Screen Shots: NHL Expansion, Youth Hockey Dog-Pile and Neck Guards

Welcome, once again, to Screen Shots, THN.com’s regular feature in which we take a few different hockey topics and analyze them in short bursts. Onward we go:

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's ability to say very little while leaving his options open was on full display this week when he spoke about NHL expansion during a media availability at the 2023 Global Series in Sweden. Bettman again shot down talk of one-to-two cities getting expansion teams but, at the same time, left the door open for the prospect.

"We get expressions of interest on a regular basis,” Bettman told reporters. “You hear me name Quebec City, Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City, but we're not in expansion mode. We take meetings, we listen, but we're not about to say, 'If you want an expansion team, submit your application by X date.' We're not doing that. That doesn't mean that at some point somebody may create a proposal that we find so intriguing that we decide to explore it and maybe pursue it, but that's not what we're doing now.”

That message is similar to what Bettman has said in recent years before the league expanded to places such as Las Vegas and Seattle, as well as before the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg. The muddy future of the Arizona Coyotes could lead to Houston or Salt Lake City getting a team sooner than later, and after that, cities, including Atlanta and Quebec City, could wind up getting expansion franchises to build from the ground up. 

The Quebec government is already paying the Los Angeles Kings to stage two exhibition games next fall, and we expect those games will be sold out, giving more reason for Quebec City to be a landing spot for a team.

There are many different possibilities in regard to expansion, but the immense amount of money NHL team owners would receive from increasing the number of teams from 32 to 34 – one more team per conference, essentially – makes expansion extremely attractive to the league. It may not happen in a year or two, but what about in five years? That’s a better timeline for growing the league. If that doesn’t happen, many league observers would be surprised.

A dog-pile in a Vancouver Island youth hockey league resulted in a player being hospitalized Monday, and three players in that game were suspended indefinitely for their role in the incident. With 1.3 seconds left, there was a faceoff at center ice, and video footage shows the two centers getting tangled up while the wingers and one of the defenders skated toward and collided into the opposing center.

“It was…literally the dying moments of the game,” Nicki Reich, the president of the Victoria Minor Hockey Association, said to CTV News. “While I don’t feel these kinds behaved in any way that any of us can excuse, I don’t feel that at the heart of it that these kids ever intended to cause this level of injury.”

Despite the reality the kids involved didn’t intend the harm that came from the incident, this is another case where hockey's gatekeepers need to take strong steps to discourage reckless actions either way. The kids’ overzealousness took on a life of its own, and and now the perpetrators need to be punished to make a clear statement about what is and isn't acceptable when trying to get the puck off a faceoff. 

It can’t happen again, and the way that message is underscored is by suspensions and creating learning moments for those suspended and for every youth hockey player. They're still young, and learning the safest and most effective way to go for the puck without letting aggressiveness and emotions go awry will help them become better players moving forward.

Finally, kudos to the U.K. league team that's introduced neck guards immediately. The Kent, U.K., Invicta Dynamos decided its players will wear neck protection in games and practices – one step ahead of the English Ice Hockey Association's rule mandating neck protection as of 2024. That’s only a few weeks away, but it's encouraging to see teams take it one step further and mandate them now.

You never know what can happen on the ice, and insisting on the most protective moves possible is not something that will ever hurt the sport. It’s far better to be safe than sorry (again), and the best advice we can give to other teams is to follow the Dynamos’ lead and protect their players as much as they can. It could save lives, and that’s a move that never should be rejected.