The NHL is heading to Seattle.
In a unanimous vote from the League’s Board of Governors of Tuesday, Seattle was officially awarded the NHL’s 32nd franchise which will begin play during the 2021-22 season according to TSN.
The Seattle expansion vote by the Board of Governors was unanimous, not surprisingly. The NHL has its 32nd team.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 4, 2018
The yet to be named franchise will play in the renovated Key Arena which was previously unsuitable pretty much anything let alone an NHL franchise while the Emerald City continues to try and lure and NBA team back.
As far as Seattle’s new NHL team goes though, they were largely financed by private equity CEO David Bonderman and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer who forked over the $650 million dollar expansion fee along with the roughly $700 million dollars in renovations to the Key Arena.
In any sense, the NHL landing in Seattle has been a longtime coming as it seems the rumors of the Emerald City landing a franchise have been pretty relevant even before Vegas was awarded the Golden Knights. Likewise Seattle does have a hockey history having been the first U.S. city to win the Stanley Cup back in 1917 when they were part of the PCHA as the Metropolitans. Seattle has also been host of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds since the 1980’s.
So with Seattle making their way into the NHL fold the League has already announced a slight divisional realignment that’ll see the Arizona Coyotes move to the Central while Seattle will fall into the Pacific.
From the NHL, realignment once Seattle begins play. Welcome to the jungle, Arizona. pic.twitter.com/hDSEE5SIFZ
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) December 4, 2018
Anyways that divisional alignment seems pretty straight forward. The Coyotes were never really rooted in the Pacific and could find themselves developing a nice territorial rivalry with the likes of Dallas or Colorado. Meanwhile in the Pacific you should get a nice natural rivalry started between Seattle and Vancouver while the newly acquired rivalry between Vegas and Los Angeles continues to be maintained.