National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the recent expansion scuttlebutt on Tuesday, refuting the rumor that the league would be adding four teams, if not fully shutting the door on the idea.
Gary Bettman denied a 4 teams expension is in the making. Said with a big smile that 1.4B for 4 teams is not enough.
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) September 3, 2014
While four teams does seem a bit much, the addition of two new franchises certainly makes a lot of sense, especially considering the 16-to-14 team ratio from the East to the West.
As such, cities like Las Vegas and Seattle remain on the table as possible expansion destinations, with other cities in the mix if the need arises for relocation.
Nothing appears imminent, but, in this case, smoke definitely seems to point to fire somewhere down the road.