from Kristen Shilton of ESPN,
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is confident as ever that the league is in a good place, with no plans to see it expand further in the immediate future.
"We're not in an expansion mode right now," said Bettman on Wednesday, after wrapping up the league's annual GM meetings. "There continues to be a number of people, entities and cities expressing interest in having an NHL franchise where they don't have one, places like Atlanta, like Houston, like Quebec City. But it's not really something, at least right now, that's anywhere close to the front burner for us."
Rumors have swirled about the NHL exploring new cities that might support a team. Atlanta in particular is a popular projection, partly based on its history with the league. The Atlanta Flames were there from 1972-80 before moving to Calgary, and the Thrashers lasted from 1999-2011, when the team relocated to Winnipeg.
Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com,
After three days of discussions at the NHL General Managers meetings, the GMs decided not to recommend any major changes. They even decided not to recommend any tweaks.
All they're going to do is keep thinking about a few tweaks. That's it.
And that, in its own way, is significant.
"Everybody thinks the game's in a really good place," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said as the GM meetings concluded Wednesday, "and it is."
The GM meetings have dealt with problems in the past, such as scoring and checks to the head.
Not this time.
The hot topics, if you could call them that, were video review of pucks over the glass and high-sticking minors, kicked pucks that result in goals and fights after clean hits.
"None of that falls in the category of a problem, and we'll continue to look at them to see what, if anything, makes sense on a change," Bettman said.
The GMs talked about holding players out of the lineup to prevent them from being injured before trades.
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Id like them to address the consistency of the officiating from night to night, and requiring the refs to have press availability after the game. Thatd be nice.
Agreed. At least have more efficient and consistent officiating. The game is fast, and the officials don't the benefit of replays when calling penalties, but it just needs to improve.
Also from Cotsonika,
The NHL has completed the first round of bidding in the sale of the Ottawa Senators, who have received "robust interest in a meaningful and significant way," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday.
"The first round of bidding is in the books," Bettmans said as the NHL general managers meetings concluded. "I'm not prepared to share who or what, but I think everybody involved in the process feels good about the level of interest, both in terms of the number of bidders and the magnitude of interest."
Bettman said the next phase of the process should take a matter of weeks.
"You begin the process of winnowing down the number of interested parties, and while you're reducing the number of parties, you're hopefully increasing the magnitude of their interest for those that are remaining," Bettman said. "No magic there. It's typical for what goes on in the sale of franchises in any sport, but I'm gratified to see the amount of interest."
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