34 Team NHL Expansion Expected Soon

The NHL wants to continue expanding for a few reasons. While the divisions and number of games against division rivals, conference opponents, and out of conference opponents is perfect right now, bringing in new teams to the NHL creates more money for the owners and league.

According to John Shannon, "I think in the next five years we're going to be at 34 teams. I suspect we're going to see Atlanta come in, let's say, 2028, and then Houston or Phoenix. If Phoenix gets a new arena, in 2030.

Two of the three suggested expansion destinations have already been given at least one chance. Atlanta has had the Flames and Thrashers, both who ended up moving and succeeding elsewhere. Giving them a third chance is risky and not very smart. As for Phoenix, the main reasons for the failure was ownership and the arena location. Fix those two and hockey can succeed in the desert. I is in Vegas and has in Phoenix in the past.

Some say the league is getting watered down with the continuous expansion, but the population of Earth continues to grow, so the talent remains at a high level. Most of the best hockey players in the world are playing in the NHL, but some others dominate other top leagues like the KHL, SHL, and Liiga too.

There are plenty of players that are good enough to play in the NHL that can't even make the cut as is, but then some teams who are very clearly going to lose a lot of games and have a weak roster. While the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken expansions were a good thing, 30-32 teams is the sweet spot. The more teams added, the harder it gets to win and you will start to see more elite talent never take home a Stanley Cup because of it.

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