Team

Betting

OilersNation has no direct affiliation to the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers Entertainment Group, NHL, or NHLPA

NHL Notebook: Houston mayor pushes for expansion as Devils trade shocks Evangelista

Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

By Zach Laing

Sep 3, 2026, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 3, 2026, 18:30 EDT

Comments

Get ready, hockey fans: NHL expansion could be coming soon.

The mayor of Houston, Tex., John Whitmire, revealed in an exclusive interview with the Sporting News earlier this week that his office has been engaged with local stakeholders as the state looks to bring a second NHL team to it.

“We’re ready. In fact, we’re talking to multiple parties that are interested,” he said. “So when we get a proposal, if the city can do something to a system, we’ll be there. We’ll definitely be a better location than Austin.”

It wouldn’t be the first time that pro hockey was in the city, as they were home to the World Hockey Association’s Houston Aeros from 1972 through 1978, winning the league’s Avco World Trophy twice in 1974 and 1975, with hockey legend Gordie Howe leading the way. In later years, the Aeros played in the International Hockey League and American Hockey League from 1994 through 2013.

Things could move fast, as last month in Germany, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed Houston-based billionaire Dan Firedkin had agreed to pay a $2-billion expansion fee to bring a team to the city. Friedkin is the chairman and CEO of The Friedkin Group, a private consortium in automotive, luxury hospitality and in sports, holding ownership of professional football clubs AS Roma and Everton F.C..

The city would need a new arena, which Friedkin has already committed to.

“We’re moving forward in Texas,” Daly said. “I expect ultimately we’ll be in a position to bring something to the board to get their view on it. So, that’s proceeding at a pace. We’ll probably get together with the group again in September and kind of see where they are in the process and what they want us to do to help, to the extent they need anything.

“If we finalize that and the board approves it, then (at the) end of this calendar year, we’ll have an announcement that we’re expanding to either Houston or Austin.”

If all goes according to plan, Houston could arrive in the NHL as soon as the 2029-30 season.

Houston has five professional franchises already: the National Football League’s Houston Texans, Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros, the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets, Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo FC, and the National Women’s Soccer League’s Houston Dash.

Evangelista traded to Devils

A Tuesday trade that sent Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators to the New Jersey Devils came as a shock, the winger said Thursday.

“I honestly was pretty surprised,” Evangelista told New Jersey media, via Daily Faceoff. “I was all packed up, and I was actually headed to Nashville (Wednesday) morning. And then my agent kind of gave me like maybe an hour, hour and a half heads up, that something might be going down and to stay by the phone. It was pretty much a shock. I thought I was going back to Nashville. I didn’t quite see it coming.”

The Predators, who drafted him in the second round of the 2020 draft, received a conditional first-round pick and a second-round pick in the 2028 draft.

The 24-year-old is fresh off a breakout season, scoring 12 goals and 56 points in 81 games. He’s entering the final year of a two-year contract paying him $3-million, and is set to become a restricted free agent after this season.

Zach Laing is Daily Faceoff Edmonton’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

Letters to the Editor

Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk

Daily Faceoff Edmonton wants to hear from you, the reader, in our new weekly “Letters to the Editor” segment. Letters can be emailed to Daily Faceoff Edmonton’s managing editor Zach Laing (zach.laing@bettercollective.com), titled “Letters to the Editor.” Please include a letter up to 200 words, including your name and place of residence (city, town, province, or state). Your letters may be edited for length and/or clarity. Letters must be submitted by Sunday morning to be considered for that week’s edition.