Reports are surfacing that the National Hockey League could be adding four new teams by 2017 including new franchises in Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto and Quebec City. If the expansion occurs, the NHL would have 34 teams.

Howard Bloom of Sports Business News tweeted that the league will be adding four new franchises by 2017 and that those franchises would be in Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto and Quebec City. In the tweet, Bloom said that the NHL would also gain $1.4 billion in franchise fees from the deals.

It's been 15 years since the NHL last expanded and with 16 teams in the east and 14 in the west, adding a team in Vegas and one in Seattle would make sense.

According to Tony Gallagher of Vancouver-based The Province, the Vegas team is "a done deal" according to "sources close to the situation."

The NHL's deputy commissioner Bill Daly was said to have denied the claims.

French-language TVA quoted Daly as saying "It's not in our plans," Daly said in French regarding expanding the NHL from 30 teams. "There is absolutely nothing new on that."

But, the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman who also has dismissed talking about expanding the NHL in the past, visited Seattle in May to get updates on a new proposed arena.

Also, former NHL great Wayne Gretzky's agent denied that "The Great One" is part of a group of investors that is interested in bringing a team to Seattle.

Toronto and Quebec City would make the most sense. Toronto, already has a hockey team, the Maple Leafs, but Canada is hockey-crazy and it's the country's most populous city. The team could even be put in a suburb of Toronto and games would still be packed.

Quebec City is another city where hockey is huge. Quebec City hasn't had a team since the Quebec Nordiques left in 1995 and became the Colorado Avalanche.

Gallagher says: "expansion will be happening, and soon. The only question is how many new cities will be involved."