We won’t have to wait for August to hear who the final candidates are for NHL expansion. The league just realized a statement on NHL.com on the issue:

"The deadline for filing an application and proceeding in the NHL expansion process was last night. We can confirm that we have received two applications: one from Bill Foley for a franchise in Las Vegas, Nevada, and one from Quebecor for a franchise in Quebec City, Quebec.”

Las Vegas and Quebec City have been favorites to add a team since the beginning of the process. They both have stadiums, fan bases, supportive cities and owners not afraid to spend money on their NHL teams.

Quebecor, owners of the group that filled out the application to bring a team to Quebec City, plans to bring back the old Nordiques. The Nordiques won the WHA before joining the NHL in 1979. They remained there till 1995 when the team relocated to Colorado to become the Colorado Avalanche, one of the dominant teams in the late 90s early 2000s. The province of Quebec has a long history with hockey, including the Montreal Canadians who have won more Stanley Cups than any other team. The possible revival of the Quebec City vs. Montreal rivalry has to have the interest of the NHL and their weekly Rivalry Night. Quebecor also owns its own TV station and could get large amounts of viewers throughout Quebec.

Las Vegas has been the biggest wild card since the beginning of the Expansion talks. Nobody goes to Vegas to watch TV, and they are not among the leaders of US cities in TV viewership. What they do have working in their advantage is that people come to Vegas to spend money, and going to see a NHL game is a one of a kind experience. They also got 13,000 pledges in their season ticket drive, which shows that the locals are interested in the team.

But what about Seattle and the other cities that want a team:

"We now intend to focus exclusively on the two expansion applications that have been submitted in accordance with the previously announced process. The process we have outlined for qualified applicants includes at least two more stages of documentation submission. We will provide no further updates until there is something substantive to announce."

That does not sound good for Seattle fans that have wanted a team for so long. Three respective ownership groups have come along to try to put together an offer to the NHL, but none of them could get a deal done. Perhaps, the NHL could move the Coyotes to Seattle at a later time and add Quebec City and Las Vegas to make an even 32 teams. However, all of this is just speculation until we hear another statement from the NHL.