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Seattle has not yet submitted an official application to become the NHL's next expansion team, but all signs point toward that being inevitable.

On Tuesday, the city's mayor, Jenny Durkan, met with league commissioner Gary Bettman to discuss Seattle's interest in acquiring a team in the near future. Apparently, that meeting went pretty well, as Mayor Durkan released a statement shortly after. 

"Bringing the NHL to the new Seattle Center Arena is an opportunity of a lifetime for Seattle," said Durkan. "There's no doubt that Seattle is the best sports town in the country with passionate hockey fans. I'm looking forward to working with the ownership group and the NHL to help bring a team -- and the Stanley Cup -- back to Seattle. We will continue to protect taxpayers and seize great opportunities."

For a city who has yet to file the necessary paperwork, it seems Durkan and the city are rather anxious to get going on the expansion process. Heck, they're already talking about bringing a Cup to Seattle and they don't even have any shred of a team yet. This is the culture the Vegas Golden Knights have created with their immediate success.

But, in all seriousness, the NHL to Seattle almost seems like a foregone conclusion at this point. The league, which currently has 31 teams thanks to Vegas sliding into the standings this year, is likely interested in getting to 32 teams as soon as possible. Seattle is a strong (and hungry) sports market that recently approved a $600 million redevelopment deal for KeyArena, the multi-purpose arena located just north of downtown.

Shortly after that renovation deal got approval in early December, the NHL said it would grant Seattle authorization to apply for expansion, and that it was the only city that the league was currently considering. In addition to the $600 million price tag on the arena deal, which will be financed by the Los Angeles-based Oak View Group, Seattle will have to foot a $650 million bill to secure a hockey club from the NHL.