The Future of the NHL in Seattle

Much is made of the NBA and the Sonics possibly returning to Seattle with the arena deal. That's no surprise given the recent history and the current no history of the NHL's third work stoppage under Commissioner Bettman. But in the long ago history, hockey was once in this town and just as Seahawks Stadium was built for NFL football but also for MLS football so too would the new SoDo arena be constructed with an eye toward the return of hockey.

Craig Custance has an informative piece up on ESPN (Insider paywall) about the efforts and plans already being discussed. A relevant excerpt:

Instead, [Don] Levin's plan centers on expansion. And he's optimistic it won't be long after the CBA is settled that the NHL will turn to expansion as the next phase in growing the league.

"I would think three years," [Levin, owner of an AHL team] said.

The NHL's realignment plan, which was agreed upon during last December's board of governors meeting, certainly made it easy to plug in two more franchises. Levin thinks Seattle would be considered one of the front-runners to land a new team.

"There's Quebec and Las Vegas that are also in there," he said.