Las Vegas and Quebec City have moved on to what called Commissioner Gary Bettman called "Phase II" of the NHL's expansion plans.
"We're going to move to Phase II, and we've got some work to do," Bettman said Wednesday during a news conference for the Stadium Series game between the Wild and Blackhawks at TCF Bank Stadium.
What that means is that applications from Las Vegas and Quebec City, which included a down payment of $10 million -- $2 million of which is non-refundable -- has been accepted. Next comes what Bettman called "a deliberate process" of sharing financials and market information so that the league may vet the viability of the markets.