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2034/35 Offseason
The commissioner sat staring at the printed list of unsigned free agents in front of him on his desk. He flicked to the second page and asked, "So all of these free agents sat out the whole season and didn't sign with anyone?"
There was a moment of silence until the assistant commissioner cleared his throat and replied, "Yes sir, that's the problem. It makes the league look bad that big-name players just stayed home for a year. It makes it seem like the league's financials are messed up."
The commissioner furrowed his brow and thought, "What to do? What to do?"
Suddenly, he had a eureka moment. He sat back in his chair, smiling, and announced to the staff milling about his office, "What we have here is a supply and demand problem. We've got too much supply and not enough demand. What we need to do is ensure there's more demand."
He sat back smugly, waiting while his staff looked at each other trying to work out what he meant.
"What we need, ladies and gentlemen, is a good old-fashioned expansion."
And so it was decided: the current 36-team NHL with four divisions of nine teams would become a new 40-team NHL with four divisions of ten teams. The four new teams would need to sign free agents, they'd be on the unsigned free agents like dogs on turnips. Hey presto, issue solved. For a few years anyway.
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