[getbak]

My reply from the other thread:

Originally Posted by getbak

If they do go to Vegas/elsewhere, they'll likely do the expansion like they did the last time, where they announced the teams all at once, but they didn't start playing until their arenas were built and open.

The new arena behind the NYNY and Monte Carlo casinos is scheduled to open in the spring of 2016. If this does happen, I'd expect the team to start play in the 2016-17 season.

http://www.arenalasvegas.com/about/v...struction.aspx


Something that occurred to me just last week is that this is the longest the NHL has gone without a expansion since the league first expanded from 6 to 12 teams in 1967. The league had 21 teams from the 1979-80 season through the 1990-91 season (12 seasons). The NHL has been at 30 teams since 2000-01. Even if you exclude the lockout year, this will be the 14th season of a 30 team NHL.

The 2016-17 season will be the NHL's centennial, so expanding the league makes sense for that season too.