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

[sarge88]

Beginning to look like the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs will be staged in Chicago and the West in Las Vegas. Canada does not plan to eliminate the 14 day mandatory quarantine period until July 29th.

So the Blackhawks will play their playoffs in Vegas, while the eastern teams play theirs in Chicago?

Edit....posted then realized that I don't even know if Chicago will be in the playoffs.

lol

 

[danpantz]

So the Blackhawks will play their playoffs in Vegas, while the eastern teams play theirs in Chicago?

Edit....posted then realized that I don't even know if Chicago will be in the playoffs.

lol

They're in the play-ins so they'll be in vegas

 

[talkinaway]

And we're off to the races!

 

[Bruinaura]

And we're off to the races!

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

And we're off to the races!

Brings a tear to my eye .

 

[DarrenBanks56]

So the Blackhawks will play their playoffs in Vegas, while the eastern teams play theirs in Chicago?

Edit....posted then realized that I don't even know if Chicago will be in the playoffs.

lol

jack was bitching last nite about how vegas better not be playing games in their rink.

 

[talkinaway]

jack was bitching last nite about how vegas better not be playing games in their rink.

I tried to figure out some way that both conferences could avoid having a team in their own rink while having games that could potentially start at 10 or 10:30 PM EDT. It fell apart fast, especially when you consider those 10 PM games really shouldn't be Eastern Conference games, for obvious reasons. To really do it efficiently, you'd really need one of the eliminated teams in each conference to host the other 12 teams in the same conference. Problem is, in the Western Conference, that means California and ONLY California, which I can see being a non-starter for COVID reasons. If you eliminate those three, then you basically have to host the West in the East, which means the East has to go to the West to spread out the times.

Chicago hosting the East makes sense. Despite being CDT, they can basically run on an EDT schedule, starting games at 6 PM local (or 11 AM local if they play day games). There's flexibility that you have when you don't have to get fans in the arena. And I'd tell Jack to maybe take a Valium on the Vegas advantage. I have a feeling the SCF hub will be Chicago (or an Eastern team), no matter what. Do players want to play games at 8 PM local or 5 PM? My guess is 8 PM.

 

[Bruinaura]

And we're off to the races!

Maybe we should start a new thread with updates as Bruins guys start coming back?

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

the issues are getting compounded too, US/Canadian border is now closed through the end of July......

 

[sooshii]

 

[Fenway]

It is becoming apparent that the NHL can no longer wait for the Canadian government to relax quarantine rules even though locations such as Edmonton would be fine.

Montreal is in talks with the University of Vermont to hold the Phase III camp in Burlington and Calgary is said to be looking at a US site as well.

The last update I got from NBC is the NHL was not happy about the lack of social distancing in Las Vegas when the casinos reopened and nobody has a clue what 2 cities will become hubs but as of now it appears both bubbles will be in the US.

 

[YouTakeTheVan]

The rinks have been closed.

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking pro athletes needing ice team could have kept rink workers, etc., employed, without any public health risk, and that local regulations could vary widely.

 

[YouTakeTheVan]

Montreal is in talks with the University of Vermont to hold the Phase III camp in Burlington and Calgary is said to be looking at a US site as well.

Too bad Starr Rink was decommissioned. It would have been a good barn for a team to channel Slap Shot and release their inner McCracken.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

@Fenway:

sounds like Vegas has or soon will be confirmed as one hub market with a max between 6-8 teams;

 

[Rubber Biscuit]

@Fenway:

sounds like Vegas has or soon will be confirmed as one hub market with a max between 6-8 teams;

source?

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

source?

the only caveat to that is Vegas will NOT be one of those 6 or 8 teams......

 

[Rubber Biscuit]

the only caveat to that is Vegas will NOT be one of those 6 or 8 teams......

so... you got a source for any of this?

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

so... you got a source for any of this?

check the NHL Forum..... that's why I want to confirm that

 

[talkinaway]

the only caveat to that is Vegas will NOT be one of those 6 or 8 teams......

How would that work? They'd either have to expand to 3 hubs (ie Dallas hub for Vegas and 3-7 others, Vegas hub for Dallas and 3-7 others), or put the EC teams in Vegas, which would be ratings suicide.

I don't see "home ice advantage" without fans as being so important that it warrants opening a third hub or crisscrossing EC/WC teams with hubs. There's a point where practicality has to overrule complete 100% fairness. We're already at a point where the tourney isn't quite the same as it "should" be...giving Vegas "arena familiarity" while still forcing them to stay in the NHL-approved hotel isn't that big of a deal compared to all the other contortions that are being done.

The only "fair" hubs that would be time-zone friendly would be LA for the West and Chicago or Dallas for the East. But LA is a whole can of worms; I don't know specifically how COVID is going there offhand, but my gut tells me that it would be as bad as Vegas. Edmonton would make complete sense if it weren't for that whole pesky Canadian border thing.

The bigger deal is what Fenway pointed out: Vegas casinos seem to be a bit of a mess in terms of distancing. What are players going to do in the 21 hours where they're not playing? Carve out 8 hours for sleep, 2 hours for meals, 2 hours for practice, and 2 hours for Xbox, and...you've got a lot of bored players and a whole lot of temptation. Remember the "Vegas flu" that hit all 30 visiting teams when VGK entered the league, with all the away teams being a little sloppy when visiting T-Mobile Arena due to, as Alex Trebek would say, some potent potables? That flu might be literal this time.

 

[sooshii]

 

[talkinaway]

If training came is July 10, that puts a skeleton "everything goes perfectly" schedule as follows:

July 10 - end of July: Training camp. This may be a little long, but it allows for 2 work weeks of camp, and then perhaps a week to travel and practice at the hub site.

August - September: Stanley Cup Playoffs. The regular playoffs take two months. If you accelerate every team to play every other day, which is possible when there's only one travel day for one team in the entire calendar, that means you can squeeze in an extra week for the play-ins and round-robins. You also have flexibility in scheduling when you don't have 20,000 fans who have tickets - you can easily move Round 2 to an earlier date if teams finish early, giving an extra day off during a round. Maybe the playoffs start late July, and maybe it ends in early or mid-October.

October - November: Break, free agency, draft, etc. The SCF teams will definitely want some time off. Plus, my guess is that full NHL games in their own stadiums won't be ready by then.

December: Earliest possible start for 2021? Perhaps delay it into at least January. I don't know where we are on vaccines (which, for some, is a sine qua non for returning to arenas), but I kept hearing "takes at least a year" back in March. Their choice boils down to doing a medium-sized December-May season with many (if not all) games played without fans, OR doing a shortened March-June regular season that might have some fans in limited capacity.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

It is becoming apparent that the NHL can no longer wait for the Canadian government to relax quarantine rules even though locations such as Edmonton would be fine.

Montreal is in talks with the University of Vermont to hold the Phase III camp in Burlington and Calgary is said to be looking at a US site as well.

The last update I got from NBC is the NHL was not happy about the lack of social distancing in Las Vegas when the casinos reopened and nobody has a clue what 2 cities will become hubs but as of now it appears both bubbles will be in the US.

I think the bubble cities are a bad idea. Empty home arenas or practice facilities is best IMO. Maybe go down to best of 5 until finals to reduce travel? Or have high seed host 1-3 low seed 4-7.

 

[Fenway]

@Fenway:

sounds like Vegas has or soon will be confirmed as one hub market with a max between 6-8 teams;

The NHL is having second thoughts about Vegas after seeing video of social distancing being ignored in the casinos.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

If training came is July 10, that puts a skeleton "everything goes perfectly" schedule as follows:

July 10 - end of July: Training camp. This may be a little long, but it allows for 2 work weeks of camp, and then perhaps a week to travel and practice at the hub site.

August - September: Stanley Cup Playoffs. The regular playoffs take two months. If you accelerate every team to play every other day, which is possible when there's only one travel day for one team in the entire calendar, that means you can squeeze in an extra week for the play-ins and round-robins. You also have flexibility in scheduling when you don't have 20,000 fans who have tickets - you can easily move Round 2 to an earlier date if teams finish early, giving an extra day off during a round. Maybe the playoffs start late July, and maybe it ends in early or mid-October.

October - November: Break, free agency, draft, etc. The SCF teams will definitely want some time off. Plus, my guess is that full NHL games in their own stadiums won't be ready by then.

December: Earliest possible start for 2021? Perhaps delay it into at least January. I don't know where we are on vaccines (which, for some, is a sine qua non for returning to arenas), but I kept hearing "takes at least a year" back in March. Their choice boils down to doing a medium-sized December-May season with many (if not all) games played without fans, OR doing a shortened March-June regular season that might have some fans in limited capacity.

2013 season starting in January was great for the league. Later the start better the chance of having fans. Finals in July would be fine.

I think once 2021 rolls around and the second wave hasn’t wiped out our population the appetite for rules and no fans will be pretty low.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

The NHL is having second thoughts about Vegas after seeing video of social distancing being ignored in the casinos.

Imagine being a player staying in them and not being allowed to play craps or get a drink. Well actually I know exactly what it would be like I went to Vegas and Foxwoods and AC a ton with my dad before I was 21. All you can do is walk straight to the elevator lololol.