The NHL's BOG meetings continued yesterday in Pebble Beach, and the "question on the mind of most" owners was how potential expansion would impact their teams, according to Frank Seravalli of TSN.ca. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that a league presentation on expansion "took up 15 to 20 minutes" of the two-hour full board meeting and "did not include 'substantive discussions of those issues.'" Bettman: "There are a myriad (of issues), and within that are a lot of sub-issues that have to be addressed. For example: When? What will be the terms of the expansion draft? What would be the terms of an expansion draft if it’s one team or if it’s two teams? What will be the role or the position in the entry draft?" Seravalli noted there "was no salary cap" when the NHL last expanded in '00. If the NHL "does decide to expand this time around, there is concern teams would use the expansion draft as another buyout period of sorts, using it as a chance to cut ties from prohibitive contracts by leaving those high-priced players unprotected." There is also the issue of whether players with no-movement or no-trade clauses "should be open to claims in the expansion draft." Meanwhile, Bettman was "most emphatic when asked about whether the NHL is stalling to see if a legitimate applicant from Seattle could emerge." Bettman: "We're going to go through this process, complete this process one way or the other. ... If we decide at another point in time to re-open expansion, and I'm not saying we would, that's a subsequent decision. This process is this process for these two applicants. Period" (TSN.ca, 12/7). SPORTSNET.ca's Damien Cox wrote this has "been unlike the expansion efforts of the past 25 years in that there was a surge of interest when the NHL announced it was considering expansion, and then a focusing of that interest when only Las Vegas and Quebec City applied, and now...uncertainty." It suggests that some owners are "having second thoughts about the wisdom of adding teams ... or at least that there are some thorny logistical questions here that aren’t close to being answered" (SPORTSNET.ca, 12/7).
IN OTHER NEWS...: TSN's Darren Dreger reported the salary cap "could be as high as" $74.5M (all figures U.S.) next season, which would raise the cap ceiling $3.1M from this season's $71.4M cap -- a 5% increase (TSN.ca, 12/7). Meanwhile, SPORTSNET.ca's Cox reported while the resignation of NHL COO John Collins two weeks ago was "widely seen as a huge loss for the NHL, the league is in no hurry to name a replacement." In fact, all people who reported to Collins "will now report" to Bettman at least for the next few months, and Bettman will "review all the options, including restructuring the marketing department entirely" (SPORTSNET.ca, 12/7).
