No NHL expansion voting just yet
TSN: There is a Board of Governors meeting scheduled for next week in New York. Expansion has come up again lately with the cities of Houston and Atlanta being mentioned, but don’t count on there being any voting done on expansion according to Chris Johnston.
“And I was told unequivocally that there’s going to be no expansion votes or no opening of a formal expansion process as part of that meeting. I think what might happen there is perhaps Gary Bettman will update the current league owners on those expressions of interest that the league has been getting from other cities. But at this point in time, it’s still a back-burner issue. I would say for the league. Every reason to believe expansion is coming somewhere down the line, but let’s tap the brakes. It’s not coming here in the immediate future.”
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Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman shoots down any NHL expansion rumors.
“Everything that’s been written in the last week is categorically wrong,” Bettman told the Star on Monday. “We’re not going through an expansion process. And other than updating the board on Oct. 1 as to places that have expressed an interest, there’s nothing else that’s going to be done on expansion.”
Status quo between the Boston Bruins and Jeremy Swayman
TSN: The dialogue continues between the Boston Bruins and RFA goaltender Jeremy Swayman, but as of Tuesday, things were status quo according to Pierre LeBrun. Getting the sense that opening night of the regular season could be the first real deadline.
“The key thing is that Swayman is still very focused on getting an eight-year deal. That’s still the No. 1 priority for him, and the Bruins are looking at a long-term deal as well.
But, you can’t have the Shesterkin discussion without having Swayman tied into it in the sense that they are different negotiations. Swayman, in terms of the collective bargaining agreement, isn’t at the same leverage point because he won’t be a UFA at the end of the year. So, Shesterkin has the higher leverage point.
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But in Swayman, there’s a bit of what I just talked about . Just because all these goalies are signing for whatever they signed for the last couple years, that Swayman can’t find a way to push through.”