The National Hockey League has signed a three-year extension with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to continue bringing its annual postseason awards show to the city.
The league made the announcement Saturday at all-star weekend festivities in Ottawa, Ontario.
This year's awards show will be June 20 at Wynn Las Vegas' Encore Theater. It will be a venue change for the event, which has been staged at the Palms' Pearl Theater for the past three years.
The NHL also announced it would expand its list of local events for fans and visitors throughout the city this year in conjunction with the awards show. League officials said details would be announced in the months ahead.
"Las Vegas knows energy, entertainment and star power — elements that our players display every night," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a release announcing the contract extension. "The city, the Wynn and the Encore Theater will provide a spectacular setting for our end-of-season festivities over the next three years."
Ticket information, travel packages and a list of award nominees and celebrity guests, presenters and entertainers also will be announced in the coming months on the league's website.
The awards show, televised live in the United States on Versus and in Canada on CBC, includes a convergence of the league's best players and entertainers from Hollywood and Las Vegas.
The league hands out several awards at the show, including most valuable player (Hart Trophy), outstanding goaltender (Verzina Trophy), the outstanding defenseman (Norris Trophy), the outstanding rookie (Calder Trophy) and the most outstanding player (Ted Lindsay Award).
Las Vegas first hosted the NHL awards in 2009 after the event was staged for several years in Toronto. Las Vegas also has capitalized on being the home of NASCAR's end-of-the-season award events.
NASCAR and the NHL have found that a Las Vegas event generates strong media attention and fan participation for their sports.
The hosting of the NHL's awards show has occasionally fueled speculation that Las Vegas could be in line for getting an NHL franchise, but the league currently has no expansion plans and last year, one U.S. franchise, the Atlanta Thrashers, moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba.