[Senator Clay Davis]

The problem with expansion (besides diluting the product by having more teams) is there are two teams that could easily be moved right now in Arizona and Florida, where hockey has never and will never succeed. I think a Las Vegas team has at best a 20% chance of succeeding long term. There's a good chance the NBA ultimately ends up there which I think kills the NHL as I don't see more than 1 sports team being able to have sufficient local support to succeed there. Fans travelling to Vegas for games will only happen for certain teams (namely the Canadian ones), and that amounts to maybe 8 home games a year.

Makes more sense to move Arizona to Seattle and Florida to Quebec City. Doesn't change the conference gap but so what? Can't change the fact hockey's American base of popularity is the Northeast, and punishing a team with a more brutal travel schedule doesn't seem all that fair either.