Major announcement from Gary Bettman and soon 36 teams in the NHL including the Quebec Nordiques? This was just reported by David Pagnotta

During the NHL All-Star break a few weeks ago in Toronto, there was a lot of talk about the potential expansion file.

Even though Gary Bettman and league officials have been saying for weeks that there is no short-term expansion plan, pretty much all observers agree that sooner or later, there will be new franchises in the league!

That being said, the cities of Houston and Atlanta were identified by Kevin Weeks about a year ago as being the potential 33rd and 34th NHL teams, another well-connected informant went a bit further than that.

According to David Pagnotta, there will be 36 teams in the NHL by 2030!



This is quite a statement on his part and many people will say that's too many teams, but there's a logic in it.

With 34 teams, that makes an odd number of teams per conference with 17 on each side, but with 36, there's a certain balance.

18 teams on each side and there's also a possibility of creating a new division per conference, which would make six teams per division.

For example, the league could create a division that would include Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, Buffalo, and... Quebec!

Okay, this is speculation on my part and some will undoubtedly say a wish, but you have to admit that having 36 teams makes a bit more sense than 34.

That said, we are still far from an announcement by the NHL executives, but we know that several cities have shown their interest in joining the best hockey league in the world and that, again, the hopes of a Nordiques return will come back to the forefront of sports headlines in Quebec.