The NHL is planning to expand to a 33-team league for the 2029-2030 season. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Hockey News that a new team is being planned for the state of Texas.

The top options for the new NHL team’s home cities are Houston and Austin. Currently, Houston is considered the strongest option, but Austin is also being seriously considered.

– We have agreed on the structure of the arrangements, and we are all working towards it. We hope to finalize the agreements by this December. We also expect that the new team could start playing in the 2029-30 season and that the deal could be completed in early 2029, Daly tells The Hockey News.

Since the 2021-22 season, there have been 32 teams in the NHL. At that time, the Seattle Kraken joined the league as an expansion team.

A potential new team would be the second NHL franchise operating in Texas. Currently, the only NHL team in the state is the Dallas Stars.

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