Breaking: Major developments point to NHL expansion.

The process has been so long that for many fans the talk of expansion in the National Hockey League is no longer at the forefront of their conciousness, but perhaps it should be, because it's likely to have a significant impact on every NHL roster.

TSN hockey insider Bob McKenzie has been dropping some very big clues this morning on the topic of NHL expansion, and it certainly sounds like the NHL is moving towards that eventuality. In fact according to McKenzie the League is already recruiting people to help them prepare for an expansion draft.

"Ex Vancouver assistant GM Laurence Gilman was retained by the NHL to help come up with potential expansion draft scenarios/procedures/rules," said McKenzie via social media. "Other former NHL GMs may also be brought into process to continue to refine the process."

McKenzie has stated that the NHL's deputy commissioner will be speaking with general managers in the not so distant future, as early as this week in fact, about different possibilities regarding the expansion draft.

"Deputy commissioner Bill Daly is expected to discuss potential expansion draft possibilities with GMs this week."

There's also the matter of what it's going to cost other teams in terms of their one ice product, and that's quite likely going to be the part that hurts NHL general managers and their fan bases the most. It appears the NHL plans to make sure expansion teams will be able to field competitive rosters, and that will mean at the expense of opposing franchises.

"I’m not sure what the specifics would be, but everything I’ve heard suggests teams might lose a good player along the way," said McKenzie as per Nichols on Hockey

With all that said, McKenzie made sure to point out that the NHL has not officially committed to expansion yet, but it certainly sounds like that's the plan based on all this activity.

[pub]