Toronto, Vancouver or Edmonton?

[meefer]

With Trudeau saying that Canada can host as a 'hub' city for the playoffs, one of the above cities appears to be the most likely to become Canada's host city. Naturally, I'd like Toronto to be that city, but I have a major concern: our ice sucks, especially during warm weather. MLSE has to upgrade the quality of our ice otherwise games will be a slog fest in August and early/mid September. Edmonton has the best ice, but with no disrespect to Edmonton, it ain't that sexy. Vancouver...ya, I can see them going there if we don't make improvements. The NHL is going to be doing it's level best to attract as large an audience on TV as possible. They are going to need the product being as good as possible, as exciting as possible, as consistent as possible. I think our biggest advantage is our time zone, should Las Vegas be the US option.

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[Gabriel426]

Going to be Toronto due to the fact that Sportsnet and TSN are based in Toronto.
Not to mention Toronto got all the Hotels for teams and their staffs.

 

[93LEAFS]

Toronto makes by-far the most sense given the amount of Rinks in close proximity that you could actually film games at and get practices at (there are about 6 or 7 arenas within an hour than can accommodate filming NHL games easily. Some of the American suggestions sound insane. Its going to destroy the ice due to the heat and they don't have much in the way of practice facilities (looking at Vegas specifically)

 

[slozo]

Absolutely TO makes the most sense, all homerism aside.
- more and better rinks
- better facilities overall
- ** more players and refs and other personnel already living/staying here
- ...and the #1 reason?
Vegas is already a lock, so we need a CANADIAN, Eastern Standard Time location!!!

Thank you, I'm here all lockdown.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Toronto simply because it's the centre of the hockey universe

 

[deletethis]

Any empty arena viewed on television is any other empty arena viewed on television.

 

[ACC1224]

They won’t have all games out West and with Vegas already announced it would have to be Toronto out of those 3 choices.

 

[Mess]

They won’t have all games out West and with Vegas already announced it would have to be Toronto out of those 3 choices.

That might all depend on time zones and which conference gets assigned where.

Say the Eastern Conference is assigned to play out of the Vegas Hub City.

Then you would have Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg of Canadian teams from the Western conference, so wouldn't that make more sense to pick a Western Canadian Hub city to host as they play regularly on that time zone schedule?

Fans that live and cheer for the Western teams would have trouble watching them in the EST as a 7:00 pm start game in Toronto, means BC fans of Vancouver or Alberta fans are trying to watch their teams at 4:00 or 5:00 pm which would be during normal work hours. With no fans in the buildings you would have to think that making viewing times on TV the #1 priority. IMO

This really would apply more if the Western Conference was assigned Vegas and then Toronto to host the Eastern teams would seem more logical then to have all the Eastern teams play in MST or PST time zones when they regularly play EST.

 

[Golden_Jet]

If you listen to Bob McKenzie on Overdrive yesterday, he says the tide has turned a bit, and Toronto is probably the third choice in Canada now.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I assume whomever is chosen as a hub city, they will need to stay in the hotel and not their own beds, if they allow the hub city and home team in the same rink.

 

[Fogelhund]

Time zones is rather irrelevant in all of this discussion. Given that there will be no fans, they can have games at any time that they want. They can do multiple games, on the same day, at the same arena. Eastern zone teams can play in Vancouver at 4pm, which will be 7pm here... and then Western teams could start at 8pm local time there.... The time zones aren't nearly as important, as the ability to host, and accommodate.

 

[Mess]

If you listen to Bob McKenzie on Overdrive yesterday, he says the tide has turned a bit, and Toronto is probably the third choice in Canada now.

This might be all Covid-19 related as this whole playoffs are being worked around it.

Ontario/Quebec are being hit hardest by the Pandemic in Canada with the most cases and deaths, with those 2 Provinces are recording 85% of those events daily, while BC/Alberta is relatively calm and reporting very low and down trending new cases.

Picking a Hub city in a Province that is viewed favourable with low cases makes for safer playing conditions for players and less chance of the virus impacting games.

Province	Number of total cases	Number of deaths

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Ontario ..............

32,554

2,538

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Alberta	7,482	151
British Columbia	2,756	168

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

As of June 17th, 2020.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Going to be Toronto due to the fact that Sportsnet and TSN are based in Toronto.
Not to mention Toronto got all the Hotels for teams and their staffs.

While I wish it was NOT here. It will be. This is an issue which will be decided by da players and TV contract holders. Players will want to play closest to home as possible in event they have to go home. And players will want to play inside da bubble and have assurances da bubble won't break around them. Toronto is choice in both regards.
On TV contracts Sportsnet who has Canadian contract is already fully setup at both Ford and Scotia. Plus their TV people who run da broadcasts are from Toronto. and even most of tV personalities are too. So it will be far cheaper for them to operate from Toronto where their people can go home at nights rather than hotel rooms.
This was likely a done deal when Trudeau and Ford came out yesterday saying it was all good. Not sure about Tory but he will likely go with popular opinion as a popular mayor. When you hear him say it can be done then you know it is a done deal with NHL.

 

[ER89]

With no basketball being played, will that have a positive impact for ice quality?

 

[TMLeafer]

I'd like Toronto but I hope they're not doing this "host can't play in the hub city" suggestion. I guess time zones matter a little less without fans and they'd probably play 2 or 3 games a day anyway, but 2 western hubs wouldn't make sense. Just pick somewhere and get this going!!

 

[kevsh]

^ Having no fans in the arena should have an even more positive impact on ice quality but sure, I'd imagine not having to switch from the hardwood to ice will help too.

 

[deletethis]

Am I in the minority of fans who is less than thrilled about this faux playoffs? No spectators, middle of the summer, rusty players, UFAs playing well past their free agency freedom day (July 1st).

I think it's an act of desperation to return to empty stadiums. The NHL isn't going to be making money out of this even with the players playing for free (okay for relatively small playoff money pots). Both the NHL and the NHLPA must think this is a crucial exercise to maintain the brand.

 

[Mess]

I'd like Toronto but I hope they're not doing this "host can't play in the hub city" suggestion. I guess time zones matter a little less without fans and they'd probably play 2 or 3 games a day anyway, but 2 western hubs wouldn't make sense. Just pick somewhere and get this going!!

The NHL is always about parity for all..

You know if Toronto is named the Host hub and Toronto gets to play in the Scotiabank area, then all the Eastern teams will cry foul as that gives Leafs an unfair home ice advantage and ditto for the Western teams if Vegas gets to play at home. Even without the crowd, teams still know their own boards and ice and bounces as well as familiarity with other things related to playing at home.

So I can see to address this that NO team gets any advantage over another by simply sticking to that "host can't play in host city".

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Would hub cities have to adhere to the respective city's virus rules? Here in Toronto we can't have gatherings of more than 10 people (unless they bend the rules similar to places of worship). So how would that work?

I'm indifferent to hosting it here. Not like it's going to really matter.

 

[deletethis]

The NHL is always about parity for all..

You know if Toronto is named the Host hub and Toronto gets to play in the Scotiabank area, then all the Eastern teams will cry foul as that gives Leafs an unfair home ice advantage and ditto for the Western teams if Vegas gets to play at home. Even without the crowd, teams still know their own boards and ice and bounces as well as familiarity with other things related to playing at home.

So I can see to address this that NO team gets any advantage over another by simply sticking to that "host can't play in host city".

If this was a major worry, the NHL could have considered neutral sites like Regina or Quebec City or a non-playoff location like Ottawa. All that's needed are NHL level facilities and right capacity of accommodations.

 

[Mess]

If this was a major worry, the NHL could have considered neutral sites like Regina or Quebec City or a non-playoff location like Ottawa. All that's needed are NHL level facilities and right capacity of accommodations.

Or

The Western Conference plays in an Eastern NHL Host Hub, and the Eastern Conference plays in a Western Host hub city.

Toronto is named and hosts the West, and Vegas is named and host the East and that problem is solved.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Being the center of the hockey universe will finally pay off... sort of.

 

[Clark4Ever]

I think Edmonton makes the most sense based on the extensive infrastructure of their state of the art venue. It has the capacity to provide hotel accommodations, meals, and separate dining areas for all of the teams personnel under one roof.

 

[Mess]

Time zones is rather irrelevant in all of this discussion. Given that there will be no fans, they can have games at any time that they want. They can do multiple games, on the same day, at the same arena. Eastern zone teams can play in Vancouver at 4pm, which will be 7pm here... and then Western teams could start at 8pm local time there.... The time zones aren't nearly as important, as the ability to host, and accommodate.

That's fine for 1 game in the same arena but where is the 2nd game played before or after ?

Since you have to allow for OT extra time, so you would have to start 1st game at 12:00 noon in Vancouver which is 3:00 pm on eastern time, or if you play that next game after at 8:00 pm PST time that is start time 11:00 EST.

If you're a Leaf fan and live in Ontario like most, how easy would it be for a fan to watch the Leafs at 3:00 PM (while still at work) or 11:00 PM (and running through 2:00 AM) when they're going to sleep?

Whenever the Leafs go on the road on a west coast trip and games start 7-7:30 PST that is very inconvenient for fans that are in the EST as it gets so late, but those are just a few exceptions annually, and now the entire playoffs would have this issue, making viewership limited as a result.

Considering there are no fans in the building, that puts all the attention of putting the games on TV that are most convenient to their own fan bases to be able to watch.

That is why Eastern zone teams playing in a Eastern Hub and Western in the West makes the most sense overall so teams get to watch their teams in prime time.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Am I in the minority of fans who is less than thrilled about this faux playoffs? No spectators, middle of the summer, rusty players, UFAs playing well past their free agency freedom day (July 1st).

I think it's an act of desperation to return to empty stadiums. The NHL isn't going to be making money out of this even with the players playing for free (okay for relatively small playoff money pots). Both the NHL and the NHLPA must think this is a crucial exercise to maintain the brand.

It is significantly cheaper to play out playoffs then to pay back Comcast and Rogers. Owners do not want to write a huge cheque to Comcast and Rogers. Players want to keep what they have been paid already and not fork out more escrow on da true up. It is simple math really.