David Ettedgui reveals how Quebec City can aspire to a Nordiques comeback

There’s a lot of talk about expansion in the NHL right now. After all, sooner rather than later, it’s going to happen.

Right now, the NHL is down to 32 teams. And according to what David Ettedgui, who relies on his sources as a former agent, revealed to Georges Laraque and Stéphane Gonzalez this afternoon, there’s a concrete plan to expand to 36 teams by the end of the decade.

Here’s the link, for those who want to listen.

What we note is that the Coyotes will move to Salt Lake City this year, and then two other cities (he’s talking about Atlanta and Houston) will have their clubs at the same time in 2026. Good luck with the expansion draft.

He believes that the NHL has already decided this and that it’s done for the two most important cities not to have a team. No surprises here.

He goes on to say that the NHL’s plan was to go up to 36 teams by 2029. And from there, four cities would be in the running for the two remaining spots in the process.

Which markets are we talking about?

• Portland
• Kansas City
• Quebec
• Arizona

What you need to know is that Ettedgui repeated what is being said about Arizona: if the current owner of the Coyotes (who is going to sell to Ryan Smith of Utah) manages to build himself an arena by 2029, he’ll have a club.

Gary loves his little Coyotes, we know.

In other words, the NHL would let Kansas City, Portland and Quebec City fight it out for the 36th and final available spot. And after that, it wouldn’t budge for a lick.

Still according to Ettedgui, Kansas City starts with a head start.

As long as Gary Bettman is around, Quebec City is out of luck, we agree. For Quebec City to have a club, in my opinion, the commissioner would have to give way to someone else.Or things would have to go badly wrong in Ottawa?

Ettedgui raises the possibility of an American investor investing money with a local owner to bring back the Nordiques. In his opinion, it’s the only way to have a club in Quebec City.

After all, we don’t have the money in Quebec to pay for expansion. By 2029, at the rate prices are going up, it’ll be over two billion U.S. dollars, maybe…

But hey. In the meantime, there may be Habs games in Quebec City. Maybe…

Breaking news

– Wow.

– Enrico Ciconne wants to see the Habs in Quebec City. [JdeM]

– Pardon?

– Jordan Harris underestimated? [98.5 FM]

– Cole Caufield with the U.S. in a few weeks?

Additional players expected to represent at upcoming world championships include Johnny Gaudreau, Cole Caufield, Tage Thompson, Luke Hughes, Shane Pinto in addition to the names I reported yesterday which included Brady Tkachuk, Seth Jones, and Trevor Zegras. @usahockey

– Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) April 11, 2024