NHL: Atlanta before Quebec, really?

Two NHL insiders, Kevin Weekes and John Buccigross, exchanged a few tweets last Wednesday and they quickly caught the attention of fans.

The nature of the tweets: they suggested that Gary Bettman and the NHL would be willing to open their doors to Atlanta and Houston.

No, once again, Quebec City is not part of the speculation!

.@espn @NHL @NHLNetwork @TSNHockey @DKSportsbook #HockeyTwitter https://t.co/g8aLnSVQgJ

— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) March 5, 2023

Obviously, some people have investigated to get the truth and this is the case of the informant Frank Seravalli, who contacted directly Bill Daly, Gary Bettman‘s right hand man.

According to Seravalli’s information gathering, the expansion project is not the NHL’s priority, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t listening to people who are showing interest, such as Atlanta and Houston.

Daly added that none of these cities are ahead of other bids such as Quebec City, Kansas City, Portland and Saskatoon, which are also cities that want to host an NHL franchise.

Nevertheless, according to Weekes, it looks like Atlanta has a head start, even though it lost its Thrashers in 2011, who are now the Winnipeg Jets.

By the way, could the former Winnipeg Jets, the Arizona Coyotes, come to Atlanta?