From Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman:

[A] few things haven’t stopped nagging at me since the commissioner’s afternoon media conference. If you go back to the June announcement explaining the process, Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confidently revealed a defined plan.

Now, we’re in a kind of limbo. No one — aside from Bettman, Daly and a few confidants — really understands where it stands and, more importantly, when (or how) it ends.

The obvious answer is: look, there’s at least $500 million to be made here, so don’t kid yourself. Money talks. But Tuesday’s announcement did create some doubt. In three months, we’ve gone from “Step Right Up!” to “Hold Your Horses.”

Despite that, there are some who privately believe Las Vegas is a slam dunk. I won’t go that far, because anything can happen, so put me into the “I believe it’s going to happen” category. It’s in the west, which is shy two teams right now. It’s bold, it will create major buzz, it’s got an owner who wants to get going already and it’s the anchor tenant in an arena owned by people who know how to stage events. If the NHL doesn’t do it, the NBA eventually will.

No matter the concerns about how many hockey fans are there and who will actually attend the games, I’ll be shocked if they don’t say, “We’re going to try it.”

Friedman continues with "30 Thoughts"...