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The National Hockey League lockout may continue to cripple the 2012-2013 regular season, but it hasn't stopped rumors of potential expansion -- specifically Canadian expansion -- in the immediate future. Reports by The Edmonton Journal and The Hockey News have referenced the addition of two new teams immediately after the inking of a new collective bargaining agreement.

Via THN's Jason Kay:

There’s strong speculation the NHL could announce two expansion teams for Canada once CBA deal struck: Quebec & Toronto. More in Oct. 29 THN

It's a wildly intriguing comment on an otherwise quiet news wire. Rumors of the addition of a second team in Toronto have increased in regularity over the past half-dozen years, and the fight by Quebec to bring their Nordiques back since the loss of the team in 1995 to Colorado.

Ever since the National Hockey League pieced together their proposal last year for an eight-team, four-division realignment, expansion was all but guaranteed. Still, many would argue that expansion is not what the league needs; rather, that a couple of struggling southern franchises (e.g. Phoenix) should simply be relocated to the north.

If the report is accurate, do you support a potential NHL expansion effort in Canada?

poll by twiigs.com

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