Deputy NHL Commissioner Bill Daly (left) and commissioner Gary Bettman are eyeing the untapped Chinese market for NHL games. (Photo : Getty Images)
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly will visit China later this month to ascertain the feasibility of holding games in the country.
Daly is hoping to stage NHL preseason games in China as early as next season in preparation for holding regular-season games on a longer-term basis.
TSN's Darren Dreger reported that the Vancouver Canucks and the Los Angeles Kings were looking at staging a preseason game in China as early as next season.
However, Daly couldn't say with 100 percent certainty that a preseason game before the 2017-18 season would happen.
Los Angeles Kings president of business operations Luc Robitaille believes there's a huge opportunity for growth in China since many NHL games are being televised over there.
Daly's trip, considered one of the biggest steps of the NHL in its recent push into China, will set the table for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's expected visit in the early spring.
China attracted NHL's attention after the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics to Beijing.
The country has a total of 1,101 players and 360 combined indoor and outdoor rinks, but the NHL is sure these numbers to go up with the coming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The country's first major pro hockey team, the Kunlun Red Star, is part of Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
The team was officially introduced in Beijing on June 25, less than 10 weeks before the start of the KHL season, in a ceremony attended by Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, and China's Xi Jinping.
On Oct. 27, defenseman Zach Yuen scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory against Khabarovsk, thereby becoming the first Chinese player to score in a league game.
The match merely attracted 721 spectators in a building that can accommodate up to 5,000.
Yuen was born in Vancouver, Canada and was selected in the NHL draft by the Winnipeg Jets.
