Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
While it won't likely mean much to the city overall, it will be a boost to the hotels and other businesses that would be servicing the NHL during this.
If they're going have 12 teams in each city to start, between players and staff, each team will probably have close to 60 people (there will also be the officials and other game staff, plus the broadcasters), that adds up to a lot of people who will need hotel rooms and catering and all the other services they'll require.
With this switch to 12 teams in each hub, can Edmonton support it? I don't think they could run the necessary games in only one arena until it's down to 2 series, so they'd need a second rink. Is Northlands still operational? If it's not, what would their second option be? The U of A?
Also, with the potential cross-border issues that could pop-up between now and then, I'll bet they pick the two hub cities in the same country. That means Edmonton's chances are likely tied to Toronto. Given all the options, that wouldn't necessarily be the worst choice. If they did choose Toronto, they'd likely use the AHL arena for the secondary rink, but it would be kind of cool if they could play some games in the rink at the old Gardens.
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This might be a subtle reason to keep the Bracket idea in place. You play 2 games every day at each site.
Something like
Day 1
1:00 Eastern East 1 vs East 8
4:00 Eastern West 1 vs West 8
7:00 Eastern East 4 vs East 5
10:00 Easter West 4 vs West 5
Day 2
1:00 Eastern East 2 vs East 7
4:00 Eastern West 2 vs West 7
7:00 Eastern East 3 vs East 6
10:00 Easter West 3 vs West 6
This way you can keep going thru the first two rounds without any team getting a rest advantage over the other except for winning a series early and set a schedule that doesn't need to change. Maybe push to the later times if there are only 1 game at the host site on any day.