Around The League 2020-21 offseason part II

[NJDevs26]

For discussion about the league at large though there’ll probably be crickets till the next season format gets discussed

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[JrFischer54]

what is going on with the season? I was surprised to see college hockey on last night and while I understand that they are two totally different entities the question still is the same. nba is coming back i believe xmas day? what is the problem with the nhl? is it just cba salaries or do they not even know what they are going to try and accomplish?

 

[Darkauron]

Yeah the owners and players fight is getting worse. If they keep this up I really doubt they will start Jan 1 or even have a season.

 

[glenwo2]

Yeah the owners and players fight is getting worse. If they keep this up I really doubt they will start Jan 1 or even have a season.

I'm getting less and less confident we will get a Jan 1st start, as well.

 

[Blackjack]

NBA is not as reliant on gate revenue and NCAA does not have to pay its players. NHL is in a bit of a unique situation, revenue hit will be huge.

 

[NJDevs26]

The NCAA also didn’t have players playing till late September either, they’ve been off months.

 

[JrFischer54]

NBA is not as reliant on gate revenue and NCAA does not have to pay its players. NHL is in a bit of a unique situation, revenue hit will be huge.

But they knew this was going to be an issue since June! How hasn’t there been any progress? Unless your telling me the nhl was being incredibly stupid thinking there would be fans in the stands?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

CBJ had a bunch of players test positive

not feeling great about the possibilities of a season

 

[markog]

CBJ had a bunch of players test positive

not feeling great about the possibilities of a season

So? Everybody is playing just NHL can't it seems so.

 

[NJDevs26]

I imagine neither side wanted to deal with the contentious issue of rollbacks/cutting salary versus full pro rata until the last possible minute and I don’t think negotiating earlier would have helped, it took baseball three months of messy foot dragging and cutting the season by 60% to settle that issue.

 

[Darkauron]

CBJ had a bunch of players test positive

not feeling great about the possibilities of a season

And like 7 from Vegas too

 

[Devils731]

And like 7 from Vegas too

And Canada’s world Junior camp is on pause due to positive tests.

 

[Darkauron]

And Canada’s world Junior camp is on pause due to positive tests.

oof

 

[Blackjack]

But they knew this was going to be an issue since June! How hasn’t there been any progress? Unless your telling me the nhl was being incredibly stupid thinking there would be fans in the stands?

There's nothing for the owners and players to discuss. The owners want X and the players want Y. Now nothing happens until the pressure of the prospect of a scrapped season compels one side or the other to make a concession. You can have 5 years to negotiate and it won't make any difference. Negotiations like this are a function of pressure, not time.

Look how many RFA deals are finished less than a day before the arbitration hearing. Do you think it's a coincidence that all these deals too exactly that amount of time to complete? No, neither side wants it to actually go to a hearing, so the pressure of the hearing date compels one side or another to make a concession and the other side will usually make some concession as a show of good faith, and the deal gets done.

My guess is that eventually Gary Bettman will say "if we don't have a deal by X date we will be cancelling the season" and the players and owners will either get something done or they won't.

 

[Patrik26]

Owners, players, CBA and TV contract expiring. Talk about a perfect shitstorm that could set some teams back years if all sides don't come together - SOON. The kumbaya days of the bubble are OVER.

 

[JrFischer54]

There's nothing for the owners and players to discuss. The owners want X and the players want Y. Now nothing happens until the pressure of the prospect of a scrapped season compels one side or the other to make a concession. You can have 5 years to negotiate and it won't make any difference. Negotiations like this are a function of pressure, not time.

Look how many RFA deals are finished less than a day before the arbitration hearing. Do you think it's a coincidence that all these deals too exactly that amount of time to complete? No, neither side wants it to actually go to a hearing, so the pressure of the hearing date compels one side or another to make a concession and the other side will usually make some concession as a show of good faith, and the deal gets done.

My guess is that eventually Gary Bettman will say "if we don't have a deal by X date we will be cancelling the season" and the players and owners will either get something done or they won't.

then don't let it go til jan before you feel pressure and have to make a decision. have a hard out in oct?

 

[Blackjack]

then don't let it go til jan before you feel pressure and have to make a decision. have a hard out in oct?

They had a deal all the way back in July, it was just a couple of weeks ago that the owners came back to the table and said that the deal they agreed to four months ago was no longer workable.

 

[HBK27]

CBJ had a bunch of players test positive

not feeling great about the possibilities of a season

Yeah, it's gonna happen - the NHL just needs to be prepared for it.

They're going to have to go with a shorter schedule to build in some extra time for makeup games.

They're going to have to figure out testing - maybe each team gets tested the morning of with results available prior to warm-ups.

They may have to have some extra players available for call-ups if certain players come down with it and need to quarantine.

If any player/coach wants to opt-out of the upcoming season, give them the option.

At the end of the day, there is very little risk for the players if they do come down with it as they are elite athletes. Additional precautions may need to be take for older coaches and any individuals with conditions that put them at a higher risk.

 

[tailfins]

But they knew this was going to be an issue since June! How hasn’t there been any progress? Unless your telling me the nhl was being incredibly stupid thinking there would be fans in the stands?

Do you read anything outside of hfboards? There's an aggressive tone I'm getting from your posts on this. Maybe I'm mistaken? I get the frustration, but there's actually been quite a bit reported on this subject lately.

 

[Darkauron]

Do you read anything outside of hfboards? There's an aggressive tone I'm getting from your posts on this. Maybe I'm mistaken? I get the frustration, but there's actually been quite a bit reported on this subject lately.

They are always aggressive.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

I just don't understand the sky-is-falling reaction to a batch of positive cases.

When you have professional sports teams and leagues regularly testing players as a matter of protocol, positive tests are inevitable. They should be taken in stride, and there should be additional protocol to isolate those who are infected and to safeguard those who are not. And we just saw the NHL execute this damn near perfectly.

 

[OmNomNom]

gotta give NHL credit too, remember when we had playoffs and no one else did, without a surge of cases?

shit happens

 

[Bleedred]

I just don't understand the sky-is-falling reaction to a batch of positive cases.

When you have professional sports teams and leagues regularly testing players as a matter of protocol, positive tests are inevitable. They should be taken in stride, and there should be additional protocol to isolate those who are infected and to safeguard those who are not. And we just saw the NHL execute this damn near perfectly.

If I’m not mistaken, I remember some players tested positive back in June, right before the restart?

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

If I’m not mistaken, I remember some players tested positive back in June, right before the restart?

Yes, and that’s kind of my point. The positive cases were inevitable, but they didn’t derail the Return to Play because the league planned well and implemented safeguards. The NHL never had entire teams missing weeks at a time. Hell, we fans even got “extra” hockey, if you look at the play-in and round robin that way—versus cancelling the preseason.

The league developed a thorough and thoughtful plan, and they executed it very well. And we should all take pride in that because, for once, the NHL was the leader of the pack, creating a blueprint for other leagues to follow. No major COVID derailments, no dilution of the product, etc. Outperformed the others in ratings, too.

In other words, thank Christ the league didn’t have the same apocalyptic, shut-it-all-down reaction to RTP positive cases as some are having now. There’s no reason the league can’t adapt to the current circumstances, especially after seeing them exceed all expectations over the summer. Great moments are born from great opportunity...

If people want to be pessimistic about league/player tensions, so be it. That’s definitely a question mark. But a batch of positive cases? We’ve already overcome that.

 

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