Breaking News: Gary Bettman officially announces new expansion team plans to the NHL Board of Governors

This just in, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has informed the NHL's Board of Governor's that the league is investigating the possibility of a new expansion franchise in either Houston or Austin, Texas.

Wow!

That sort of came out of nowhere, didn't it?!

Just earlier this year Bettman told the media that the league is not interested in expansion at this point.

Both Houston and Texas, of course, is no strangers to professional hockey. Houston has a rich history defined by the former Houston Aeros of the WHL and the AHL, while the Austin area has played host to the Dallas Stars' AHL affiliate Texas Stars since 2010.

Professional hockey has a surprisingly rich history in Houston, Texas, despite the city never having secured an NHL franchise. The most famous chapter of that history belongs to the Houston Aeros, a team that helped establish hockey in the American South decades before the NHL expanded into markets such as Dallas, Tampa Bay, and Nashville.

The original Houston Aeros joined the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1972 after the franchise relocated from Dayton, Ohio. The team quickly became one of the league's flagship organizations, playing first at the Sam Houston Coliseum before moving to The Summit in 1975. Remarkably, the Aeros never missed the playoffs during their six seasons of existence and won back-to-back Avco Cup championships in 1974 and 1975, making them one of the WHA's most successful franchises.

The defining moment in Aeros history came in 1973 when the club signed hockey legend Gordie Howe out of retirement. Houston had drafted his sons, Mark and Marty Howe, and successfully convinced "Mr. Hockey" to join them. The Howes became the first father-and-sons trio to play together in professional hockey, instantly making the Aeros one of the sport's biggest attractions. Gordie Howe remained a dominant player despite being in his mid-to-late 40s, helping lead Houston to its two championships and giving the WHA tremendous credibility.

When the WHA merged with the NHL in 1979, the Aeros were not among the teams selected to join the league, bringing an abrupt end to one of Texas' most successful professional sports franchises.

Hockey returned to Houston in 1994 when a new Houston Aeros franchise began play in the International Hockey League before later joining the American Hockey League. This incarnation of the Aeros won the 2003 Calder Cup as the top affiliate of the Minnesota Wild and remained a popular draw until relocating to Iowa in 2013.

Today, Houston remains the largest metropolitan area in North America without an NHL team. Yet the legacy of the Aeros continues to fuel speculation that major-league hockey could someday return to Texas' largest city. The success of both Aeros franchises demonstrated that Houston can support the sport, and many hockey fans still view the Aeros name as the natural identity for any future NHL team.

While Houston has long been considered the most likely destination for a future NHL franchise in Texas, the state's hockey footprint extends beyond the Aeros. In nearby Austin, professional hockey has flourished through the success of the Texas Stars, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Dallas Stars. Established in 2009 and playing in nearby Cedar Park, the Stars quickly became one of the AHL's model franchises, capturing the Calder Cup in 2014 and regularly drawing strong crowds. Their success has helped cultivate a new generation of hockey fans in Central Texas, demonstrating that the sport can thrive well beyond the traditional markets of the northern United States and Canada. Together, the Texas Stars in the Austin area and the Houston Aeros' enduring legacy have helped make Texas one of the most important non-traditional hockey markets in North America, providing a foundation for the continued growth of the game across the state.