The NBA's Utah Jazz owners want an NHL team as soon as possible. Adam Proteau discusses their request for a formal expansion process and how it could affect the playoffs.

The prospect of NHL expansion has continued in recent months, although the league is typically playing coy on the topic. But speculation ramped up Wednesday morning with a news release revealing a Salt Lake City potential ownership group has formally requested the NHL initiate a formal expansion process with the intent of bringing a team to the area.

Smith Entertainment Group “envisions a near future where the NHL will thrive in Utah, and we are 100-percent focused on making this happen as soon as possible,” said Ryan Smith, chairman of SEG and governor of the NBA’s Utah Jazz. “We are ready to welcome the NHL and are confident that the time and attention being spent by all parties will bring one of the most exciting and dynamic leagues in the world to our community on a permanent basis.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke on the expansion topic in November, and he used his usual lines about the league not being in expansion mode. He said the same in a Q&A for The Hockey News' Money and Power issue. But there’s a reason why the topic continues to come up – it’s because the prospect of expansion fees in the area of at least $1 billion is almost assuredly too tempting for the team owners to turn down. 

The Salt Lake bid has built momentum behind the scenes since 2022, and Wednesday’s announcement was an indication it’s moving the process into a new gear.

Expansion may not happen in the next couple of years, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s not on the NHL’s horizon. Indeed, the only question many hockey observers have right now is whether expansion delivers one or two franchises to bring the league to either 33 or 34 teams. If Salt Lake City is successful in its expansion bid, it’d be situated in the Western Conference – and a second expansion team would be placed in the Eastern Conference.

Maybe that second team is a Quebec City team or an Atlanta club. Maybe the league decides that Houston deserves an expansion team. The only issue there is a natural divisional rivalry for Houston is the Dallas Stars in the Central Division, and it’s difficult to envision a 34-league team with 18 teams in the Western Conference and 16 in the East. The NHL Players’ Association would probably balk at the competitive imbalance unless there’s a significantly different setup to decide who gets into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

To that end, if there is expansion, we’d like to see the league draw up expanded playoff plans. At the moment, half the NHL gets into the post-season, and if nothing changes, a 34-team league would see that percentage drop below 50 percent. To address that, it might be time that the NHL copies the NBA’s play-in playoff format. That league has the seventh and eighth seeds in each conference face each other, and the ninth and 10th seeds also play each other. The winner of the No. 7 vs No. 8 game moves on, while the loser faces the winner of the No. 9 vs No. 10 game for the final spots.

Why shouldn't the NHL consider it? A play-in system would mean more meaningful games for more teams, and more games mean more profits for owners and players. It makes too much sense for it not to happen.

Some would argue expansion dilutes the quality of the NHL’s entertainment product, and that’s a fair criticism. But parity has never been greater than it is at the moment, and adding two more teams would likely thin the already-thin line between winners and losers. Again, it makes too much sense for the league to keep rejecting the notion of expansion, and the Salt Lake group’s announcement Wednesday makes it obvious that cities are going to be aggressive as they attempt to woo NHL owners to support their bid.

Get ready because, in the next handful of years, NHL expansion is coming.