Wayne Gretzky picks his next three cities for NHL expansion
During an AMA with Bleacher Report on Thursday, hockey legend and current TNT analyst Wayne Gretzky was asked which three cities are deserving of an NHL franchise.
Gretzky chose Kansas City, Houston, and Quebec City as his three and gave his reasoning as to why.
"I haven't thought about it a whole lot, but just looking at it from a practical point of view, the three that I would say: I think Kansas City because the Chiefs and Royals do so well. I think the city of Houston because the Stars have helped grow hockey down there. The third one that's most obvious is Quebec City. There is nothing like hockey in the province of Quebec. I have no knowledge of this, but those are the ones I'm interested in," Gretzky said.
The NHL has expanded twice in the last five years, granting franchises to Las Vegas, who made their debut in 2017 and Seattle, who are currently in their first season. While there are no plans for NHL expansion in the short-term future, it's certainly interesting to hear what cities 'The Great One' thinks deserve a team.
|
YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||