If either of those happens - my vote is to expand the NCAA. That's the lesser of two evils.
NIT works in basketball because there are 352(?) teams in the nation, and 68 make the NCAA's, with most of the at large bids going to the Power Five's, so that leaves *only* 284 teams left. Having a consolation tourney there works well at giving a handful of other teams who had great seasons a chance to win something, especially when odds were many of them had to win their conference auto-bid in order to get into the big dance and didn't.
College hockey only has 60-ish teams, so an NIT doesn't work because the overall field is much smaller, and they all had a reasonable chance to earn their way in. The only conference that has trouble getting teams in is Atlantic Hockey, whereas basketball has well over a dozen conferences that are often at a similar disadvantage. Not to mention, basketball also has a season of 30-something games, so the sample size of non-conference play is significantly slimmer comparing oneself to 351 other teams versus just 60 others.
Plus, many more hockey players bolt for the pros early compared to basketball (or any other sport). Every year we commonly hear about so-and-so signing with somebody within the first week or two of their team being eliminated. So, since the season is technically already over - their team can no longer win the Natty - some guys wouldn't care about a consolation tourney over a juicy contract. Quite a few NIT teams would probably be missing a few key players eager to leave. To my knowledge, basketball doesn't have that problem.
Expanding the NCAA is the better of the two options, that way those few extra teams are playing for a real prize and wouldn't potentially suffer the aforementioned turnover.
That's my take.
