TORONTO -- NHL expansion is likely coming in the near future, though the league hasnt committed to any official plan just yet. Yairo Munoz . For more than a year, commissioner Gary Bettman has said the NHL is listening when approached by cities interested in acquiring a team even though theres no formal expansion process underway. Amid reports this week indicating solid plans are in place, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said theres "nothing new to report on this subject." "Nothing new has happened," Daly said Wednesday in an email. Status quo doesnt necessarily mean the NHL wont eventually expand to Las Vegas, as the Vancouver Province reported Tuesday was a "done deal." And it doesnt necessarily discount the possibility of adding four teams by 2017, one each in Las Vegas, Seattle and Quebec City and a second in Toronto, as SportsBusinessNews.com reported via Twitter. Getting to 32 teams sooner rather than later would make sense for a league that moved to unbalanced conferences with 16 teams in the East and 14 in the West beginning last season. Las Vegas and Seattle fit geographically. But the NHL has several hurdles to overcome before awarding franchises, including answering arena and ownership questions. MGM and AEG are in the process of building a 20,000-seat facility in Las Vegas that could be ready by the spring of 2017, and either UNLVs Thomas & Mack Center or Orleans Arena could be short-term options. But its still unclear who would own a team in Las Vegas, let alone what could happen to sportsbooks if the NHL is the first major North American professional league to move in there. Seattle, with its vocal and passionate fanbase, has a less-than-ideal arrangement in the short-term with Key Arena. Getting a new building would be crucial to the NHL going to the Pacific Northwest. Chris Hansen, who tried to buy the NBAs Sacramento Kings to move them to Seattle, and Don Levin, owner of the AHLs Chicago Wolves, could head up an ownership group there. Communications giant Quebecor would love to resurrect the Quebec City Nordiques, and Quebecor Arena could be done by the fall of 2015. The Canadian dollar is much stronger than it was in the mid-1990s when the Nordiques moved to Denver, and fans have long been clamouring for the return of the NHL. But Bettman said at the Stanley Cup final in June that he wasnt sure how the NHL would deal with putting another team in the Eastern Conference. The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets were just moved from the West to the East for the 2013-14 season. Quebecor did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney is also a key player in Quebec Citys efforts to get a team back. His assistant said Wednesday he would not comment on the reports. If the NHL did choose to cash in on what SportsBusinessNews.com reported would be roughly US$1.4 billion in expansion fees by expanding to 34 teams by the centennial season of 2017-18, a second team in Toronto could play in the Western Conference. The size of the Toronto market has long made it an interesting possibility, whether the expansion team shares Air Canada Centre with the Maple Leafs or has its own arena. Outgoing MLSE president and CEO Tim Leiweke cast doubt on the report based on his interaction with Bettman on Wednesday morning. "The commissioner and I had other business this morning, so we talked for a while and this came up, and I asked him, Did I miss a meeting? And he laughed and said, Nope," Leiweke said in an interview on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. "This isnt on the agenda right now." Officially, expansion is not on the agenda . But that doesnt stop the speculation. "We listen when people say, Wed like to come visit you and tell you why were interested and where were interested," Bettman said in June. Plenty of cities are interested, including Portland, Hamilton and Kansas City. But even with a new, lucrative Canadian TV deal and growing revenues, the NHL doesnt have to rush into anything. Expansion is tempting because fees dont count toward hockey-related revenue, which gets split between owners and players. Any expansion fee, which could run in the neighbourhood of $300 million or more, depending on the market, would be money the owners dont have to share. Getting to 32 teams -- 16 in the East and 16 in the West -- makes for better playoff math and easier scheduling and would also tie the NHL with the NFL as the leagues with the most teams. Going to 34 would surpass North Americas most popular professional sports league. Any kind of expansion requires approval from the board of governors. The NHL hasnt expanded since 2000, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined the league. With the state of business being pretty good, the league could look to change that in the coming years. "I think if, in fact, we get to a point where theres enough interest in enough places that it warrants consideration, then the board of governors may well invoke a formal expansion process and well look at everything," Bettman said in June. Bruce Sutter . The 27-year-old hit .209 in 86 at-bats last year after missing the 2010 season following surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Tyler Webb ." Those traits were clear to the 24,071 at Olympic Stadium on Saturday as the Impact dominated the scoring chances but settled for a 2-2 draw with the New York Red Bulls in a battle of still-winless Major League Soccer teams. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/custom-junior-fernandez-jersey-large-851q.html . Mars announced Saturday that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will join him as part of his halftime show. Super Bowl halftime performers often have collaborators.LOS ANGELES -- Once they got Matt Cain out of the game, Yasiel Puig and the Los Angeles Dodgers roughed up the San Francisco Giants stellar bullpen. Dee Gordon and Puig broke open a tie game with consecutive RBI doubles in the seventh, Matt Kemp homered in the eighth and the Dodgers beat the NL West-leading Giants 6-2 on Saturday. "Cain pitched a good game and pounded the zone," Kemp said. "He threw strikes, mixed his pitches up well and got them over the plate. We couldnt really get anything off of him. But we waited him out, got him out of there, got to their bullpen and scored some runs at the end for the W." Zack Greinke (6-1) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking three. The right-hander extended his streak to 20 consecutive starts in which hes allowed fewer than three runs -- the longest by any pitcher since the "dead ball" era. "Its always a luxury to have two Cy Young winners at the top of your rotation like Zack and Clayton Kershaw. Thats a plus for our team," Kemp said. "Hopefully theyll continue to stay healthy and keep doing what theyre doing. But we have to do our job as hitters and drive in runs for those guys." The Dodgers took the lead in the seventh against reliever Jeremy Affeldt (0-1) when Drew Butera doubled and scored on Gordons hit inside third base with Pablo Sandoval playing in on the grass with the Dodgers speedy leadoff hitter at bat. Puig then greeted Jean Machi with a ground-rule double into the left field corner. "Thats a bad break," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Pablo had to cover the bunt with two outs. Gordon hit it in a good spot, and the ball just bounced by him." The four runs charged to the Giants bullpen was in sharp contracts to the major league-best 1.75 ERA they brought into the game. Affeldt had pitched 10 2-3 scoreless innings in his 10 previous appearances since coming off the DL on April 16. "They got nicked up a little, but they had been so good and really solid all year," Bochy said. "Its going to happen." Former Giants closer Brian Wilson escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, retiring Hunter Pence on a foul pop to Butera behind the plate after a visit from pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. The Dodggers tacked on two more runs in the bottom half on Kemps leadoff homer against Juan Gutierrez and Buteras sacrifice fly. Bobby Tolan. Cain was charged with two runs, three hits and four walks over five-plus innings in his first start off the disabled list. The three-time All-Star hadnt pitched since April 23 and missed two turns in the rotation because of a cut on the tip of his index finger. He was hurt in the clubhouse kitchen at AT&T Park when he tried to catch a knife that fell out of his hand. Affeldt came on in the sixth with the bases loaded and none out after Cain gave up two walks around a towering single by Puig. Gordon scored on a double-play grounder by Adrian Gonzalez and Kemp followed with an RBI single that tied it 2-all. "It kind of got out of hand in the sixth," Cain said. "I let that inning get away from us and that ended up being a turning point." Greinke escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first by fanning Sandoval, who hasnt driven home a run in 20 games and 68 at-bats since his RBI single against the Dodgers on April 16. He has only two hits in his last 26 at-bats with men in scoring position. The Giants loaded the bases again in the second with none out, and managed to scratch out two runs. Hunter Pence drove in Angel Pagan with a sacrifice fly to centre and Brandon Hicks scored on Buster Poseys single. Less than 24 hours after Dodgers left-hander Paul Maholm broke the left thumb of Giants first baseman Brandon Belt with a pitch, Cain plunked Hanley Ramirez above the left elbow on a 1-2 pitch after Gordon led off the first inning with a single and stole two bases. But Cain escaped the jam, striking out Gonzalez and retiring Kemp on a flyball. NOTES: Dodgers 3B Juan Uribe missed his second straight game with a sore right hamstring -- and for the second straight game his replacement committed a throwing error. Friday it was Justin Turner, and this time it was Chone Figgins. ... Gonzalez is 2 for 31 over his last eight games following a 16-game hitting streak. ... The Dodgers lead the majors with 44 stolen bases, including 24 by Gordon in 27 attempts -- also the most in both leagues. The last time a Dodgers player led the NL in steals was 1976, when current first base coach Davey Lopes won his second straight stolen base crown. ' ' '