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

[sooshii]

The St. Louis Blues canceled practices at the team’s facility because of “multiple” positive tests for COVID-19, sources have told The Athletic.
The Blues used the ice at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Mo., on Thursday, but did not hold their Phase 2 workouts as scheduled on Friday. They would not have practiced as a team Saturday or Sunday, but the facility has been deemed closed for any individual players who planned to train there over the weekend. The club is expected to resume practices on Monday.

 

[TD Charlie]

With high-speed fiber the lag time is almost non-existent and NBC had some excellent replays from South Korea. The hard part is when working a game I always have one eye watching the entire sheet of ice and working remotely I will have to guess.

Aside from the jobs argument, this is EXACTLY why i don’t want robocams

 

[Fenway]

Could you and the other operators have a screen next to you that has the footage from a fixed high central camera that shows the whole ice, so you have at least some idea of what's going on outside of your immediate view? I know it wouldn't be the same, but I wonder if it might at least help.

That is actually part of the plan

 

[DominicT]

The interesting thing in the CBA negotiations is minimum salary goes from $700k to $750k.

That means cap increases to players earning less then $750k because they'll receive a bump up to the minimum salary. Word is they are not being grandfathered and 250+ players will receive their increase.

A team like the Leafs who have cap trouble will see a bump in cap hits to Matthews, Marner, Muzzin, Marancin. A $200k cap hit increase for doing nothing will hurt them.

Bruins only have 1 such contract (Blidh) if he makes the roster for next season.

 

[Fenway]

 

[BruinsFanMike82]

 

[chizzler]

Is it me or does this rush to finish the lost season seem to be a money grab. Just call the season and start the new on in Sept camp. Nobody is going to think this years winner as a real cup winner.

 

[Estlin]

Is it me or does this rush to finish the lost season seem to be a money grab. Just call the season and start the new on in Sept camp. Nobody is going to think this years winner as a real cup winner.

Not just you at all. It’s a complete money grab and a farce of a tournament. Whoever “wins” at the end should certainly have an asterisk next to its name.

 

[BAD BOY]

Not just you at all. It’s a complete money grab and a farce of a tournament. Whoever “wins” at the end should certainly have an asterisk next to its name.

Not if the Bruins win it because they are getting screwed out of the number one seed. They need a round robin determining it all over again. All facts. Now the haters will say asterisk. But I don’t give a shit what they. It depends who wins it I guess. This is not an easy tournament IMO!

 

[AngryMilkcrates]

I'm not sure the playoff format benefits skill teams.

They are playing 6 games a day in the NHL. We do not know if the teams will be evenly spread out like a normal playoffs to give each a day or two of rest in between, or if they may crunch them in back-to-backs or doubleheaders for logistics purposes. If the games are scheduled so as not to leave much time for rest the more grinding physical teams will be at a greater advantage than the fast skating transition skills teams, I think.

 

[DiggityDog]

I don’t see how anyone can say there should be an asterix next to the team who wins the Stanley Cup this year if it is in fact done to completion.

If they play the full 8 vs 8 tournament it won’t be a farce. You want to argue the prelim games and the round robin are a joke? Fine, I won’t argue with you, but if they play the full Stanley Cup tournament it’s legit in my opinion.

This is with me saying that I believe that some teams were added for their market appeal at the bottom of the standings being ridiculous, and my disappointment with the re-seeding structure. You have to win 4 series to win lord Stanley, you do that, you’ve earned the cup sans asterix

 

[talkinaway]

I'm not sure the playoff format benefits skill teams.

They are playing 6 games a day in the NHL. We do not know if the teams will be evenly spread out like a normal playoffs to give each a day or two of rest in between, or if they may crunch them in back-to-backs or doubleheaders for logistics purposes. If the games are scheduled so as not to leave much time for rest the more grinding physical teams will be at a greater advantage than the fast skating transition skills teams, I think.

They can spread them out, and there should be few back-to-backs. The skeleton schedule was released yesterday, giving 10 days for round robin and best-of-five play-in round, and 14 days for each of the four rounds.

Report: NHL reveals key dates for 2020 playoffs, offseason

I can't find the source, but there was another source that had round-by-round breakdowns. They can easily schedule series A at 12 PM on even days, series B at 8 PM on even days, series C and D on odd days. The 3 round-robin games for each team (6 total for 4 teams) should be easy to schedule with no team having back-to-back: Two days of round robin games, rest, two games, rest, two games, with each pair of games having all 4 teams.

The only back-to-backs would be if a team wins a game 7, and has to face their opponent in game 1 of the next round, to which I say - absolutely perfect. But there's a reasonable chance they could adjust the schedule to avoid that.

With no fans in the arena, and a captive audience on TV who will figure out that NESN/NBCSN are "the" hockey channels, there's a lot of flexibility to change the schedule on the fly, moving teams into the 8 PM slot if the original 8 PM series ends early, or switching teams from odd days to even days to avoid the Game 7 / Game 1 situation I mentioned.

As far as an asterisk on the Cup, to me, the only way an asterisk happens is if COVID knocks an entire team out...in which case the playoffs probably get cancelled anyway. I feel like the NHL is exuding a lot of head-strong optimism, which I understand...I just hope they have a plan in place to put on the brakes if necessary. A hospital in Edmonton just had a "full facility outbreak".

 

[TD Charlie]

Cash grab, yes, absolutely.

But, an asterisk next to the cup winner? Nah. Enough of the regular season was played so that teams are where they should be imo, and the round robin crap gives the bubble teams a fair shake at getting in. Then the rest plays out basically per usual.

What would put a huge damper on things is if there's a few players on one team that end up in covid protocols. Say you have a Cup Final and suddenly Bergeron, Pastrnak, and Krug are all forced to sit out and quarantine. To me, that's total horseshit.

 

[BruinsFanMike82]

 

[chizzler]

I don’t see how anyone can say there should be an asterix next to the team who wins the Stanley Cup this year if it is in fact done to completion.

If they play the full 8 vs 8 tournament it won’t be a farce. You want to argue the prelim games and the round robin are a joke? Fine, I won’t argue with you, but if they play the full Stanley Cup tournament it’s legit in my opinion.

This is with me saying that I believe that some teams were added for their market appeal at the bottom of the standings being ridiculous, and my disappointment with the re-seeding structure. You have to win 4 series to win lord Stanley, you do that, you’ve earned the cup sans asterix

Wait till a team gets the locker room full of positive tests and their all stars are out of the playoffs because of it.

 

[talkinaway]

Has that been a thing? We've always played LAK/ANA next to each other in some order, with SJS either up front or at the end for as long as I can remember. Maybe other teams haven't? For VGK, COL, or ARI, is it a big deal? Other than for the expense part. NHL will definitely be looking to cut any corners they can.

I imagine with LAK, scheduling is tough. They've got two basketball teams, a hockey team, and all their concerts/events in the Staples Center.

 

[DiggityDog]

Wait till a team gets the locker room full of positive tests and their all stars are out of the playoffs because of it.

Wouldn’t that technically be an injury? Players miss games for being sick all the time. Do wins not count then?

These are unprecedented times for sure, but if one locker room gets the virus during a seven game series it can almost be assured that their opponents will have come into contact with it as well.

In an ideal world the bubble can be achieved and the spread can be non existent, but this isn’t an ideal world currently. My guess is all teams will be dealing with this in some form or other, hell I still find it hard to believe it this is actually going to happen.

 

[Smitty93]

I don’t see how anyone can say there should be an asterix next to the team who wins the Stanley Cup this year if it is in fact done to completion.

If they play the full 8 vs 8 tournament it won’t be a farce. You want to argue the prelim games and the round robin are a joke? Fine, I won’t argue with you, but if they play the full Stanley Cup tournament it’s legit in my opinion.

This is with me saying that I believe that some teams were added for their market appeal at the bottom of the standings being ridiculous, and my disappointment with the re-seeding structure. You have to win 4 series to win lord Stanley, you do that, you’ve earned the cup sans asterix

The only asterisk would be if the Stanley Cup Winner is one of the teams who never would have made it in a normal season (Montreal, Chicago, and maybe Arizona). Everyone else had a realistic chance with 11-13 games remaining.

 

[Smitty93]

Wait till a team gets the locker room full of positive tests and their all stars are out of the playoffs because of it.

If a team has a locker room full of positive tests, then there's a good chance that multiple teams have it, and the tournament would likely be shut down. Otherwise, if your team is affected, and another isn't, that tells me that you did a poor job of protecting yourself. All of these teams should enter the bubble healthy and they'll theoretically be interacting with the same people. The only way one team should be able to get it more than the others is if they broke the bubble, and if you don't have the discipline to stay in the bubble for a couple months, then you probably don't deserve to win the Stanley Cup anyway.

 

[VanIsle]

Key dates for the start up of the NHL season.

Report: NHL reveals key dates for 2020 playoffs, offseason

• July 31: Beginning of qualification round
• Aug. 9: Start of Stanley Cup Playoffs
• Oct. 2: Last possible day of Stanley Cup Final
• Oct. 6: 2020 draft (must follow end of playoffs and precede free agency)
• Oct. 9 (or seven days after conclusion of final): Start of free agency
• Nov. 17: Opening of training camps for 2020-21 season
• Dec. 1: Beginning of 2020-21 regular season

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Is it me or does this rush to finish the lost season seem to be a money grab. Just call the season and start the new on in Sept camp. Nobody is going to think this years winner as a real cup winner.

actually most will think of them as a cup winner...same way no one discounts Chicago's 2013 Cup

 

[Gee Wally]

For all you capologists.


NHL to change qualifying offer rules

 

[DarrenBanks56]

how amazing is 6 games a day going to be?

 

[Jean_Jacket41]

how amazing is 6 games a day going to be?

Can’t wait.

Will also be in vacation from August 8 to August 31.

Golf in the morning, BBQ and hockey the rest of the day.

 

[JOKER 192]

Not just you at all. It’s a complete money grab and a farce of a tournament. Whoever “wins” at the end should certainly have an asterisk next to its name.

If this has an asterisk it should be because this will be the hardest cup to win compared to other seasons, no other reason for an asterisk. I keep hearing this asterisk thing over and over and I don't get it at all, can some one please explain the asterisk.

I mean, sure it's a money grab but it's a necessary one, with teams losing revenues at the gate they are bleeding money big time.

Also, hockey can not afford to be the only league that doesn't return to play, with all the other leagues returning it would a dangerous game and they would surely further separated the NHL from the other big leagues and not in a good way.

Truth be told the NHL's return to play protocol is the best of all of them.

All that said, this is risky, no hiding that. It probably shouldn't happen. But let's not pretend that as an owner we wouldn't hold the same position.