Huge controversy surrounding Gary Bettman: it is now confirmed that he wants nothing to do with Canada

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David St-Jean
September 11, 2024 (9:57 PM)

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For a long time, it has been felt that Gary Bettman is doing everything he can to keep the spotlight on the United States in the NHL.

While it may not be directly his fault, only one Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since he took office, and that was right when he first arrived in 1993.

The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup then, with Patrick Roy, Guy Carbonneau, and Vincent Damphousse, among others. In short, it's been a very long time. Over 30 years without a Canadian team winning the Cup is starting to seem suspicious.

When it comes to expansions, the situation is no more encouraging. Quebec was competing with Las Vegas for an expansion team and lost. Since then, Quebec has been waiting patiently, while Seattle got its chance, and now Utah is being considered for relocation.

When will the Nordiques return? Will Gary Bettman ever allow it?

With the new expansions being announced, there is hope, but Bill Daly has just thrown cold water on fans in the capital.

"We have seven teams in Canada, and we are actually only in 22 markets in the United States because we have three teams in the New York market and two teams in the Los Angeles market. So that means we are only in 22 markets in the U.S., while other professional leagues are in 30 or 31 markets.

There is therefore availability in American markets, which helps."

- Bill Daly, who added that expansions to Las Vegas and Seattle have been huge successes

According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, the next expansions will be in the United States, and Bill Daly didn't even try to hide it.

This means that if we still want to see the return of the Quebec Nordiques, we should first hope for 36 teams in the NHL, not 34.