NHL Around the NHL XXI - UPDATE 7/1 - Toronto and Edmonton chosen as hubs

[BigGoalBrad]

Private rinks should be opening soon. Municipal rinks not until August.

That Felger and Mazz segment just now about the return tells you we should be playing this out in Canada if they government doesn't make everyone isolate in their hotel rooms for 14 days after already being tested before they board the flight. Edmonton sounds good.

 

[jgatie]

Just tuning in .... why weren't players skating all this time? Seems like it could be accomplished with infinitesimal risk to anyone.

Aside from roller blading in a parking lot, where exactly are they going to skate?

 

[talkinaway]

Aside from roller blading in a parking lot, where exactly are they going to skate?

Nordy mentioned in his online chat yesterday that he had some faux plastic ice for stick handling, but obviously that's not going to be the same thing as getting on real ice. That's the biggest handicap. Baseball and basketball players can come fairly close to replicating solo practice conditions - I guess for basketball asphalt doesn't mirror the parquet floor of the Garden, but I can't imagine any basketball player not having a simple hoop at home.

But if any hockey player has a rink at home, I'd love to see it. There are so many accessory muscles used for balancing that are difficult to work out unless you actually go through the motions...I foresee a lot of injury risk, even in practice or the scrimmages. On the plus side, some players with nagging injury get a nice rest - Bergeron's repeated groin injuries must have been heating up a LITTLE by early March, so having that rest for 3 months has to be a tiny bit good.

 

[HockeyMomx2]

Just tuning in .... why weren't players skating all this time? Seems like it could be accomplished with infinitesimal risk to anyone.

Rinks closed could be a slight factor

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Has it been discussed anywhere that if the playoffs start, and someone tests positive, what happens ? Is that team out ? The team they are playing out ?

I find it hard to believe that we can make it all the way to the finals without an issue.....what's the plan ?

There has been nothing official from the NHL in that regard. But based on what other sports are doing as they plan to or indeed have already restarted in other parts of the world, the league is going to have to have protocols in place for various infection scenarios.

It won't simply be one positive test and everything stops, as that would be a recipe for economic disaster. Instead there will be plans for containment and carrying on, unless it absolutely becomes unviable and unsafe to continue. But what those plans actually look like no-one knows yet.

 

[sooshii]

 

[Gordoff]

I could care less what a guy’s favorite team was growing up.

Bourque as mentioned earlier was a Canadiens fan, what a disappointment he was.

And I couldn't care less about what team Bourque favored growing up because he showed loyalty to the team that drafted him and he waited until the eleventh hour of his career to leave. Eichel signed a huge contract and then shit on the team that gave him the money. He's not a guy that I want on my team since I do not care for that attitude of jumping ship because the going is tough. You seem to be okay with people being that way but I can't stand it.

 

[Gordoff]

LOL, talk about "backing into it" and then cryptically claiming success....

 

[Therick67]

And I couldn't care less about what team Bourque favored growing up because he showed loyalty to the team that drafted him and he waited until the eleventh hour of his career to leave. Eichel signed a huge contract and then shit on the team that gave him the money. He's not a guy that I want on my team since I do not care for that attitude of jumping ship because the going is tough. You seem to be okay with people being that way but I can't stand it.

When did he ask to be traded? The guy is a great hockey player who is 23 and has all the pressure of a crappy franchise on his shoulders. Put him on this team with with this leadership and he'd flourish.

He's tired of losing, didn't hear him shit on anything. I guess he should just cash his check and say I love Buffalo, this is great!!

Don't assume to know what I'm okay with...

 

[Gordoff]

When did he ask to be traded? The guy is a great hockey player who is 23 and has all the pressure of a crappy franchise on his shoulders. Put him on this team with with this leadership and he'd flourish.

He's tired of losing, didn't hear him shit on anything. I guess he should just cash his check and say I love Buffalo, this is great!!

Don't assume to know what I'm okay with...

It is obvious what you seem to be okay with.
Furthermore I never said that he asked to be traded. Don't put words in my mouth.

 

[TwineTickler]

Alright.... well, let's get that #1 seed (that we should already have)

 

[Trap Jesus]

Alright.... well, let's get that #1 seed (that we should already have)

This just makes it worse to me. Even if the Bruins flunked out in this stupid round robin, they at least had the chance of playing the 12th seeded team rather than the 5th seeded team, they could at least hedge their bets a little bit. Now if they flunk out, they're guaranteed to play the best team left. Hope the Bruins enjoy their President's Trophy reward of playing 3 games with no warm-up against the next best teams in the Conference to heavily influence their playoff fate.

 

[bbfan419]

Does everyone believe that every Bruin grew up a Bruin fan?

some might actually even have been canadiens fans...

 

[TwineTickler]

This just makes it worse to me. Even if the Bruins flunked out in this stupid round robin, they at least had the chance of playing the 12th seeded team rather than the 5th seeded team, they could at least hedge their bets a little bit. Now if they flunk out, they're guaranteed to play the best team left. Hope the Bruins enjoy their President's Trophy reward of playing 3 games with no warm-up against the next best teams in the Conference to heavily influence their playoff fate.

I agree, but at least they are in the same situation as everyone else... there's no doubt about it that they are getting screwed a bit. Hopefully they take care of business.

 

[JOKER 192]

That remains to be determined but still, it's funny as shit.

 

[Fenway]

NHL playoffs will re-seed after each round, qualifying to be best-of-five - Sportsnet.ca

 

[BruinDust]

This just makes it worse to me. Even if the Bruins flunked out in this stupid round robin, they at least had the chance of playing the 12th seeded team rather than the 5th seeded team, they could at least hedge their bets a little bit. Now if they flunk out, they're guaranteed to play the best team left. Hope the Bruins enjoy their President's Trophy reward of playing 3 games with no warm-up against the next best teams in the Conference to heavily influence their playoff fate.

It's amazing to me that based on the results of a 3 game round robin, the Bruins could end up without home ice advantage for at minimum Rounds 2 and 3, and possible Round 4 depending on how they decide who gets that (will it be Round Robin results or regular season standings, my guess is Round Robin). This after being a full 8 points ahead of both Washington (69 games but just 90 points) and Tampa (70 games 92, points) when the league shut down.

 

[talkinaway]

I don't really care about the reseeding - hell, it's fine. The NHL has been known for its interesting tourney formats, like in the early 70s where they mixed each bracket so that there were effectively no conference finals, and you had two brackets of East vs West playing in the semis, so you could get a SCF of East vs East - more fair, since the East had all the strong O6 teams until the Black Hawks were moved to the West.

I doubt any of this reseeding will linger into the future. Sports betting is a decent moneymaker, and gamblers love their brackets.

One interesting little psychological artifact I noted. Games 1, 2, 5, 7 will have the higher seed designated as the "home team", getting last change. Think about historically why 1, 2, 5, 7 are the games designated for home ice....why not have it 1, 3, 5, 7, just for this year? It's not like it messes up the travel schedule. Inertia is strong.

I didn't see any explicit home ice designation for the Round Robin games - just the Qualifying Round and the four normal rounds. I imagine it's higher seed going in gets last change - yet another advantage the Bruins have, last change for all 3 round robin games.

 

[Therick67]

It implies that he's going to leave there if they don't start winning. Good thing guys like Bergeron (when the Bruins weren't world winning earlier in his career with the B's) didn't whine like your cousin Eichel.

But you don’t know he’s going to leave, so blaming him for something that hasn’t happened yet seems a little unfair to me.

and comparing him to Bergeron, the gold standard for people/players doesn’t seem all that fair either.

Bergeron has been in the league 16 years, missed playoffs 4 times.

Eichel has played 5 years, missed every time...that even might get tiring for Patrice.

answering questions your asked honestly doesn’t make someone a whiner.

jack is a great hockey player who’s only going to get better, but I don’t think his strong suit is answering questions and I don’t think he’s comfortable in that role, but if you watch him play he gives it everything he has.

 

[bb74]

As there will be no "home ice" aside last change I don't see the sky is falling view on the reseeding. Yes, under normal circumstances they should have some perks given the current standings but this isn't "normal". Just let them play and the best team performance deserves the W. There are so many more real and pressing issues in the world right now it's a bit crazy to get wound around the axle for this but that's just my opinion.

 

[Jean_Jacket41]

Alright.... well, let's get that #1 seed (that we should already have)

Can’t wait. I miss hockey and the Bruins getting to the SCF every 3 years.

Let’s beat everyone and get a 2nd Cup and 4th SCF in 10y.

 

[sooshii]

 

[Over the volcano]

I just don’t see how this is going to work without a vaccine

 

[DarrenBanks56]

I just don’t see how this is going to work without a vaccine

they wouldve cancelled long ago if they werent going to play.

 

[Over the volcano]

they wouldve cancelled long ago if they werent going to play.

Say one bruin tests positive 3 games in - he's out for 2 weeks. Does the rest of the team self isolate and till when? What if 4-8 guys test positive . . .

Maybe I missed it - what are their policies for testing and treatment?