NHL deputy commissioner details reasons why Quebec City doesn't have a team
The NHL seems intent on adding more expansion teams, but don’t expect one to come to Quebec City any time soon.
It appears the league has set its eyes on adding another NHL club to Texas. Commissioner Gary Bettman announced back in June that the league was working with billionaire Dan Friedkin and the Friedkin Group to explore either Austin or Houston as sites for a potential NHL expansion team.
The news came as a disappointment to those wanting another team north of the border in Canada, particularly in Quebec City. The capital of Quebec has been without an NHL team ever since the Nordiques relocated to become the Colorado Avalanche in 1995.
It appears to be a market hungry for hockey, and they have an 18,259-seat NHL-ready arena in the Centre Vidéotron ready to host a team. So why has it been snubbed time and time again when it comes to NHL expansion?
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly revealed the reason on a recent episode of The Sick Podcast with Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy.
“I think the biggest issue that we’ve faced with Quebec City is we have not identified an owner who either is willing to pay the price tag to put a team in Quebec City or is willing to operate a franchise long-term in Quebec City,” Daly said.
The Canadian dollar being weak has been frequently brought up over the years as another reason why the NHL has continuously avoided expanding into Canada. When pressed on whether this is an issue, Daly downplayed it.
Instead, he revealed that the league has actually kept conversations going with Quebec for the past decade, ever since the NHL expanded to Vegas in 2016.
“[The Canadian dollar] presents some challenges, no doubt about that, but the state of our game in Canada and each of our Canadian cities is strong and continues to be strong… I certainly don’t think that’s an obstacle that can’t be overcome,” Daly said. “We’ve been probably exploring Quebec City as an alternative for at least 10 years now. We were doing it in conjunction with Las Vegas at the time.
“We’ve continued our conversations and meetings and explorations with Quebec [City] and those who want a franchise in Quebec [City], but we’ve not identified an owner, or a willing owner at this point.”
The last time the league added a new team to Canada was back in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Manitoba to become the Winnipeg Jets. The last Canadian expansion team came all the way back in 1990 when Ottawa was awarded a team, with the Senators starting play in the 1992-93 season.
Since then, the league has added a total of eight expansion teams in Florida, Anaheim, Nashville, Columbus, Minnesota, Atlanta, Vegas and Seattle.
Quebec City is currently home to the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts, which led the league with an average attendance of 9,381 fans this past season.