Another no-tax NHL team is coming and it makes life harder for the Maple Leafs

Gary Bettman and the NHL are exploring expansion options in Texas, which gives the Maple Leafs yet another no-tax team to worry about going forward.

With the NHL experiencing all-time high revenue and an ever-increasing salary cap, things are looking good for the biggest pro hockey league in the world. There's always talks of expansion to drive a bigger American market, and Gary Bettman hasn't been shy about going to great lengths to bring in new cities to the NHL.

The last time the NHL expanded was back when the Seattle Kraken entered the league in 2021, though some may argue that Utah was an expansion though that's certainly a situation that's a lot more complicated than what you see at face value.

The NHL is opening a process to investigate Houston or Austin for an expansion team

Well, it seems like the NHL is still looking to make their waves and expand to the southern United States.

According to reports from both Pierre LeBrun and Elliotte Friedman courtesy of ESPN's Emily Kaplan, the NHL has been in talks to expand the league in include a 33rd team with the location being in Texas - either Austin or Houston:

At NHL Board of Governors, Commissioner Gary Bettman informed the Baord they will be opening a process to investigate Houston or Austin TX for an expansion franchise.

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Also according to Kaplan, the interested party in acquiring an NHL franchise is billionaire Dan Friedkin. Friedkin currently owns AS Roma in the Serie A, as well as the majority stake in Premier League club Everton as part of the Friedkin Group; he is also CEO and chairman of Gulf States Toyota.

There is currently one team in Texas, that being the Dallas Stars and if the league were to expand into Houston it would mark the first time the city has had a hockey franchise since 1978 when they had the Houston Aeros in the WHL.

Friedman also noted that the NHL did have both Atlanta and Arizona mentioned as potential destinations though Houston is currently the frontrunner if the League were to expand:

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Another no-tax market means one more rival with an advantage over Toronto

But that expansion opens up a whole new can of worms for the Toronto Maple Leafs and other teams who aren't in the business of being in a no-tax state. The biggest criticism against several prominent players recently has been their decision to jump ship.

While framed as competitive advantage, there is certainly financial aspects to it all. Florida, Dallas, Vegas, Tampa Bay, Nashville and Seattle are all places with no-tax legislation and would allow players to maximize their earnings.

That makes life hard for Toronto because if there were free agents who were mulling between competing and earning a big pay day. As we've seen previously, expanding doesn't always mean failure right away and they very well could be competitive from the get go.

If so, that's going to draw a lot of faces towards Texas given they can be competitive and earn a ton of money without being taxed. To them it's a win-win and you can't really fault them for wanting to get their bag - who wouldn't?

With that however, Toronto loses a lot of momentum if they want to sign someone because not only is just another team that overloads the amount of teams and players in the league but a lot of desire through no real fault of their own.

Everything's bigger in Texas after all, and that's likely to include NHL contracts in the very near future.

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