NHL 2020-2021 season start/schedule

[Rob]

I think we get the next season in January. The league has to play. They might operate at a loss and feel a lot of pain, but the impact of losing a season would be even worse.

They also have a much tighter window because of the Summer Olympics.

I doubt the Summer Olympics will be happening. That's another topic I guess.

 

[LadyStanley]

NHL announces protocols for offseason training

NHL announces that off season training will be handled similar to phase 2 of return to play. (Voluntary for players).

 

[mouser]

Gary Bettman: Bubbles for a full NHL season 'just doesn't work'


The commissioner of the NHL discusses being able to save the 2019-20 season, how life in the bubble is like for the league's staff, being able to keep the quarantine zones free of COVID-19, the league's initiatives to become more diverse, how the pandemic has changed the future for his sport, the tentative start date for the 2020-21 campaign, and possibly using bubbles again for next season.

Bubbles have never been a regular season solution. The NFL and MLB are running their regular season games without bubbles.

The core issue remains: do the business economics of your league make sense to play games if maximum attendance is restricted? Does it make sense at 0%? Does it make sense at 25? Does it make sense at 50%?

And then keep in mind those attendance limits may vary from team to team depending on their location.


p.s. Actuaries could most likely show the increased transmission risk difference to attendees at 25% to 50% to 100% capacity in a arena is minor if there’s no major outbreak ongoing. But that won’t prevent local authorities from deciding you’re safer with only 4k or 8k people in an arena instead of 16-20k maximum capacity.

 

[Pandemonia]

p.s. Actuaries could most likely show the increased transmission risk difference to attendees at 25% to 50% to 100% capacity in a arena is minor if there’s no major outbreak ongoing. But that won’t prevent local authorities from deciding you’re safer with only 4k or 8k people in an arena instead of 16-20k maximum capacity.

Not only ongoing but getting worse. Have family in the medical biz seen too many die of covid and they say Nov-Feb is gonna be worse than this.

 

[Merya]

If they do, they will have to figure out a way to account for the decrease in revenue, and the impact on the cap. The deal they made over the summer stabilized things somewhat, but the players are still going to "owe the owners money" down the road. Cutting games for 20-21 means they either have to cut salaries for 20-21, or increase their "debt load" for future seasons. They may decide a full season is in their best interest, or they may not be able to come to an agreement among the union, or between the union and the owners, to solve the financial issues, and be forced to stick with the current plan.

If there's less games and the game frequency stays normal, I agree the players should take a paycut. On the otherhand if they'll congest 82 games in 2-3 less months, the players should get a huge payraise for what is effectively overtime.

 

[dlawong]

Would it be possible to realign the divisions just for the 2020-2021 season so all Canadian teams will be in one division for the next regular season? Play games only within the division will reduce travel and spread of Covid. The Canadian USA cross-border will therefore not an issue during the regular season. Players only need to quarantine for 14 days prior to training camp, call up from AHL and testings should be done frequently during the season, especially during road games.

If there is a 2nd wave, games will be played without audiences. If Covid cases are low enough in certain home cities, small audience attendance can be allowed with the following conditions:

• no more than 500 reserved at any game with certain sections closed off & seats distantly spread out between any groups of 6 or less
• no line up for food at concession stands allowed
• entries to washroom facilities will be limited
• masks are mandatory for entering, exiting the games and in the common areas
• Food can be ordered online from a limited number of concessions & picked up at a designated area on a first come first serve basis monitored by selected staff during only the 1st two periods and intermissions. Masks are mandatory for any attendee designated to pick up food. Special delivery can be arranged for disabled attendees.
• Contact tracing is required for all people attending the games
• Player trading during the season will be limited for this season (cross border trading need to be authorized by the respective countries) and only before the two designated breaks
• All players called up from AHL will have to be either tested or go through quarantine before joining the NHL team
• no all-star game this season. There will be at least two 2.5 week breaks during the year to allow extended family being reunited for Christmas and maybe even Spring break (voluntary with quarantine protocols carried out as needed)
• Players have to follow strict protocols on none game days not putting their teammates and supporting staff in danger of being infected with the virus. There will be fines and suspension if not followed

Hopefully, by the playoff start next postseason, the Covid-19 vaccine will be widely distributed with cases much reduced and manageable.

It will be expansive for the teams to operate and likely the TV subscription price will go up due to more people watching virtually.

If the players only stay at designated hotels with very low infection rates and have their foods served in designated areas only and avoid interacting with other hotel guests, they do not need to stay in bubbles. Yes, road life could be boring but at least they can stay with families or close friends during home games. Frequent testings will help to prevent outbreaks within the team and they can always ask their own family members to follow all social distancing rules diligently or get tested frequently. They are mostly wealthy enough to be able to make this work.

 

[alko]

How much could the hungry and rich NHL fans pay for a ticket?

 

[JMCx4]

How much could the hungry and rich NHL fans pay for a ticket?

The hungry shouldn't be spending their precious funds on hockey tickets. What the rich pay will be entirely dependent on how many fans (if any) are allowed into individual venues.

 

[KevFu]

Would it be possible to realign the divisions just for the 2020-2021 season so all Canadian teams will be in one division for the next regular season? Play games only within the division will reduce travel and spread of Covid.

I'm assuming that doing divisional bubbles for the regular season are a non-starter for the NHLPA. And making a 7-team Canadian division could be an option to explore.

I would think going halfway between 2020 NHL and 2020 MLB would be a viable idea if the situation in November is the same as it is now.

Instead of a full bubble where the players are locked in, you base everyone out of a condensed region (Metro in NYC, Atlantic DET/CBJ, Pacific LA/ANA, Central VGK/ARZ). Play 14 games in 21 days then take a week off so players can see their families for 5 days and not go insane.

If the situation with COVID remains unchanged, repeat that up to 3 more times for a 56-game schedule from Dec. 28 to April 11. Then the usual 16-team playoffs, either conference bubbles or in the division hubs.

 

[KevFu]

So the big problem with an All-Canadian division is that while the numbers of NHL teams works quite well for a 7-8-8-8 groupings and you have 7 Canadian teams; your options for the remaining teams are "split the Central up to join the Pacific (3) and Atlantic (3) divisions to make your groups of 8." Colorado is easy, but two Central teams would be getting the short-straw:

VAN, EDM, CAL, WIN, TOR, MON, OTT
LA, ANA, SJ, VGK, ARZ, COL, DAL, MIN
BUF, DET, BOS, FLA, TB, CHI, STL, NASH
NYR, NYI, NJD, PHI, WAS, PIT, CBJ, CAR

Although, that's really only a problem if you're doing travel and all home arenas. You could go with the "division hubs" idea within this context, which would make having teams in non-ideal divisions more palatable. If there's no travel happening because teams are playing in only 8 venues, you could do something wild like this:

VAN, EDM, CAL, WIN, TOR, MON, OTT (in TOR or EDM)
LA, ANA, SJ, VGK, ARZ, COL, FLA, TB (in LA/ANA)
BUF, DET, CBJ, CHI, STL, NASH, DAL, MIN (in DET/CBJ)
NYR, NYI, NJD, PHI, WAS, PIT, BOS, CAR (in NYC)

 

[Soundwave]

Canadian division won't work. You're gonna have Canadian teams just playing each other over and over again for 62-70 games?

The US TV networks won't agree to limit games to single division in the US ... like NBC is going to want Pittsburgh Vs. Tampa Bay, Boston Vs. Philly, what is the NHL going to say? No? Because of a Canadian division?

Think the Canadian government will have to give a bit here.

If players are being continually tested and teams coming up from the US agree to isolate in their hotel after also being tested I think it's unreasonable to be so strict. Has nothing to do with athletes getting special treatment, but if you're tested constantly a 14 day quarantine shouldn't be necessary.

The Canadian gov't was already considering waiving the 14 day period for Canadian travellers that come back with a negative test upon re-enty and just mandating they wear a mask while in public.

 

[dlawong]

So the big problem with an All-Canadian division is that while the numbers of NHL teams works quite well for a 7-8-8-8 groupings and you have 7 Canadian teams; your options for the remaining teams are "split the Central up to join the Pacific (3) and Atlantic (3) divisions to make your groups of 8." Colorado is easy, but two Central teams would be getting the short-straw:

VAN, EDM, CAL, WIN, TOR, MON, OTT
LA, ANA, SJ, VGK, ARZ, COL, DAL, MIN
BUF, DET, BOS, FLA, TB, CHI, STL, NASH
NYR, NYI, NJD, PHI, WAS, PIT, CBJ, CAR

Although, that's really only a problem if you're doing travel and all home arenas. You could go with the "division hubs" idea within this context, which would make having teams in non-ideal divisions more palatable. If there's no travel happening because teams are playing in only 8 venues, you could do something wild like this:

VAN, EDM, CAL, WIN, TOR, MON, OTT (in TOR or EDM)
LA, ANA, SJ, VGK, ARZ, COL, FLA, TB (in LA/ANA)
BUF, DET, CBJ, CHI, STL, NASH, DAL, MIN (in DET/CBJ)
NYR, NYI, NJD, PHI, WAS, PIT, BOS, CAR (in NYC)

NHL or any other league will not be prioritized over health concerns for both the USA and Canadian governments so NHL will need to adjust for the coming season if they want to have one. If the provincial or State governments are dead against opening the border then nonessential travel will not be allowed and there will be political prices if they make exceptions for hockey players. Players will not want to play in bubble city and not able to see their immediate families for months and this will lead to some players opting out for the season or votes against the solution. In MLB all Jays games are playing on the road (no home games) and it is only one team that has to pay the price but in hockey, you are talking about 7 teams so you can't duplicate what MLB is doing.

The other way to gain more revenue is ticket sales for the booth. These are already isolated and if the guests are willing to wear masks during the games and only eat/drink in a designated area set up inside the booth with limited occupants then you can get more revenues without possibly increasing the Covid infection rate. The other thing you can do is to increase ad revenues by using the sections closed off and yes get the players to wear specially designed uniforms sponsored by local companies during home games.

Be creative and it will help increase revenues to deal with the extra costs imposed by playing games during the regular season. Mind you that the regular season should be shorter too due to the late start of the season.

 

[MNNumbers]

What about doing the 4 division with a full Canada division, but then doing a compacted schedule for the US teams, and each US division has a 1-time trip to Canada, which would work like this:
Arrive in Canada:
14 day quarantine.
Then, play all 7 Canadian team in about 12 days. Then, return home.
Likewise, the Canadian teams take 2 trips.
Go to US.
Play 12 games in 20 days.
Return to Canada, take 14 day quarantine.

That way, every team gets a home/home with every other team. You can play an 82 game schedule if you want.....
Canada teams play 48 games v US, and 34 games against the other 6 Canada teams - means only 5 or 6 against each opponent.
US teams....Well, there are lots of options there.

Point being, the schedule would not have to compact much more than it has in Olympic years to make up for the quarantine, so long as it's a one time situation.

 

[LadyStanley]

Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary have their AHL teams in the US. If the border is closed are they SOL?

I think it more likely teams will come into town and play a MLB-like "stand" against the home team (2-4 games; perhaps Su, Tu, Th, Sa or something, maybe with back-to-backs). I was hearing Brian Burke on NHL Radio recently and he indicated it was hundreds of thousands ($120k IIRC) to charter to/fro a city. Having few travel legs would cut down on that cost.

 

[Ernie]

I don't know that there would be extra costs.. teams always fly charter anyhow. And there are a lot of planes sitting around doing nothing right now.

But I do think it would be fun if every city hosted a mini-tournament. 4-6 teams come to a city, everyone plays each other a couple of times, then they move on to the next city. Try to keep groups of teams playing each other for stints so if there is an exposure it limits how many other teams are affected.

As for AHL teams, there are no lack of arenas in Canada for them to play games in, especially considering there won't be fans in the stands. No reason not to temporarily bring those teams closer to home. For international play perhaps each team could be allowed to bring a few non-roster players with them.

 

[jaric1862]

I think the biggest question right now is the US/Canada border. If restrictions ease, then of course these "mini-tournaments" work and the season can play out somewhat according to plan.

If restrictions don't ease, then it's going to be pretty clear that they are going to need to have all the regular season played within divisions, then branch that out into a 20 team (?) playoff with 2 bubbles. 5 from each division. I wonder how they would disperse the divsions (if they'd work off the current divisions or remake them entirely)

 

[jaric1862]

Heres an idea I came up with for the 2020-2021 season:
4 divisions, each team plays 42 games all within their division (7 team divisions play each other 7 times, 8 team divisions play each other 6 times). Teams will have "series" similar to baseball (3 game series with both teams hosting once...The All-Canadian division will have some 4 game series)

Divisions (Big emphasis on rivalries/matchups with storylines):

All-Canadian Division:
CGY,EDM,MTL,OTT,TOR,VAN,WPG
American East Division:
BUF,BOS,CAR,FLA,NJD,NYI,NYR,TBL
American Central Division:
CBJ,CHI,DET,MIN,NSH,PHI,PIT,WSH
American West Division:
ANA,ARI,COL,DAL,LAK,SJS,STL,VGK

Playoffs:
4 Teams from each division will make the playoffs. There will be 2 hub cities (both allow fans). Each division will have 2 teams go to each bubble (1st/4th seeds go to one, 2nd/3rd go to another). Teams play 3-4 games in 7 nights every week.

Playoff format (will be bracket style):

1st Bubble:
#1 East vs #4 Canadian
#2 Central vs #3 West
#3 Central vs #2 West
#4 East vs #1 Canadian

2nd Bubble:
#1 Central vs #4 west
#2 Canadian vs #3 East
#3 East vs #2 Canadian
#4 Central vs #1 west

Stanley cup finals:
Winner of Bubble 1 faces winner of Bubble 2. Winner of that is the Stanley Cup Champion. Hopefully things go back to normal in the 2021-2022 season.

 

[GindyDraws]

Now that the season is officially over, care to continue speculation on when this'll start?

 

[Masked]

Canadian division won't work. You're gonna have Canadian teams just playing each other over and over again for 62-70 games?

Ever hear of the Original Six? This is one more than that.

The US TV networks won't agree to limit games to single division in the US ... like NBC is going to want Pittsburgh Vs. Tampa Bay, Boston Vs. Philly, what is the NHL going to say? No? Because of a Canadian division?

Think the Canadian government will have to give a bit here.

Yeah, the government will clearly change their policy on public health because hockey teams are playing each other too many times. That makes sense.

 

[Soundwave]

Ever hear of the Original Six? This is one more than that.



Yeah, the government will clearly change their policy on public health because hockey teams are playing each other too many times. That makes sense.

Or Canadian teams will simply play out of the US more likely in that situation and there will be blame put on the govt by the Canadian owners and arena staff and fans.

 

[Masked]

Or Canadian teams will simply play out of the US more likely in that situation and there will be blame put on the govt by the Canadian owners and arena staff and fans.

If you can't go to games anyway why does it matter where they're played? Where NHL teams are playing is very low on the priorities of the Canadian public during the pandemic.

 

[Soundwave]

If you can't go to games anyway why does it matter where they're played? Where NHL teams are playing is very low on the priorities of the Canadian public during the pandemic.

There will likely be fans allowed at least in the US. The NHL can't sustain itself with no gate revenue.

They will probably just mandate masks and have less than full capacity.

 

[Masked]

There will likely be fans allowed at least in the US. The NHL can't sustain itself with no gate revenue.

They will probably just mandate masks and have less than full capacity.

There's no way fans will be allowed to attend a game in Canada for quite some time and it would be stupid to even allow it.

 

[Soundwave]

There's no way fans will be allowed to attend a game in Canada for quite some time and it would be stupid to even allow it.

There's no point in having the Canadian teams in Canada in that case anyway. Have them play out of the US and you don't need to have a weird schedule.

 

[Kshahdoo]

I doubt, the NHL season starts any time soon. Look at the KHL, team after team after team are losing players to COVID, and I doubt, it'll be any different in the NHL. KHL teams can substitute ill players with VHLers and MHLers, but I doubt, NHL teams will be able to do the same, considering the AHL season is probably not going to happen.