Allan Walsh has never really been one to mince words.

The agent of Vancouver Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek — and a long list of other NHL clients — took to Twitter/X on Thursday evening to offer up a bit of information regarding NHL expansion.

“NHL expansion is coming. Houston and Atlanta,” Walsh wrote in response to an NHL expansion-related report from Sports Illustrated’s Jennifer Streeter.

The last NHL expansion team was the Seattle Kraken in 2021. Before that, it was the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. Prior to Vegas, it was the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, who joined the league ahead of the 2000-01 season.

Many fans have already expressed concern with the idea of the league adding more expansion teams, with most citing worries of a lack of competitive balance and a worsening of the NHL product as a result.

If the NHL does indeed expand to Atlanta, it would be the third time the league has tried to make Georgia’s capital work. The NHL’s first venture in Atlanta, the Flames (1972–1980), failed due to dwindling attendance and financial struggles, forcing a move to Calgary. The Thrashers (1999–2011) collapsed under poor management, dysfunction within the Atlanta Spirit ownership group, and poor on-ice performance, ultimately leading to the team relocating to Winnipeg to become the second NHL version of the Winnipeg Jets in 2011. Atlanta has been rumoured as a possible expansion destination for quite some time now, with multiple ownership groups proposing new arena developments.

Ex-Canuck Anson Carter is involved in the effort to bring the NHL back to Atlanta as well. In March 2024, Carter officially spearheaded a group called Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment (ASE) and submitted a formal request to the NHL to initiate an expansion process for Metro Atlanta. Carter, who has lived in Atlanta since 2009, previously purchased a minority stake in the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators in 2022 and, according to Carter in a 2019 interview, he has been discussing expansion possibilities with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman since 2019.

While we’d heard more concrete information about Atlanta for a while now, we haven’t heard much more than rumours about Austin, and by extension, Houston. The state of Texas already has a team to root for in the Dallas Stars — owned by Vancouver businessman Tom Gaglardi — but will they get another?

Dan Friedkin (head of The Friedkin Group, which owns soccer clubs AS Roma and Everton FC) has emerged as the primary prospective owner for another Texas-based NHL team, and it appears based on Walsh’s tweet that Houston has won the battle with Austin to be selected as the team’s location. In late June, Bettman announced that the NHL entered a formal evaluation period with Friedkin to examine the feasibility of adding a 33rd franchise to Texas. This gave Friedkin exclusive rights to evaluate the feasibility of establishing a 33rd NHL franchise in South Texas.

Adding teams to Atlanta and Houston would bring the NHL up from 32 teams to 34 teams, and it will be interesting to see where the process goes from here. For now, it seems that *checks notes again* Filip Hronek’s agent is someone we should be paying close attention to for the latest rumblings.