from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times,

A funny thing happened on the way to rubber-stamping those two expansion applications the National Hockey League received in July from Quebec City and Las Vegas.

In short, nothing got approved. And the NHL recently confirmed it won’t hold any expansion vote at next month’s board of governors meeting, making January the earliest time frame for approval.

There have been whispers the delay is about the weakened Canadian dollar, Vegas being America’s gambling Mecca, troubled NHL franchises and so on. But the more plausible explanation is that the NHL is avoiding any expansion decision until after an upcoming Seattle City Council vote likely to decide the fate of Chris Han­sen’s proposed Sodo District arena.

That vote, on granting Hansen part of Occidental Avenue South for his arena, is expected by January. No one knows how it will go, only that the lead-up should be politically charged and fiercely contested.

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