Though they’ve been without a team for nearly three decades, Quebec City’s NHL expansion dreams have not dwindled.
Eric Girard, the province’s minister of finance, was in New York City on Tuesday for a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, marking a sign of hope for local hockey fans.
According to Le Journal de Montreal, Bil Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, confirmed that the meeting did take place on Tuesday, after it was cancelled last November. However, the details of the discussion remain private.
With that said, the topic of bringing a second NHL franchise to la bell province almost certainly came up given Girard and Bettman’s past discussions.
Back in October, Girard, who met with Bettman and Daly in 2022, held a press conference in front of Quebec City Hall and promised to remind Bettman of the market’s potential.
“When I go to New York, if Mr. Bettman is in New York when I am there, I take the opportunity to go say hello and remind him that Quebec is a dynamic city with infrastructure,” he said in French.
Quebec City re-entered the expansion conversation last fall when TSN insider Pierre Lebrun reported that it is only a matter of time before new franchises joined the NHL and that Quebec is among the top destinations on Bettman’s list.
Hope seemed lost a few months later, though, when Bettman, during a February press conference, listed six possible expansion cities. His list did not include Quebec.
“If we decide to expand, and Quebec City expresses the type of interests necessary to make it happen, then we’ll review,” the commissioner said to reporters in Toronto.
Known for its hockey passionate fan base, the former home of the Nordiques remains a logical expansion option for obvious reasons.
Quebec’s 18,259-seat Centre Videotron is fully equipped to house an NHL team, often hosting preseason games. Meanwhile, the Remparts, the city’s QMJHL team, draw about 9,700 fans a night — more than double the Arizona Coyotes’ average attendance.
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