from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

The biggest news in the city of Markham, Ont., Tuesday night was supposed to be a vote on whether or not work would continue on the proposed 20,000-seat GTA Centre.

But former NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly dropped a bombshell.

Kelly, who's been working with W. Graeme Roustan, the "face" of the project, stood up in front of city council and said the NHL not only wanted to expand the league to 32 teams, but had directly discussed doing so with him. Kelly led the union from October 2007-August 2009.

He would not say specifically who told him that. An immediate email to the NHL has yet to be returned.

"I've discussed it with many owners, the commissioner and many players," he said in a conversation after his presentation. "That's given me a strong sense that at some point there will be a second team [in the greater Toronto area].

continued