Unexplored markets — not a return to Canada — remain a focus when considering NHL expansion after Vegas and Seattle's successes spurred interest in other cities.

LAS VEGAS — Four years after expanding from 31 to 32 teams — and five months after relocating a team to Utah — NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly suggested the league has no plans of slowing down its North American expansion.

There has already been talk of an ownership group bringing back a team to Atlanta. And ample interest remains in launching franchises in places such as Houston and Kansas City. Even Arizona, which just bid farewell to the Coyotes, is expected to get another team sometime again. 

Add it all up, and the number of teams in the NHL could easily increase to 36 — or more. If so, that would be more than any other North American pro sports league, where the NFL currently has 32 teams, while the NBA and MLB each have 30.

That raises the question: is there a limit?

“As a practical matter, it has to be a ceiling,” Daly said at the NHL/NHLPA Player Media Tour in Las Vegas. “I don't think we're necessarily at that ceiling.”

At the same time, Daly stressed that the NHL is not in a rush to get to 33 or 34 teams anytime soon. While it only took four years for the NHL to go from 31 to 32 teams, there was a 17-year gap before the league expanded to 31 teams. 

“I wouldn't say that we're in the expansion process. I wouldn't even say expansion is a priority,” said Daly. “But I will say that obviously our expansions into Las Vegas and Seattle, which were done separately, have both been very, very successful. And I think it's spurred interest kind of around North America and other potential ownership groups and other potential cities.”

The fact the NHL has so many unexplored markets could fuel that interest. 

Unlike the MLB, which has teams spread evenly across the U.S., the NHL has mostly focused on specific regions. That provides opportunity for growth into places like Vegas, Seattle and Utah, as well as Atlanta, Kansas City and Houston.

“I do think we have an advantage, I would say, over kind of the other professional sports leagues,” Daly said. “We have a disadvantage that leads to an advantage in terms of adding teams. We have seven teams in Canada, and we're really only in the 22 U.S. markets because we have three teams in the New York market and two teams in the L.A. market. And so that means we're at 22 U.S. markets when the other professional sports leagues are basically at 30 or 31 markets. So that means there's market availability, which I think helps.”

Read between the lines, and it doesn’t look like further Canadian expansion is on the NHL’s to-do list. 

That’s bad news for a market like Quebec City, as well as those hoping Toronto gets a second team — though Daly didn’t completely rule out Canada as a future expansion destination.

“Everything has to be considered in that vein,” he said. “Having said that, I think the fact that there wasn't this great hockey following Las Vegas — and yet, we've had a lot of success here — and in Seattle. So that was surprising to a lot of people in terms of how successful that's been. So I do think there are merits to both models.

“And because we already have two cities where we have multiple teams, maybe finding those newer, bigger markets would be better for the overall business.”

As for whether adding two or four more teams would dilute the talent pool in the NHL, Daly is confident there are more than enough good hockey players to fill out future rosters.

“Skill development and hockey development throughout the world, not just North America, has increased to such a point where I think we have plenty of players,” he said. “We have very good players who could play in the National Hockey League. And so I don't think we have that kind of talent dilution ceiling either, at least imminently. There's more than enough talent to go around.”

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