why arent they considering the northeast as a hub??
we most likely had the virus first in the country. probably in november. another reason why the numbers are getting lower. plus we didnt open everything at once after quarantine, which was the correct way.
if not northeast us it should be 100 percent canadian hub sites.
Not to be a NIMBY, but part of the problem might be precisely that we have been opening the right way - slowly. Perhaps too slowly to guarantee that the practices could start in late July, or that playoffs would be able to start in August. New York was one of the hardest hit states, and NYC one of the hardest hit cities, so there's naturally concern that there could still be COVID around when playoffs would start. Plus, there's the pickier details of rinks and hotels - the Garden has crappy ice when it's December, much less June. Add to that the fact that they've failed to get any kind of NHL event recently (draft, ASG, awards shows) because of a lack of convention areas / hotels in the immediate area, and the difficulty of convincing colleges to open up rinks for practice, and they just determined that Boston's not a viable option. I can't tell you about the other markets, but I imagine they looked at all options.
Wouldn't this be a great opportunity to bring the NHL to some towns or small cities -- Lake Placid, places like that? That could project a fresh image, back to the roots, the love of the game...
That's a really cool idea. However, I think they stated from the start they only want the 31 "big boy" arenas for TV - it's already set up, and they can easily add extra cameras in the fan areas for cool shots. Making sure that the Lake Placid rink is ready for prime time would be labor intensive. And having an influx of outsiders into a small town? Tough enough logistically when you have 9-12 months of planning for hotels. With barely 2 or 3 months, and with a pandemic where these people will literally be coming in from everywhere? It could be the spark for a new fire of COVID in the town, where if they play in Vancouver or Vegas, even 10 or 20 extra cases wouldn't be noticeable from a health care perspective.
