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The NHL in Utah is starting to feel inevitable. That was the sense around the league this week when Ryan Smith publicly released a letter to the NHL formally requesting a team.
As one NHL owner told me, "Entry to the NHL is a calculated process which [commissioner] Gary [Bettman] likes control over." Bettman and Smith have struck up a relationship over the past several years. When I asked the team owner what Smith's letter meant, he said: "It's clear this is someone that Gary trusts and is interested in doing business with.