SEA ISLAND, Ga. - Make it 32.

The NHL will officially expand to 32 teams after granting a franchise to Seattle at the Board of Governors meetings on Tuesday. Needing 24 of 31 existing teams to vote "yes" to approve their expansion application, the Seattle ownership group received unanimous 31-0 support from the power brokers gathered at the swanky Cloister resort in coastal Georgia.

The unnamed club is slated to begin play in fall 2021. Seattle will join the Pacific Division and the Arizona Coyotes will move to the Central Division, ensuring both conferences have 16 teams and every division contains eight teams. Realignment will stop there, and it will not come into effect until the 2021-22 season.

Seattle's ownership group - known officially as the Seattle Hockey Partners - is led by private equity CEO David Bonderman and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer. They are required to pay the league an expansion fee of $650 million, or $150 million more than the Vegas Golden Knights' fee back in 2016.

The group hoped to enter the league in the fall of 2020, but the NHL's concerns about the timeline for extensive arena renovations kicked the club's debut a year down the road. Work being done on KeyArena, the former home of the NBA's SuperSonics, will cost north of $700 million. Another $70 million has been earmarked for a practice facility, with both venues scheduled to open around October 2020.

While the NHL has never stationed a franchise in Seattle, the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association won the 1917 Stanley Cup. Multiple groups have tried to bring a team to the Pacific Northwest hub over the past few decades. This attempt succeeded in large part because it had private financing, an arena plan, and close to 35,000 season ticket deposits.

The NHL is now the second North American pro sports league with 32 teams, joining the NFL. It beat the NBA - widely considered this generation's "it" league - to Las Vegas and will be the lone winter sports league with a presence in Seattle.

The 15th-largest metropolitan area in the United States with a population of 3.867 million, Seattle is home to the NFL's Seahawks and MLB's Mariners. The SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

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Detroit Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha will be sidelined for the next four-to-six weeks after suffering a hand injury, the team announced Tuesday.

Mantha was hurt Sunday during a fight with Patrik Nemeth of the Colorado Avalanche. The 24-year-old will undergo hand surgery Tuesday.

In 27 games, Mantha has picked up nine goals and five assists.

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SEA ISLAND, Ga. - The NHL's board of governors dispersed from a three-hour meeting Monday evening having just discussed a number of league matters that didn't relate to the presumed expansion to Seattle.

Yes, Tuesday - the second and final day of the board's winter meetings - will be reserved for talk about, and a vote on, Seattle becoming the 32nd franchise. However, Monday featured discussions about the arena situation in Ottawa, the fate of another edition of the World Cup of Hockey, and next year's cap.

With that in mind, here are three non-Seattle things we learned on Day 1:

Bettman 'disappointed' with Sens' situation

In a post-meeting scrum with the media, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was asked if he was concerned with the Ottawa Senators' arena situation.

"I would say I'm more disappointed with how this played out, but these are complicated matters," Bettman replied.

Amid attendance woes, the Senators' downtown arena development project is flailing in the wind. Over the past two weeks, owner Eugene Melnyk has filed a $700-million lawsuit against his partner, John Ruddy, while a second interest group has stated they would be willing to take over the development.

There's a chance the downtown project is trashed, forcing the Senators to continue their residency at Canadian Tire Centre, which is located in the nearby suburb of Kanata. It's not ideal, but the league doesn't view the status quo as a terrible Plan B.

"For a whole host of reasons it would be nice (to have a downtown rink)," Bettman said. "But Mr. Melnyk has said if he has to make Canadian Tire Centre work, he can do that."

Added deputy commissioner Bill Daly: "He's the owner of the franchise and you have to defer to his local expertise. So, if he feels like he can make it work there long term, we'll certainly support that."

World Cup 2020 discussions stalled

Pumped for a sequel to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey? Well, you might want to dial it back.

The NHL and NHLPA aren't currently engaged in talks about a fall 2020 tournament. With the clock ticking, Bettman isn't pleased.

"For the last year and a half, two years, we've been anxious to anchor plans for a World Cup, but for whatever reason, the players' association hasn't been prepared to do that," he said.

Of course, any business centered around an event like the World Cup is linked with negotiations over the next CBA. All-star weekend, which goes Jan. 25-26 in San Jose, appears to be the deadline the league has set for the players' association to restart talks.

"If we're going to do a World Cup, and do it with the planning necessary, if we don't know (if the players' association is interested) by the first of the year or (the) all-star (break), then there's no sense in trying to pull off a World Cup for 2020," Bettman said.

"They know the timeframe," he noted later. "The puck's in their end."

Salary cap projected to rise again

The NHL has told its clubs to expect a salary cap of about $83 million for the 2019-20 season.

If the projection becomes reality this coming fall, the NHL will have added $3.5 million to its ceiling and, for the first time, climbed past the $80-million mark.

It's a far cry from the first season of the cap era, where teams could spend just $39 million in 2005-06.

"I think the fact that the salary cap continues to increase means revenue's continued to increase, which means the state of the sport and the business is very healthy, as healthy as it's ever been," Daly said. "And that's good for us, that's good for the players, I think it's good for everybody."

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn

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Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid skipped Monday's game against the Dallas Stars due to an illness.

It marked the first game McDavid has missed since his rookie season, ending a streak of 222 straight regular-season games played, according to Oilers play-by-play announcer Jack Michaels.

The 21-year-old has posted 35 points in 26 games, going pointless in just four contests. Entering Monday's clash with Dallas, McDavid had factored in on 50 percent of the Oilers' goals.

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The potential new NHL franchise in Seattle is expected to begin play in 2021, TSN's Darren Dreger reports.

Dreger clarified that nothing is yet confirmed, but the timeline is expected to be revealed Tuesday when expansion to Seattle is likely to be formally approved at the league's Board of Governors meetings in Georgia.

While it has long been considered likely that Seattle will be awarded the NHL's 32nd team, there had been uncertainty about whether the possible franchise would start playing in 2020-21 or 2021-22.

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Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi was suspended two games on Monday for unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing on Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Calvert, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced.

The incident occurred during Sunday's contest between the two clubs when Bertuzzi grabbed Calvert's stick while sitting on the Red Wings' bench and proceeded to punch him in the face.

The suspension is Bertuzzi's first in the NHL and means he'll be out of the lineup until Saturday's tilt with the New York Islanders.

Bertuzzi is having a productive season with nine goals and 16 points in 27 games.

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The 2019-20 salary cap will be approximately $83 million, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said at the league's Board of Governors meeting Monday, according to theScore's John Matisz.

That would mean a rise of roughly $3.5 million from this season's ceiling of $79.5 million.

Bettman said the final figure could fluctuate, but $83 million is the target.

"It could be a million more, it could be a million less, but if you're focused on a number, the number we told our clubs to focus on was the $83-million range," the commissioner said, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

The salary cap was initially $39 million when it was first introduced before the 2005-06 season.

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Sweden got some good news regarding its blue line for the upcoming World Junior Championship on Monday.

While discussing William Nylander's contract extension, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas noted that Toronto Marlies defenders Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin will be loaned to Sweden for the world juniors, according to Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun.

Liljegren and Sandin, the Maple Leafs' most recent first-round picks, are both playing for Toronto's AHL affiliate. 2017 draft selection Liljegren has eight points in 19 games this season, while Sandin's posted four goals and three assists as a rookie in 12 contests.

The 19-year-old Liljegren played for Sweden at last year's world juniors as the team captured silver, ultimately losing 3-1 in the final to Canada. It'll be Sandin's first taste of the tournament, which kicks off on Boxing Day in Vancouver.

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