NHL’s Bill Daly says league has had talks with Phoenix for potential expansion team

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic that the league has had talks with groups looking to land an expansion team, which includes Phoenix.

Daly said the NHL had talks with groups in Phoenix and Atlanta that are interested in landing the league’s 34th franchise. He added the NHL is on track to award its 33rd franchise to Texas as soon as the end of the year, with Friedkin’s Pursuit Sports already agreeing to pay a $2 billion expansion fee to bring a team to either Houston or Austin with plans to start playing by 2029.

“They’re projecting the ability to start play in 2029-30,” Daly said. “So we will have one down and potentially one to go. We have ongoing discussions both with people in the Phoenix marketplace but also Atlanta, and then we’ll see what comes of those discussions.”

Daly said that the NHL doesn’t feel the need to line up the timing of the two potential expansion franchises similar to the expansions of the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken being four years apart. 

“I think the commissioner’s always asked about, ‘Well, that’s only one (expansion) team, what about the second team?” Daly said. “Certainly if it happened that two could come in the same year that might be more convenient, but I don’t think it’s a barrier if they don’t.”

NHL’s history in Arizona

Arizona previously hosted the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes for 27 seasons (1996-2024). The Coyotes played at then-America West Arena (now Mortgage Matchup Center) for seven seasons before moving to Glendale Arena (now Desert Diamond Arena) in 2003.

The Coyotes then moved to Mullett Arena in Tempe in 2022 for their final two seasons in Arizona under former owner Alex Meruelo. The team’s move to Tempe came after the team was pushed out of a lease of the then-Gila River Arena.

After Meruelo’s ownership group lost a public vote on a plot of land in Tempe to build a new arena and entertainment district in 2023, the team was sold in April 2024 to Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith. The team was then relocated to Salt Lake City. It has since been rebranded as the Utah Mammoth.

As part of the sale of the hockey operations department of the team, there was an agreement between Meruelo and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that would have allowed Meruelo to activate the Coyotes franchise separately within five years. Meruelo then turned his attention to a land auction in north Phoenix, which was later canceled. He eventually gave up the rights to the Coyotes.

In December 2025, members of an advisory panel were named as part of a group that’s focused on bringing an NHL franchise back to Arizona. The panel is chaired by Andrea Doan, the wife of long-time Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan.

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