astros do for downtown, we know what even soccer does for downtown.”

Fertitta mentions that he’s been discussing an NHL team with the league ever since his acquisition of the Rockets in 2017, but that talks have recently ramped up – even sharing that he’s received interest from Houston suburbs willing to host a team, though Fertitta would prefer to keep the arena downtown. Fertitta’s Rockets currently play out of the Toyota Center, which recently underwent renovations to make it suitable for a hockey team.

Houston has been named as one of six cities interested in potential NHL expansion, with Salt Lake City, Utah, requesting official initiation of an NHL expansion process. The request was made by the Smith Entertainment Group, which also owns the NBA’s Utah Jazz, as well as teams in both the MLS and NWSL. The NHL called Salt Lake a “promising market” and acknowledged the next steps they’re taking towards making Utah their newest host. Houston may soon enter a similar process, now expressing interest in a team a month after Salt Lake City’s request.

While both cities could make sense for an expansion team, the NHL could also eye them as potential landing spots for the Arizona Coyotes, if the team’s ownership can’t make progress on a new arena soon enough. The NHLPA recently shared that Arizona has missed two deadlines to find a new arena, adding significant pressure to the search. That pressure is no doubt added to now with two billionaire ownership groups with ties to the NBA and other professional sports leagues declaring their interest in an NHL club.

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