Poker star and Las Vegas resident Daniel Negreanu was in Barcelona, Spain, when he first heard about the serious possibility of Las Vegas landing an NHL expansion team.

“I saw the rumor and was jumping up and down like a kid. ‘We’re getting hockey! We’re getting hockey!’” Negreanu said, when we chatted by phone late Wednesday night.

Now, we know how Gary Bettman would react. He’d warn Negreanu not to make too much out of the news last week that Bill Foley is undertaking a Las Vegas season-ticket drive, starting in February. He’d say, as he has said to all of us, that the news requires a deep breath and a high level of precision and understanding.

Negreanu can’t help it. He’s excited.

The Toronto native, who counts Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak among his friends, said he's not the only one who is excited. Not surprisingly, there’s a crossover of sports fans in the Las Vegas poker community who love the idea, too.

But I called Negreanu because, his fandom aside, he has an analytical brain. He calculates odds for a living. He knows hockey, and he knows Las Vegas as a market.

So, what are the odds the NHL will expand to Las Vegas?

He actually has an answer. A quite exact answer.

“I have it at a 92 percent chance of success. If I were to bet it, it would be a 9-to-1 [favorite]. This city is starved for a sports franchise,” Negreanu said. “I think the city will rally around the team.”

And if it happens, he likes its chances of succeeding. Although many people have drawn a comparison between Las Vegas and the Arizona Coyotes, Negreanu sees more in common with a franchise such as the San Jose Sharks, where a city has embraced its only professional sports team.

He also thinks it will become a destination vacation for hockey fans all over the States and Canada. The weekend the Flames play in Vegas, Calgary fans will hit Sin City.

When the Bruins come to town, so will a bunch of Boston fans. If you’re going to do a hockey road trip to see your favorite team, it’s hard to beat Las Vegas as the city of choice.

“They’re going to come to Vegas, go to the game, do some gambling, make it like a vacation,” Negreanu said. “They’ll use it as an excuse to come to Vegas.”

He’s convinced enough that it’ll work that he’s willing to put money behind it. Although he doesn’t have close ties with the group that includes Foley and the Maloof family, he plans to reach out to the group to try to invest in a stake of the team when it gets closer to becoming a reality.

“As soon as the thing starts to move, I’m going to ramp up my initiation of contact and see,” he said. At the very least, he’ll be a season-ticket holder. Now, the league just needs to find 10,000 more just like him.

Notes from around the league

• Negreanu is a die-hard Maple Leafs fan and lit up when talking about their most recent success. “It was so important that they crush the home stretch. They are on the road a lot in January,” he said. “What I love about what they’re doing on the power play is they’re moving the puck quickly. Kessel is underrated as a passer. The puck goes to him and it’s on his stick to someone else.” Negreanu mentioned Kessel and Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo as the hockey players who are the best at poker. Kessel had a 1 percent piece of Negreanu’s entry in this summer’s One Drop event, in which Negreanu won over $8 million by finishing second. That’s a nice little investment by Phil. Asked for the book on Kessel the poker player, here’s what Negreanu shared: “He really wants to get better. He’s a competitive guy in everything … . He’s tricky. Much like in hockey, he’s creative. He tries to do things you don’t expect.”

• Give credit to Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff for throwing his team a life preserver in Thursday’s trade for defenseman Jay Harrison. That he got Carolina to retain 30 percent of the salary is nice, too. It’s a Band-Aid solution for a defense that has lost its top four to injury and has played well enough for its general manager to reward the players with reinforcements. But don’t confuse Thursday’s deal with a signal that the Jets are going to ramp up efforts to make a big move this year and make the playoffs. They’ll deal if it helps the team, but there won’t be any trades made that sacrifice the future significantly for short-term gain. Cheveldayoff has been patient and isn’t about to bail on the plan now that it’s starting to pay dividends.

• The holiday roster freeze kicks in at midnight tonight, so it’s possible we'll see another deal or two as general managers rush to get something done before it’s too late. “It’s a deadline-driven league,” one executive said Thursday. That said, he thinks injuries and GMs in evaluation mode could keep it quiet. “A lot of teams want to wait into the freeze and see how things go through the freeze,” he said. However there are still depth players available. As we know, Buffalo is willing to deal. That hasn’t changed since day one. The Detroit Red Wings have made it clear to other teams that defenseman Brian Lashoff is available. He’s signed at a very reasonable $725,000 through next season, making him attractive to cap teams squeezed but in need of defensive depth. The Boston Bruins are looking to get an NHL forward in return for Matt Bartkowski, signed for $1.25 million this season. The most interesting situation to watch is between Boston and St. Louis. Colleague Pierre LeBrun first reported talks between the two teams, and it’s clear the Blues have enough top-six forwards to fill a big need in Boston. Blues beat writer Jeremy Rutherford, as connected and reliable as there is with that team, suggested Milan Lucic as a St. Louis target.

And now, a few questions from the mailbag:

What are the chances the Columbus Blue Jackets will make a playoff spot? Do you see any move they will make?

Section 221

Columbus, Ohio

Let’s start with the chances. This might be the earliest into a season I’ve referenced one of my favorite websites, SportsClubStats.com, but when it comes to playoff chances it’s the best.

Even with the amazing turnaround and winning streak, the Blue Jackets' chances are still at just 1.7 percent. Now, to be fair, the odds were probably similarly low at this point last season and the team made the postseason.

Let’s say the Jackets need 95 points to get into the playoffs. They would have to go 30-15-6 the rest of the way to get there. It’s not out of the question, especially considering their goalie, but that’s still a pretty tall task for one of the league’s youngest teams. The Blue Jackets are one of my favorite teams to watch and Todd Richards has done a remarkable job there, but I still think they’re on the outside looking in this season.

Anze Kopitar has had a slow start to the season. He seems too young to be on the decline. Will he bounce back this season and how about going forward?

Jeremy

Wilbraham, Massachusetts

In Jeremy’s defense, he submitted this question before Kopitar’s monster five-point game against the Blues on Thursday night. But that game highlights Kopitar’s lack of production this season. The five points were two more than he scored in all of October and just two shy of his November total. Even with that big game, he’s still on pace for just 18 goals and 50 points, a total well off his career averages.

I have zero concern about Kopitar. None. As with many of the Los Angeles Kings, his game shines in the playoffs, where he continually goes toe-to-toe with the best centers in the league and often comes out on top. He’s one of the best two-way centers in hockey, and his numbers will start to come around this season.

At even strength, the Kings' shooting percentage is just 5.94 percent when he’s on the ice. At some point, that is going to jump up and then so will his stats.

Now, all that said, he is 27 years old and this is a young man’s league. He’s going to sign a monster extension this summer, but, like many of the Kings' contracts, it’s going to include years on the decline as he gets into his 30s. It’s something GM Dean Lombardi has to balance as he tries to keep this team together.

How worried should the Sabres fan who purchased a Connor McDavid jersey over the summer be that he will end up on another team?

Jim

Buffalo, New York

I would say fairly concerned, although I don’t believe this recent success the Sabres are enjoying is going to last too much longer. The underlying numbers also suggest the Edmonton Oilers are overdue for success at some point, although, according to the McEichel.com Tank Tracker, they hold a league-high 20 percent chance at landing the No. 1 pick. I like the way Carolina is playing. The Hurricanes are overmatched talentwise, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them string together a few wins here soon. They haven’t gotten much luck so far this season. Don’t sleep on the Coyotes, though. That team isn’t good, and at some point GM Don Maloney is going to move assets for futures and it’s only going to get worse. According to the Tank Tracker, the Coyotes and Sabres are No. 3 and No. 5 in the Tank standings, but I’d put my money on those two horses.