NHL Met With Group Over Potential Expansion Franchise in New Orleans

Karl Rasmussen | Feb 19, 2025

NHL puck / André Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images

The NHL could be targeting New Orleans as the location for its next expansion franchise.

ESPN's Kevin Weekes reported Wednesday that he was told by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly that the NHL held a meeting at the league offices in New York with a group interested in acquiring a franchise in New Orleans.

There are currently 32 teams in the NHL after the recent expansions into Las Vegas (2017) and Seattle (2021). It's possible that New Orleans could enter the mix to become the 33rd NHL franchise, though it's unclear what the timeline on adding another expansion team would look like. There are several other cities also vying to add a professional hockey team, including Phoenix (which recently saw the Arizona Coyotes depart for Utah), Atlanta, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Houston, as well as other cities in Canada.

There has never been an NHL franchise in New Orleans, though previously the New Orleans Brass were an ECHL team from 1997 to '02 and had affiliations with the San Jose Sharks.

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