The Dallas Stars might not be Texas' only NHL team for much longer, and now there's an actual timeline attached to that idea.
John Shannon reported that expansion keeps coming up in league conversations, with 2030 as the target, meaning the 2030-31 season would be the debut year.
That's a full four seasons away, but in league expansion terms, that's actually a fast-moving clock once cities start getting named specifically.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly added fuel to this Wednesday night, joining Pierre McGuire and Jimmy Murphy on The Sick Podcast, The Eye Test.
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The conversation turned straight to Texas, and specifically which city ends up as Dallas' in-state rival.
Jimmy Murphy teased the segment ahead of release, framing the real question as Houston versus Austin for that expansion slot.
Dallas sits third overall right now at 50-20-12, riding a five game win streak with a plus-52 goal differential, exactly the kind of season that makes a second Texas franchise look inevitable rather than risky.
Houston and Austin now in the mix for Texas hockey
The league already has proof nontraditional markets can work on this exact timeline of growth. Vegas sits at 39-26-17 for 95 points, still thriving years into its existence.
Utah has climbed to 92 points in its first extended run in the desert, another data point the league can point to when justifying where it expands next.
Houston brings the population and existing arena conversations, a media market that dwarfs plenty of current NHL cities already on the schedule.
Austin brings the growth story and tech money, the kind of energy that doesn't always show up in a straightforward population count.
Daly didn't commit to a firm date beyond the 2030 target Shannon floated, and the podcast stayed focused on framing the debate rather than settling it outright.
That's clearly intentional. Letting speculation build for four more seasons keeps the league in headlines without locking itself into a decision this early.
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A second Texas team by 2030-31 would hand Dallas something it's never had, a real geographic rival with actual stakes attached every single season.
For a franchise playing this well right now, having that rivalry finally exist within the next four years sharpens everything about the Stars' long term picture.
Nothing here is official, and the timeline could easily shift as these conversations continue. But Daly kept this one alive on purpose, and that alone says the league is further along than most fans realize.
Should the NHL expand into Texas again by the 2030-31 season?
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