from Stephen Whyno of the CP at the Globe and Mail,

Amid new reports linking the NHL to expansion, most notably to Las Vegas, Gary Bettman again played down the league’s plans to add more teams in the near future.

The commissioner said at Brian Burke’s Prime Time Sports Management Conference on Monday that the board of governors would not hold a vote on expansion at next month’s meeting.

“All I’ll do is continue to report on the levels of interest that are being expressed,” Bettman said. “There’s no effort crying out for immediate expansion. But we are getting expressions of interest. Even if we decided tomorrow we’re going to do it, it still wouldn’t happen for two, three years.”...

Bettman also threw cold water on the possibility that advertisements are coming to NHL jerseys sooner than later. It might be inevitable because of the money available, Bettman conceded, but the league isn’t in any rush.

“We’ll watch what’s going on with other sports and the magnitude of the opportunity,” Bettman said. “But it’s not something that we’re focused on right now because, frankly, I think we’ve got the best uniforms in all of sports. I think this is one of those where we’re never going to be an initiator.

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