Expansion still being discussed at Board of Governors meetings

Gary Bettman sat down for an interview with Dan Rosen from NHL.com regarding expansion and what was discussed at the Board of Governors meeting.

Bettman mentioned that there still might be a possibility that the league could expand by the 2017-18 season but there are no guarantees that it will. The process is mostly now in the hands of the Executive Committee of the Board and it will be up to them to discuss more on whether or not expansion is needed and wanted.

Bettman goes on to say that the Board has "99 percent of the information they needed and wanted" regarding the two possible expansion cities of Las Vegas and Quebec City.

As much as it might sound like progress, that remains to be seen. Expansion could be an interesting options but having a team like the Florida Panthers who aren't doing all that bad have terrible attendance numbers and have to offer special deals at insane prices just to draw in some fans, it make you wonder if it isn't just better to move a team like that than add another and watch them continue to struggle. We all know Bettman doesn't want to lose any American teams but when you have more fans at local bars to watch a game in Montreal or Toronto than at a Panthers home game, you know there is a problem.