Despite a recent trip to Seattle, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says expansion is not currently on the horizon for the league. [url=https://www.cheapbulls.com/]Chicago Bulls Shirts[/url] . In a one-hour interview with TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun on Friday, Bettman discussed a variety of topics,

Despite a recent trip to Seattle, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says expansion is not currently on the horizon for the league. Chicago Bulls Shirts . In a one-hour interview with TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun on Friday, Bettman discussed a variety of topics, including expansion, outdoor games and changes to the NHL draft. When asked about his recently reported trip to Seattle with deputy commissioner Bill Daly, Bettman said the visit simply coincided with being on the west coast for a playoff game in Anaheim. "We had a few hours to kill, we were in the neighborhood, so I figured Id go to Seattle to find out what the building story was," Bettman told LeBrun. "We werent there campaigning, we werent asking for anything, and thats been misreported. Based on the level of interest were getting from lots of people in Seattle and a fair amount of uncertainty and confusion about the building, we decided Lets go find out for ourselves what the story is with the building. And theres no prospect of a building right now." Investor Chris Hansen currently holds the rights with the city of Seattle to build a new arena, however Hansen will not move ahead with the building process until he has secured an NBA franchise. Hansen is not pursuing an NHL team for the arena, but would like to have an NHL team as a tenant of the arena under another owner. "The sense I get is he doesnt want to build a building just to have a tenant," Bettman said. "And since he seems to have things tied up with the city for the next three years, give or take, theres no certainty about a building." Bettmans takeaway from the Seattle tour; that "the possibility of a new arena is at best uncertain." Bettman said he is also aware of the arena being built in Quebec City, as well as the plans for an MGM Arena in Las Vegas, however expansion for his league currently remains off the table. "Things are popping up, but were not in an expansion process. Could we get to one at some point? Maybe. But right now were not focused on going through an expansion process." While the league may not be expanding franchises, expanding fan bases through outdoor games will continue. The commissioner acknowledged that though the number of outdoor games will drop from the record six played last season, the league will play more than one outdoor game in 2014-15. Bettman explained that the elevated number of games this past season stemmed from various circumstances. "This year we used those games in a variety of ways. Part of it was promoting us going into the Olympics, part of it was promoting it coming out. And doing it in New York [around the Super Bowl] with two games...we had to do lots of stuff. Our people did an extraordinary job, but we really taxed things to the limit. But also, interestingly enough, the Olympic break let us set up for more games. So, itll be more than one and less than six next season." As the league continues its tradition of adding excitement with outdoor games, the discussion of adding more excitement to the draft has also come up. "The GMs have asked us whether or not more teams should be eligible for the lottery result moving up more teams and whether or not the odds should be adjusted a little bit. Thats something were looking at," Bettman said. Bettman told LeBrun it would be premature to say if the adjustments would be made in time for the 2015 Draft, but said changes are being contemplated. "We havent finished a proposal thats been circulated... I think if were going to make an adjustment, itll be that more picks are selected by the lottery and we might smooth out the odds a little. But again, thats not something were at yet." The current NHL draft process gives every non-playoff team a chance at the first overall selection, with percentages declining from 25 percent. The 2014 NHL Draft will take place on June 27-28 in Philadelphia. Bulls Jerseys 2019 . Trailing 4-1 in the final set, Sharapova steadied her erratic service game and took command again to beat the 56th-ranked American 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on clay at the Magic Box tennis centre. The ninth-ranked Russian looked to be cruising before McHale broke late in the second set to tie the match and then took her commanding lead in the final set after breaking Sharapova. Custom Chicago Bulls Jerseys . Im very excited about the playoffs, particularly in the Western Conference with amazing match-ups, as well as the wonderful local story in the Toronto Raptors. It should be a blast. Here are my predictions, but based upon my lousy prognostications during the NCAA Tournament, you might be better off going the other way on some of mine - particularly with the Raptors, who I hope and pray are able to win an incredibly difficult match-up. https://www.cheapbulls.com/ . Not to be outdone, Atletico Madrid bettered its title rivals by demolishing 10-man Getafe 7-0 with Diego Costa returning from injury to score with a brilliant bicycle kick. "It was an almost perfect night," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said.Madison, WI - Sam Dekker scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in No. 5 Wisconsins 86-43 win over Nicholls. Dekker scored 13 of those points in the first half for the Badgers (10-1), who led by as much as 45. Josh Gasser added 14 points for Wisconsin, and Nigel Hayes chipped in 12 points and eight boards. Amin Torres scored 14 points off the bench to lead the Colonels (1-5), and Sam McBeath netted nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. Wisconsin owned a 41-26 edge on the boards and outscored Nicholls 36-26 in the paint. The Badgers also scored 19 points off 21 Colonels turnovers. The Colonels never led in what quickly became a blowout. It took over four minutes for Nicholls to get its second basket and then six minutes to get its third. Nicholls started the game 4-of-21 as the Badgers ran out to a 39-8 lead, and it finished the half with an abysmal 24.1 field goal percentage. Well, they are as good as advertised in my opinion, said Colonels coach J.P. Piper. Weve watched a lot of tape, and everything we thought would be a problem for us tonight was in fact a problem for us. Bulls Jerseys China. Meanwhile the Badgers, particularly Dekker and Hayes, could not be stopped. They took a 47-15 lead into the locker room with those two combining for 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Wisconsin combined to shoot 70.4 percent as a team. Overall, I think we were pretty balanced, said Dekker. Its good to get other guys in the game and get them double figure minutes when they may not get to play as much. The Colonels managed to shoot 47.8 percent in the second half, but they fell behind even more. Wisconsins shooting went cold from the field and had to make up for it at the line. The Badgers hit 20-of-26 from the charity stripe to make up for their 33.3 percent second-half performance from the floor. Game Notes This was the first meeting between these teams ... The Badgers held a lead for all but 1:10 in the game ... After a nine-day break for finals, Wisconsin travels to Cal to take on the Golden Bears ... Nicholls next game is against Arkansas-Monitcello on Dec. 16. ' ' '