If the NHL decides to expand, the American Hockey League will be ready to do the same.

While the NHL continues its due diligence in the Las Vegas and Quebec markets, AHL president and CEO Dave Andrews said there have been discussions to add minor league teams in markets that would make sense logistically for the NHL.

“We would expand with them,” Andrews said. “If there are one or two additional NHL teams, they’re going to need an AHL affiliate, so we would see ourselves expanding in lockstep with the NHL, or certainly at a pace where that NHL expansion team is at a point when it would need a development program, we would want to put a team in place for them. The locations of those teams are going to be dependent on where the expansion franchises go.”

Each NHL franchise has an affiliate in the AHL. It’s a direct feeder pool of talent and a testing ground for the NHL. The 1-to-1 relationship between parent clubs and affiliates is important to the growth and development of both leagues. The AHL is celebrating its 80th season.

“If you look at where we are today with 30 franchises and the markets that we’re in, and the role that we play for the NHL, and the percentage of players in the NHL that have come through [the AHL], I’m very proud of it,” Andrews said. “We’re in as good of a place we have ever been as a league.”