The TSN Hockey Insiders have the latest on NHL expansion talks, commissioner Gary Bettman’s succession plan, Senators owner Michael Andlauer’s comments about the role Brady Tkachuk’s family played in his departure, and more.
Darren Dreger: Joined by fellow Hockey Insiders, Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnston. Guys, it feels like forever that we keep speculating on expansion in the National Hockey League. We’ve done it for a decade or longer than that. And once again, in our crosshairs is NHL expansion, specific to the state of Texas. Is it Houston? Is it Austin? Chris, this story seemed to be developing and growing some finality to it coming into this board meeting, but now I’m not so sure.
Chris Johnston: No, that sound you heard is the brakes being applied, at least publicly, to how the league, and Bill Daly and Gary Bettman are describing this.
It was only a month ago I sat down with Bill Daly. He made it sound like it was a mere certainty that there would be something to take to the board by their big meeting in December. He even said on the record, effectively, we could have a 33rd team before the end of this calendar year, 2026. Well, now it’s a month on in September, obviously a little deeper in the process, and he’s saying there’s no magic date for when that needs to happen. I think there are a few reasons to highlight for that.
The Friedkin Group is in a non-binding agreement right now with the NHL, still looking at both Austin and Houston and looking at multiple sites still where they could potentially build arenas in one of those cities. They haven’t even communicated to the league which city it’s gonna be at this point in time. So I think what’s happening here is it could be something that goes a little longer than what the league was officially looking at back in June.
That is a change, because where this started when Pierre was here at the June board meeting, it was all systems go, Texas. Now, it’s a little bit of everyone stepping back and saying, “Let’s take our time.”
Dreger: Pierre, I’ll give you credit. Every opportunity you have specifically at the board meetings to ask Commissioner Gary Bettman about a succession plan, when he plans to retire, you take the opportunity, and you ask him, man to man, and he answers. This one was a little bit different. He seemed more open to it, and we all know there’s an undercurrent of owners coming in who procedurally had some questions. All right, are we doing this the right way? I wonder if Bettman’s openness and just the general tone of a succession plan shift with Ted Leonsis taking over as chair of the board now, replacing Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins, and Murray Edwards of the Calgary Flames acting as vice. Bettman seemed to be more open to talking about it.
Pierre LeBrun: Yeah, and listen, it’s not like I’m openly trying to get him fired. It was Craig Leipold, the owner of the Minnesota Wild, who opened this can of worms a few years ago when he said on a podcast that Gary Bettman had started to hint at maybe having a succession plan.
To me, on this day, this was the most transparent the commissioner has been about eventually stepping down. He talked about this being his 35th season as commissioner, about turning 75 by the end of the season, and that he can’t do this job forever.
Yes, he’s annoyed every time I ask him. But I think there’s some finality now in his tone, that this is eventually happening, except he didn’t put a timeline on it.
Johnston: These things don’t tend to happen in this league by accident. This league is now looking forward. Bringing Leonsis into this position as chairman, he’s got a strong tech background. He mentioned that this is the most important part of that job: overseeing the leadership of the NHL. He’s going to oversee that alongside Murray Edwards as this Bettman plan goes along.
The other thing he mentioned is that this is a $150 billion business. He wants to double that in his time here. So this is a league that is all of a sudden now, I think, doing pretty well financially, looking to expand horizons, and some of that inevitably is gonna involve change at the very top of the league.
Dreger: And speaking of change, Pierre, some individual club news. Again, opportunity to connect with Michael Andlauer, the owner of the Ottawa Senators. It hasn’t been an overly taxing, but somewhat challenging off-season, I would say, for the Sens at the start. I guess the positivity comes in a long-term extension for Drake Batherson.
LeBrun: That’s right, dramatic bookends. Obviously a really difficult day when they had to trade Brady Tkachuk, their captain. But at the other end of the summer, getting a core player in Drake Batherson to extend, and I talked about that with Michael Andlauer for a piece in The Athletic on this day.
But really, the key is Brady Tkachuk, as Michael Andlauer said to me, “You know, blood is thicker than water.” He talked about the Tkachuk family. “He had his father and his brother in his kitchen,” and that’s how the owner sees it. It’s still very emotional for him. But I will stress too that he said Brady Tkachuk was a great captain, great in the community, charity work, all those things were real, and Michael Andlauer will not forget that. But it’s still tough for the owner to have make that trade.
Dreger: Well, it’s September in New York and we’re talking about NHL expansion and Gary Bettman’s succession plan. Tune in to December in Florida at the next board meeting, when we’re talking about NHL expansion and Gary Bettman’s succession plan.
