“Groups” ready to help Nordiques return, says Philippe Boucher

At a press conference last week, Gary Bettman discussed the possibility of NHL expansion.

It made headlines, because the league commissioner began naming the cities that have shown interest in hosting a team…

And he didn’t mention Quebec City. It took a question from a journalist for Bettman to bring up Quebec City, at which point many thought that the NHL simply wasn’t interested in this idea, which has been around for so many years.

This morning, my colleague Charles-Alexis Brisebois wrote an article on the subject, because we’ve learned that the Minister of Finance, Éric Girard, is going to help Pierre-Karl Péladeau form a consortium with the aim of bringing the NHL back to Quebec City.

It makes sense… And in all this, it’s also (really) interesting to note that Philippe Boucher said on the “Dupont le matin” show (FM93 ) that there are groups “already formed” that have a cheque and are ready to help in the process of a possible expansion :

There are people, there are groups already formed who have a cheque, who are ready to give to Gary Bettman. – Philippe Boucher

NEW | Expansion et #Nordiques: selon Philippe Boucher “il y a des groupes déjà formés qui ont un chèque, qui sont prêts à donner à Gary Bettman” #LNH #villedequebec https://t.co/z0ECdjaqWL

– FM93 Québec (@fm93quebec) February 5, 2024

It’s especially interesting because it revives hope for a moment.

Of course, there are many who would like to see the NHL return to Quebec City… But as Philippe Boucher points out in his speech, it’s going to take some willingness on the part of the National League too.

And that seems to be the problem.

It’s all well and good to have the money to go ahead with the project, especially since the Centre Vidéotron was built to accommodate a team almost 10 years ago…

But if Gary Bettman and his associates aren’t interested in the idea, it’s never going to work.

Boring to say, but they’re the ones who make the decisions at the end of the day, after all.