Gary Bettman and the NHL are to approve two new expansion teams: Cities have been released

Overall the last few years the NHL has introduced a couple of new teams to the league like the the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken, along with transforming the Arizona Coyotes into the Utah Hockey Club instead of making another new expansion team.

However, shortly after the Coyotes were relocated, Gary Bettman and the NHL are set to approve another two teams, bring the total of teams to 34.

As expected the two teams will come out of the US, one coming from Atlanta, Georgia, and the other from Houston, Texas, as they both were top candidates. It's clear that the NHL wants to continue to grow over the years as someone pointed out on X, the joining fees of new teams are rumoured to reach up to $1 billion dollars.

Fans have also pointed out the fact that this will be the THRID time the NHL will return to Atlanta after the first two times didn't workout, but it seems the city and potential new ownership have the support to make it work this time.

It also seems like Canadian fans are not to happy as they were hoping to get an expansion team in Quebec City, but that doesn't look promising.