Bettman says NHL would not take an application from Seattle

Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the National Hockey League, attends the Beyond Sport United 2015 event on July 22, 2015 in Newark City.

The 63 year old executive inked a seven year extension today that will keep him as the league’s top boss until 2022.

Bettman on Saturday said that recommendation would come in three forms: expand by one team, by two teams, or not to expand at all.

It’s interesting to note that since Bettman took over, no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup.

Commissioner Gary Bettman addressed numerous concerns at his annual state of the League press conference Saturday night, one of which is the hot topic of NHL expansion.

“The executive committee, which is the group of owners charged with making the study and going through the process and ultimately making a recommendation to the Board of Governors, met two weeks ago”, Commissioner Bettman said.

Bettman insisted that Seattle is not in the running to get a team, the paper reported.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about the subject”, Bettman said during his media availability. “I know people are getting exhausted of hearing me say that but I think being patient and not saying much is the best way to go”. “I think we’re a little too reliant on the broadcasters right now on offside and actually we’re going to test some camera work this weekend to see if we can get a more instantaneous, better view from the blue line”. “We’re focused on Quebec City and Las Vegas, so that’s not even on our radar screen”, he said.

“I’ve always said the earliest we’d expand is 17-18 and whatever we do, the clubs need at least a full year of figuring out how to manage their rosters”, Bettman said.

“I think Mr. Foley has done everything he’s been asked to”, Robitaille said.

Bettman declined to comment on Scott’s revelation in his article for The Players Tribune that someone from the league asked him if his kids “would be proud of him”, if he participated here this weekend.

The next scheduled board of governors meeting isn’t until June, but Bettman allowed on Saturday for the possibility of calling a special owners meeting to vote on expansion before then if indeed that’s what the executive committee believes is the right course of action. And they want to make sure if a new team or teams come on board that they’re competitive which is very important to the league.

Bettman said that couldn’t be further from the truth, and in fact at this point the National Hockey League will not allow another city into the current expansion process, which includes Las Vegas and Quebec City as the applicants. “But people have had to adjust to going to a different place”.