NEW YORK — Gary Bettman tried to soft-sell it as much as he could, but history suggests there’s very likely a second NHL team coming in Texas.
Think back to December of 2014, when the NHL commissioner announced at a Board of Governors meeting that the league had greenlit a ticket drive in Las Vegas. He warned everyone not to leap to conclusions. Vegas was officially awarded an expansion team in June 2016, just a year and a half later.
We may only have to wait six months for the answer this time around.
Officially, the league on Tuesday said it was dipping its toes in to explore the feasibility of expansion, either to Houston or Austin, with Houston billionaire Dan Friedkin the would-be owner in either scenario.
The NHL will decide in six months whether to proceed further with the expansion process in either city.
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For me, the question is not whether the league is expanding with a 33rd team. It’s simply to which Texas city.
The NHL and Friedkin are trying to figure that part out over the next six months.
“That’s part of the process is to determine what would be best, both for the league and for Dan Friedkin and family,” Bettman said Tuesday. “Both cities will require a new arena. It may be more feasible in one place than the other. And as we dig a little deeper and do the due diligence, we’ll figure out which makes the most sense.”
Of note, Houston is loaded with sports teams while Austin does not have a team in the Big Four major professional sports leagues.
“We tend to specialize in those,” Bettman said. “You’re asking the question that we’re asking, and that’s why this is the framework we’re operating under.”
On the other hand, Houston is the bigger market with the bigger TV audience.
The agreed-upon price for a team between the NHL and Friedkin is $3.5 billion, which would cover both the expansion fee and the cost of a new arena (so roughly a $2 billion expansion fee and $1.5 billion or so to build a new arena).
“We have been in discussions for the better part of two years with the Friedkin family, principally for the last two years about Houston as an expansion opportunity,” Bettman said. “But as we continued to focus with them, particularly on the need for a new arena in Houston, the discussions morphed into also a discussion about Austin, which would also need a new building.
“We are going to work together under the terms — a term sheet that we were able to agree upon — in terms of a framework to consider what makes the most sense moving forward.”
The six-month time frame matches up with the league’s bigger Board of Governors meeting, held every December, the annual meeting where traditionally owners have voted on expansion.
What didn’t happen on Tuesday was an owners vote. Although Bettman said the smaller executive committee was previously fully vetted on the matter.
“We didn’t take a vote,” Bettman said. “We didn’t take a poll. I think it depends on what it is that is ultimately concluded, if anything. The fact is, as we’ve talked about all along, expansion depends on ownership, market, arena, and what does it do to make the league stronger? In that case, if you’re sitting in the room and the first three are checked, those first three boxes, you’ll then say to yourself: What does it do to make the league stronger? Houston, South Texas, is a major market nationally.”
Friedkin, CEO of the Friedkin Group (which is run by his family), owns European soccer clubs AS Roma and Everton, among other ventures.
NHL officials are expected to visit both Austin and Houston over the coming months as part of the feasibility reconnaissance.
Geoff Molson, a member of the owners’ executive committee, had a neutral tone after the meeting when asked about the project of further expanding into Texas.
“It’s just an exploration at this stage,” the Montreal Canadiens owner said. “To me, we’ll see, we’ll see. I don’t really have an opinion right now.”
Molson would like to get more information before forming his opinion.
“For sure, it’s an important decision,” Molson said.
Another NHL governor, who requested anonymity, said he wasn’t sold on the idea of expansion at the moment, although he didn’t expand on why. But he did say he was curious to see how most owners felt about it.
“We had had a pretty extensive discussion with the (owners’) executive committee, and the executive committee has endorsed the framework and what was and what is the term sheet that we’re going to operate under,” Bettman said. “Beyond that, this will be a work in progress. But we’re excited about the opportunity.”
Asked whether the league had broached the subject with the Dallas Stars, it didn’t sound like there was much conversation with the club about it.
“The same as all the other clubs — no different,” Bettman said. “My guess is they’ll think it’s good for hockey in Texas.”
Stars owner Tom Gaglardi was not present at Tuesday’s Board meeting.
Asked about potentially expanding by only one team and going back to an uneven number of teams, Bettman was fine with it.
“When we expanded to Vegas, we were at an odd number,” he said. “Symmetry I don’t think should necessarily govern expansion. You expand if you think it makes sense and enhances what the league has.”
Bettman said there were also updates in the meeting on where things are in terms of expansion interest from Atlanta and Arizona. But those are more on the back burner for now.
“Neither Arizona nor Atlanta are quite as far along in the process as the Friedkin opportunities,” Bettman said.
And if you’re wondering why the league continues to talk to these markets about potential expansion, the answer is simple, aside from the rich expansion fees: The league has seven Canadian teams and feels it must further expand its footprint in the United States, where it has fewer markets covered compared to the MLB, NBA and NFL. That’s what is partly motivating the league to examine expansion, even when some people in and around the game worry about the further erosion of the talent pool.
It feels like the train left the station here on Tuesday when it comes to another NHL team in Texas.
NBA-style player empowerment?
Between Dylan Larkin’s trade request and Brady Tkachuk’s strong-armed move from the Ottawa Senators to the Florida Panthers, there’s been a lot said over the past few days about whether the NHL is entering a new era of stars dictating what they want and where they want to play.
“I think it’s the model of what the NBA has done over the years, where players ask to get traded to particular places and somehow they always make it happen,” Don Waddell, general manager and president of hockey operations for the Columbus Blue Jackets, told The Athletic. “I will say, for myself, if we’re in that position, just because somebody asked for a trade, you don’t always have to make it.”
It’s an interesting comment from Waddell, given the uncertainty when it comes to the future of Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski. To my knowledge, Werenski has not asked for a trade to date. But the expectation is that all parties involved will talk about the player’s future sometime over the next few weeks. The star defenseman has two more years on his deal. So we’ll see where that one goes over time.
The Tkachuk trade out of Ottawa doesn’t give Bettman pause as far as a certain trend developing around the league.
“I think in this particular case, and you always have to look at the circumstances, players want to play for good organizations and winning teams, and sometimes family members want to play together,” Bettman said on Tuesday. “I think his going to Florida in the first instance probably had as much to do with him wanting to play with Matthew as anything else.”
These situations aren’t easy, though, when a player has so much leverage, especially with the power of no-movement clauses and no-trade clauses giving them the right to choose their destination(s) of choice.
“I mean, I think the game is changing, the money’s totally different, and I kind of say, ‘Good for them,’” said Hockey Hall of Fame player Luc Robitaille, the Kings president attending Tuesday’s meeting. “Players earned the right to get these no-move clauses, earned the right to get a contract, because we want them as management, because we believe they’re going to help us. But if it doesn’t work out … usually by the time a player says, ‘I want to get out,’ a lot of stuff has happened that no one knows.
“I think it’s part of the game, and at the same time, it’s their right. If they get a no-move clause, because we want them enough that we’re willing to do that, and then they want to control where they go, I don’t see it as a bad thing. Because as long as everybody works together, I do see in the future that guys may sign shorter-term deals and to control their future a little bit more, which is probably good for both sides. Because if it doesn’t work out, maybe you don’t want to keep doing it. But it’s good for the players, too. If it doesn’t work out his way, he can decide where he wants to go.”
As far as a select group of teams these days that everyone seems to want to play for, some of them in no-tax states, Robitaille downplayed that.
“The no-tax thing, players want to go where they can win,” he said. “I don’t remember 15 years ago players saying they wanted to go to Florida. Now Florida’s good and they want to go to Florida. Same with Tampa. Dallas has been good for a long time, so there’s always been talk that way. Players want to go where they have a chance. It’s more important that you give your team a chance because more players will want to come when you do.”
Babcock hire reaction
The Oilers made Mike Babcock’s coaching hire official on Tuesday, and former Kings head coach D.J. Smith is coming on as a well-paid associate coach.
To say the hire has been controversial would be the understatement of the year. But Jeff Jackson, the CEO of Hockey Operations for the Oilers, says the decision came after much due diligence.
“We did the full analysis after the season on all facets of the organization, and when it came to coaching, we decided that we really thought we needed a certain type of coach for this group, where we’re at with the maturity of the team, and the players that we have,” Jackson told The Athletic. “That group of coaches (that fit that criteria) is not a large group. I’d say it’s probably three or four people. We spoke to three of them. We didn’t speak to one of them. At the end of the day, it was a consultation between (GM) Stan (Bowman) and I, our ownership (Darryl Katz), our (player) leadership group, it was very collaborative.”
Though Jackson would not say, other league sources confirmed that the two other coaches he was referring to having spoken to were Craig Berube and Peter Laviolette. The one, of course, they didn’t have access to was Bruce Cassidy.
“Stan and I started the process with all of these coaches — the coaches that we felt were closest to getting the job, and we wanted to talk to the players, wanted to talk to ownership. That was our process,” Jackson said. “We did a ton of due diligence. We talked to a lot of people. Players talked to a lot of people and to a lot of other players. We felt like we had a really good grasp on it. And when it got to the point where (hiring Babcock) might be a possibility for us, we reached out to (NHL commissioner) Bill Daly to let him know he was a candidate.”
That required the NHL to do its own investigation to follow up on the events in Columbus three years ago that led Babcock to resign his job before even coaching a game.
“The league did its thing and went through that process, and I think it’s a good thing that they did that,” Jackson said. “It was thorough. And it got to the point where they found that there was nothing that would not permit Mike to coach. We felt more comfortable that they had that process, to be honest.”
Still, it’s a hire that has rankled some of the Oilers fan base, and the team knows it.
“You can’t please everyone,” Jackson said. “You can’t please them with coaching hires. You can’t please them with player acquisitions, player signings. As an example, we signed two players (Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy) in the last couple of days, and there’s a lot of positive feedback, and there’s other feedback. You sort of have to understand that that’s how it is now.
“Our goal in Edmonton, with Stan and I and with Darryl’s support, is that we’re trying to win. We were close for two years (making the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and 2025). We had a disappointing first-round exit last season, and we have to be better. So we think Mike and D.J., as a tandem coaching group along with Paul McFarland and the rest of our coaching staff, will give us the best chance to do that.
“He’s a hard coach who brings accountability, but he’s also, in all the time that we spent with him, you sense and you know that he’s learned from stuff that’s happened over the last couple of experiences. It’s important for him to come in and show that he’s learned, and we’re confident that he will.”
As for the NHL, which cleared Babcock last week, Bettman reiterated the league’s position Tuesday.
“Based on our investigation, we concluded there was no basis upon which he should be prohibited from coaching, and his ability to coach depended on an NHL team wanting to have him coach and sign him, which is what Edmonton did,” Bettman said.
Still, the league is on watch.
“We do, and Mr. Babcock knows it because I spoke to him, expect a certain level of decorum and conduct among all NHL personnel, especially head coaches,” Bettman said.
Robitaille on the Kings
The Kings have a new head coach in Peter Laviolette, and his stated intention is to open up the offense.
“How Lavvy wants his team to play and the way he communicates, even though he’s been around a long time, he really seems to match this new era, this new world,” Robitaille told The Athletic. “The Kings have been known to be a great, stingy team. So to be able to open it up a little bit without giving up too much, I think it might help us get over that line that we’ve been trying to reach for a few years now.”
There needs to be a roster to match that new way of thinking for it to work. The retirement of Anze Kopitar only exacerbates the team’s need for offense — and especially an upgrade at center. That’s the top priority for GM Ken Holland.
“I know Ken is talking to everyone and listening,” Robitaille said. “It seems like there’s about 15 teams looking for centers.”
He added that the team could use a little more mobility on the back end as well.
“But that being said, we have a really good set of six wingers, so we want to make sure we protect that; that’s one of our strengths,” Robitaille said. “Ken is looking to see how everything can match between now and September.”
Penguins sale
The Board of Governors also learned of the Pittsburgh Penguins sale closing with the Hoffman family.
“The reported number subject to closing adjustments is between ($1.7 billion) and ($1.75 billion), give or take,” Bettman said. “Actually, the deal was made a year ago, so based on the valuations at that time, that was consistent with what Sportico and Forbes and CNBC were doing, although at the time and even now, I think it was low. Having said that, it’s nice that the Hoffmanns got a good deal, and it’s nice that Fenway in five years doubled its investment.”
