NHL Governor on talk of expansion: 'That's going nowhere right now'

As NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly have repeatedly made clear in recent months, the league isn't close to expanding beyond 30 member clubs contrary to multiple reports.

Though the topic was discussed on Tuesday at the NHL's Board of Governor meetings, it was mostly Bettman 'debunking' the myriad reports of imminent NHL expansion to Seattle, Las Vegas, Quebec City, and Toronto.

Following Tuesday's meeting an unnamed NHL Governor added his voice to the chorus of league officials repudiating the notion that expansion is imminent:

Doth the NHL protest too much, or is this legitimately a case of smoke in the absence of fire? 

It's likely the former for now, but the specter of NHL expansion isn't going away so long as expansion fees aren't factored into Hockey Related Revenue, and the league's conferences remain unbalanced (there are 16 Eastern Conference teams at the moment, and only 14 in the West).