Daniels Blogpost: NHL Expansion To Seattle And/Or Portland?

For those of us who simply can't get enough of Chris Daniels (stay tuned for a feature story on that phenomenon), we now have The Chris Daniels Blog. Actually, it's existed for a while, but he hasn't used it much. Today's post discusses a theory where the NHL might choose to expand to Seattle and Portland.

Here are a few passages, but I encourage you to read the full article here.

As I reported, Seattle was a ‘Plan B' for the NHL. I can tell you now certain people in Seattle were prepping for a press conference the following week to announce the potential move of the Coyotes franchise. However, it is still not absolutely clear if the NHL would have followed through.

I had a ‘birdie' tell me in July that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was pushing the Board of Governors in June to award an expansion franchise to Seattle at a cost of $275 million. Again, I was on vacation at the time. Mitch Levy of KJR had since tweeted about this.

So, what does that mean for Seattle and Portland in the eyes of the NHL? Are they intrigued by a ‘Cascadia Cup' rivalry between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland. The "hat trick" has been successful for the MLS.

The news isn't all positive in this piece. He confirms a report from the summer that there may have been a competing bid for the Coyotes from Seattle native Paul Allen, who would've whisked the team to Portland. He also mentioned that nothing is certain.