Seattle's NHL application heading for December vote

Seattle one step closer to getting NHL team Vancouverites are one vote away from having a Canucks rival just down the I5 in Washington state.

The Vancouver Canucks are one step closer to having a rival team just down the I5 in Washington state.

The NHL is heading toward an early December vote on Seattle's expansion application, paving the way for the city to potentially launch a team by the 2020-21 season.

"I think everybody's preference would be sooner rather than later," Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Seattle's one of the fastest growing cities in the country. It gives us a geographic balance, it creates a nice geographic rivalry with Vancouver, and I know Vancouver is particularly excited about the possibility."

The NHL Board of Governors' executive committee made the unanimous decision to continue with Seattle's application on Tuesday, hours after stakeholders presented their case.

Provided renovations to Seattle's KeyArena are completed in time, hopes are high that the yet-unnamed team could hit the ice in two years. If the renovations take longer than expected, Seattle's team could have to delay its launch to 2021-22.

Three-quarters of the league's 32 owners will need to approve the expansion in December's vote, but Bettman said he doesn't expect that to be an issue.

"I don't want to be presumptuous of the board's prerogative, but everything seems to be on track," the commissioner said.

Should the Seattle team be approved, it's likely tickets will be hard to come by and expensive on the resale market. Earlier this year, the team collected 33,000 season ticket deposits of US$500 to US$1,000 in less than 48 hours, then opened up a waitlist for fans who were too slow.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Ben Miljure and The Associated Press