It looks like the Quebec Nordiques are just one hurdle away from their return to the NHL.
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Quebecor, the media company behind Quebec City’s bid for a NHL expansion team announced today that the NHL is allowing them to go forward to Phase III of the expansion process. Quebec City is currently ahead of Las Vegas in its attempt to be the thirty-first NHL team. The third phase will involve breaking down all the numbers for the team. Revenue projections and their business plan.
At the rate this expansion discussion is going, The Nordiques could be back in the league by next month. While it would be too late for them to start this season, they would likely have a long time to look at the players they would want to grab in an expansion draft. (Time for the Bruins to hide Quebec native Patrice Bergeron!(They can have Maxime Talbot though.)
The #NHL has retained #Quebecor's candidacy for the 3rd phase of the expansion process. The goal: Bring #Nordiques back to #Québec City
— Québecor (@Quebecor) August 21, 2015
It has been a quick trip down the aisle for the Quebec City bid. Two and a half weeks ago Quebec City (and Las Vegas)were approved for the second phase of the expansion process. Apparently, the National Hockey League seems satisfied with the initial look of the Quebec City market (approx. 800,000). It appears that the league approves of the new stadium in Quebec City(Videotron Centre), and believes the Nordiques would be a healthy franchise right out of the gates.
Puck Prose
Now all they have to do is figure out a way to come up with the proposed $500 million dollar expansion fee that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman suggested at the start of the whole process.
The return of the Quebec Nordiques is a good thing for the NHL. It adds another Canadian team to the league(That makes a whole lot more sense to me than another hockey team in the desert). It will help start to balance out the conferences (although it doesn’t seem right that Quebec will likely end up in the Western Conference, at least for the short term). It gives Bruins fans another set of allies to loathe the Montreal Canadiens with. It could also finally give Jordan Caron a team he could call home.