Gary Bettman’s recent visit to Seattle became big news when word got out he was in town. Later, he’d explain that he was just in the neighborhood, attending playoff games in California, and wanted to see exactly what the latest was with Chris Hansen’s arena deal.

He left with the belief that there was no strong prospect of an arena being built in the short term.

That’s not a problem in Las Vegas.

Ground has already been broken on the 20,000-seat arena on the strip, part of a $375 million project between MGM and AEG.

So in light of the big news Bettman’s visit to Seattle generated, it lends a natural question: When was the last time the NHL’s commissioner was in Las Vegas for business other than the annual NHL awards?

Sitting in his office, Bettman considered the question for a moment.