BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The NHL has continually reminded everyone that there is no strict timeline for expansion -- if, of course, the NHL expands at all.

But in one sense, there is. The earliest the NHL would expand is for the 2017-18 season, and if the league wants to hit that timeline, the clock is ticking.

In a conversation after his session at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed that the league would likely outline what an expansion draft might look like during this week’s GM meetings in Florida.