The NHL is coming for China.
Or at least that is the goal in mind as NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly gets set for a business trip to the Asian nation.
With China boasting the largest population in the world and a hockey market that remains largely untapped - though the KHL did expand to China in 2016 - the NHL is hoping to enter the region with the hopes of hosting preseason and eventually regular-season games in the country.
"I think it’s fair to say we hope to be in a position to stage NHL games there, probably initially preseason games and then potentially on a longer-term basis, regular-season games," Daly said, according to Puck Daddy's Josh Cooper. "We’re working on that possibility potentially as early as next year and with this visit, we’ll know a lot more about whether we can pull that off or not."
Daly plans to visit the country and set the ground work before NHL commissioner Gary Bettman pays a visit in the spring. All things considered Daly admits nothing is set in stone at this time.
"I think the hope is certainly we’d like to do it for next year, but I’m not in a position as I sit here right now that it’s definitely going to happen for next year and again part of what we’ll be doing when we’re over there is seeing whether it can happen as early as next year," Daly said. "That’s where I’ll leave it. We have a certain scenario in mind with respect to what can be done, we just have to make sure it can be done before we make any announcements."
To add to the allure of hockey in China is the fact that the country will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will take place in the capital of Beijing.
"I think (the Winter Olympics) has created an emphasis on building winter sport in China and obviously we’re a primary winter sport," Daly said. "I think there’s interest and appetite within kind of the governmental circles to make efforts at building hockey infrastructure and we want to be helpful, as the premier professional hockey league in the world, we want to be helpful in building that infrastructure."
It will be interesting to see if such a deal has any pull on the Pyeongchang games with South Korea and China separated by just a short two-hour flight. A decision on whether NHLers will participate at the 2018 Olympics has still not been made.
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