Gary Bettman spoke out about an expansion involving Quebec City, among other things

Everything is already in place to welcome back an NHL team, but the commissioner prefers to keep teams like the Coyotes and the Panthers that are struggling to fill an arena, and that have not made any profit since they entered the NHL.

Twice, Quebec City has been passed over in the expansion process. At least Vegas and Seattle seem to be real success stories for the NHL. So you can't really criticize that.

In connection with an upcoming second round of expansion, Bettman was asked about possible next destinations. The names of Houston and Atlanta have been coming up a lot lately, while Quebec City seems to have been forgotten.

Here is what he had to say:

So these words confirm three interesting things to remember.

1) Quebec City still has interest in an expansion team, and the name even came right out of Bettman's mouth, which is a good thing.

2) Atlanta does want a team back for a third time, even after more than one dismal failure.

3) This is not a priority project for the NHL. So we'll have to be patient before we see the league go to 34 teams.

Basically, there will be a lot of potential market competition when the NHL decides to expand into new cities. It's not very encouraging news at first, but the fact that Bettman mentioned his name among the interested parties still shows some openness.

Credit: LetsGoHabs.com