Speculation: 2020-21 Season Rumors and Facts Thread

[AddyTheWrath]

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Does it include fans in the arenas?

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

NBA doing everything they can to mitigate their massive losses
Christmas Day games are huge ratings and moneymakers for them

will the NHL follow suit in January?

 

[McJadeddog]

Vancouver got worse as they lost a lot of players.

Calgary improved in net but got worse on D in my opinion, forwards stayed the course so no improvement.

Edmonton improved except in net.

Winnipeg pretty much stayed the same
aside from re-acquiring Stastny.

Toronto stayed practically the same, with a few minor tweaks. Thornton will help JT keep moonboots and the gang in line.

Ottawa improved but not enough to be a threat, especially with Matt Murray as their goalie.

Montreal got a bit bigger but not necessarily better. They're about the same.

Top 3 should be some combination of Edmonton, Toronto and Winnipeg in my opinion. Calgary and Montreal duking it out for Wildcards if they stick with that format.

Personally, I think this hypothetical division will come down to being between Edmonton and Toronto with Winnipeg and Calgary not far behind.

Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver are all pretty much the same in my mind. Toronto maybe slightly ahead, but it is close between those three. Calgary is right behind that group of 3, depending on tending.

I know most people think Vancouver got worse, but getting Schmidt immediately changed their off-season. He is a legit top-pairing defender. If Demko can prove to be a real starter, Vancouver is going to be very dangerous.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

 

[AddyTheWrath]

How have these committees not even met yet? Wtf are they doing?

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

How have these committees not even met yet? Wtf are they doing?

I know hey. Like hello, let’s get this train rolling here boys.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Tampa being considered as one of the bubble cities. Interesting article which discusses how a modified bubble would work.

 

[Faelko]

Tampa being considered as one of the bubble cities. Interesting article which discusses how a modified bubble would work.

Have to figure Vegas would be another.

Poor Canadian teams looking at a cold weather city unless they talk BC into hosting and even then it’s not all that warm at times.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Have to figure Vegas would be another.

Poor Canadian teams looking at a cold weather city unless they talk BC into hosting and even then it’s not all that warm at times.

I think Toronto would be the Canadian city and Vegas hosting a redefined Pacific Division makes sense. If it’s Tampa hosting a remake of a Southeast Division I wonder where they would go for a Northeast Division. New York? Makes the most sense but the city and state are pretty restrictive and with the new election it could clamp down even tighter.

 

[soothsayer]

Are they thinking about doing bubbles again? I thought the players said there's no way.

 

[PaPaDee]

Are they thinking about doing bubbles again? I thought the players said there's no way.

I think it would be a hybrid model where players aren’t expected to stay in the bubble all season but for a period of time before getting a break to see family.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Are they thinking about doing bubbles again? I thought the players said there's no way.

From the free to read article I posted;

“Regular-season hubs wouldn’t be the locked-down bubbles of the postseason because the players don’t want to be isolated again for two or more months.”

“What we’re kind of thinking about with modified hub cities as a potential would involve players and teams traveling in for a period of time, playing a schedule of games and returning home for some off time, some family time, some practice time before repeating,” Daly said.
“It would be a model … with as many safety precautions as we can build into that to keep people healthy.”

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

It's done: The NBA comes back on Dec. 22, a 72-game season | NBA.com

how long after will the NHL follow suit?

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

It's done: The NBA comes back on Dec. 22, a 72-game season | NBA.com

how long after will the NHL follow suit?

I think the NHL is going to get going mid January.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I think the NHL is going to get going mid January.

I agree

I see a 56-60 game schedule...squeeze out as much revenue as possible

 

[CupofOil]

It's done: The NBA comes back on Dec. 22, a 72-game season | NBA.com

how long after will the NHL follow suit?

This is the one time when I don't think the NHL is going to follow suit. The NBA is doing this for the Christmas TV money and they don't depend as much on gate revenue so there's no reason for them to hold off until January or later (outside of giving Lebron more rest).

The NHL has potentially more to gain by waiting especially with the vaccine trials being successful so I don't think they'll be in a rush to get this thing started. I think an early February start is realistic. I'm sure we'll hear the news soon that they are postponing the tentative January 1st start date. That was never realistic in the first place.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

This is the one time when I don't think the NHL is going to follow suit. The NBA is doing this for the Christmas TV money and they don't depend as much on gate revenue so there's no reason for them to hold off until January or later (outside of giving Lebron more rest).

The NHL has potentially more to gain by waiting especially with the vaccine trials being successful so I don't think they'll be in a rush to get this thing started. I think an early February start is realistic. I'm sure we'll hear the news soon that they are postponing the tentative January 1st start date. That was never realistic in the first place.

It’ll likely be mid January, similar to the previous shortened (lockout) season. They’ll need some buffer time if they don’t want to overlap with the Olympics in the summer.

 

[CupofOil]

It’ll likely be mid January, similar to the previous shortened (lockout) season. They’ll need some buffer time if they don’t want to overlap with the Olympics in the summer.

They can work around that with a break during the Olympics then resuming afterwards like any other Olympic year and that's if the Olympics happen.

If they think there's a chance to get fans back in the building by holding off an extra month or so, I think they'll take the risk of overlapping the Olympics and even pushing off next season a bit.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

So just doing the math on a shortened season and what that could look like if it were to start on January 1st with the last possible day for the Stanley Cup Final on July 21st so as not to conflict with the Summer Olympics. If the league were to do modified bubbles with 2 week breaks between month long chunks of games then they would get to 48 games (assuming 30 day bubbles with 16 games per team, and 28 day bubbles for the playoffs) and still finish before the Summer Olympics.

Jan. 1 - Jan. 30: 1st Bubble - 16 games/team
Jan. 31 - Feb. 13: 1st Break
Feb. 13 - Mar. 15: 2nd Bubble - 16 games/team
Mar. 16 - Mar. 29: 2nd Break
Mar. 30 - Apr. 28: 3rd Bubble - 16 games/team
Apr. 29 - May 12: 3rd Break
May 13 - June 9: 1st & 2nd Rounds of Playoffs
June 10 - June 23: 4th Break
June 24 - July 21: Conference and Stanley Cup Finals

With 16 games in 30 days for the regular season bubbles it would mean each team would have to play 1 B2B per bubble. The NHL would need to shorten the breaks or have more B2B games if they wanted to fit in more games. Obviously a schedule like this would need to be modified/staggered as well so that the regional bubbles aren't all on their breaks at the same time. 28 days for each playoff bubble means that even with 7 game series' there doesn't need to be B2B games (unless the NHL needs to stagger games in different series to ensure there is a game being played every night).

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]