With news about the NHL's increase in revenue, recent news regarding Bettman's interest in NHL expansion has been rampant. It's no secret that Bettman would love to add another high interest American market, and one that has always been thrown around is adding a hockey team back into Atlanta. Per Kevin Weekes on X, it sounds like things are going very smoothly in Atlanta for the development of a new NHL-caliber arena.
Atlanta has already had two shots at having a hockey team, with very poor results. Their most recent attempt at fostering hockey in Atlanta lasted only 12 years, from 1999-2011. The Thrasers were a terrible team over that time, with a record of 342-437-78 over their 12 year span.
It would be very interesting to see how the franchise would pan out with the current expansion team draft being a much better format for the expansion team to succeed than it was back in the 1990s. With the success of the Vegas Golden Knights, it would be very interesting to see how an Atlanta team, whether Thrasers or not, would survive in the city. Even though the building of an arena doesn't guarantee a hockey team, it is a promising step for eager hockey fans in Atlanta.
