NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly after his visit to China last week "admitted his experience" fueled his "enthusiasm about the league's hopes to establish a footprint in that country," according to Mike Zeisberger of the TORONTO SUN. If Daly and the league "have their way," NHL preseason games could be "held in China as early as this September/October," with the Kings and Canucks among the parties reportedly interested. In '04, the Rockets played a two-game exhibition series against the Kings, the NBA's "first such contests held in China." Those events gave the NBA the "type of momentum in China that Daly hopes hockey will enjoy via similar pre-season contests." Daly said, "In my three days there, part of the process was working on moving the (pre-season) game project along." He added, "Everybody is excited about the prospect of NHL teams coming over. So we’re obviously trying to make that happen as soon as possible. We’re still holding out hope it can happen (this year), but if that doesn’t happen I expect it’ll happen the following year." Meanwhile, Daly said there is "a lot of interest" coming from corporate sponsors "wanting to connect with the NHL." Zeisberger noted Daly and the league last week completed a five-year partnership deal with China-based tech firm Tencent Holdings that will "see the company carry selected NHL games on its video sites and mobile platforms." The league "already has an agreement with China's public broadcaster CCTV to show a cache of NHL contests." The "catalyst for the Chinese government’s interest in hockey revolves around" the '22 Beijing Games, which are being "looked upon to spike the number of people playing hockey there" (TORONTO SUN, 1/25).
