Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
1. No home ice advantage - that is normally your reward for a good regular season. Higher seeded teams will not get to enjoy this benefit. Lower seeded teams don't have to face the adversity of a hostile building.
2. Long break - Beat-up teams have had a chance to heal. You could say that this is the same for all teams, but it penalizes the teams with depth that were built for a long distance run.
3. No fans in the building? Now it's a reality show, not the Stanley Cup playoffs. The electric atmosphere in the buildings is what makes the playoffs extra special.
4. Teams are rusty - there could be a fluke champion.
5. Match-ups may not be fair if all teams did not play equally balanced schedules.
6. Extra teams in the playoffs that don't deserve a spot.
7. Distracted players that may not want to be playing right now.
8. The ice could be terrible in July and August.
I'm not saying don't play hockey. Just don't award the Stanley Cup for this. Maybe give out the President's Trophy for the winner instead.
What happens when 1-2 players test positive?
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To have the players come back and play a gruelling 24 team playoff after 65+ regular season games, deal with quarantine etc, and then not not award the Stanley Cup would be unjust IMO and extremely unlikely to happen. Traditionalists will have to embrace change at least for this season, or else asterisk it all you want in your own mind.