Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - A detailed idea regarding getting the NHL back to playing Oct-Jun for 2023-24

Sidney Crosby's Hat · 09-19-2020, 09:12 PM

This is a really interesting post. I love this type of speculation.

My own thoughts are that the NHL is going to want to get back on track as quick as possible. There's a few factors to consider:

(1) I don't see an appetite for the NHL to continue past July 23 due to the Olympics. NBC will be using all their channels for the Olympics so it's probably a non-starter for them. The NHL Draft would then probably need to be in the July 18-22 range followed shortly by free agency so the latest the Cup Finals could go would be July 12-16.

(2) Another wrinkle to the 21-22 season is that the NHL has committed to the players in the new CBA that it will go to the Olympics. Unless the players agree to not go now, that's going to be part of the reality. Plus, with it being China and the NHL wanting to find new revenue, I think the NHL wants to go just as badly as the players anyway

(3) With Edmonton hosting the World Juniors and the team camps from December 10 or so until January 6, that might give you a decent idea of when the NHL actually thinks camps are starting next season. My guess is, camps will start right after New Years, maybe an exhibition game or two and the season starts somewhere around January 15-20. As we all remember, a 48-game season starting around that time (94-95; 12-13) has the regular season end by the end of April and playoffs end of June. I think you could probably squeeze 10-12 more games in to make the timeline the NHL needs there, so a 60-game season starting mid-January maybe?

A shorter season benefits the owners because they already promised the players max 20% escrow. Assuming fans will be able to start attending in February or March, that means not a whole lot of games to empty arenas.

(4) For realignment, I think the NHL will look for as little disruption as possible. They'll have an all-Canadian division, keep the Metro Division the same and then move three teams from the Central Division to each of the other two divisions.

Maybe something like this:

Pacific Division

Los Angeles, Anaheim, Arizona, Vegas, San Jose, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota

Atlantic Division

Florida, Tampa Bay, Boston, Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville

Then I could see all four divisions playing only games within their division and the first two rounds of the playoffs also being only within your division partially to limit risk but also for fairness since the Canadian teams will have to do it that way.

09-19-2020, 09:12 PM	#11
Sidney Crosby's Hat Franchise Player Join Date: Oct 2001 Exp:	This is a really interesting post. I love this type of speculation. My own thoughts are that the NHL is going to want to get back on track as quick as possible. There's a few factors to consider: (1) I don't see an appetite for the NHL to continue past July 23 due to the Olympics. NBC will be using all their channels for the Olympics so it's probably a non-starter for them. The NHL Draft would then probably need to be in the July 18-22 range followed shortly by free agency so the latest the Cup Finals could go would be July 12-16. (2) Another wrinkle to the 21-22 season is that the NHL has committed to the players in the new CBA that it will go to the Olympics. Unless the players agree to not go now, that's going to be part of the reality. Plus, with it being China and the NHL wanting to find new revenue, I think the NHL wants to go just as badly as the players anyway (3) With Edmonton hosting the World Juniors and the team camps from December 10 or so until January 6, that might give you a decent idea of when the NHL actually thinks camps are starting next season. My guess is, camps will start right after New Years, maybe an exhibition game or two and the season starts somewhere around January 15-20. As we all remember, a 48-game season starting around that time (94-95; 12-13) has the regular season end by the end of April and playoffs end of June. I think you could probably squeeze 10-12 more games in to make the timeline the NHL needs there, so a 60-game season starting mid-January maybe? A shorter season benefits the owners because they already promised the players max 20% escrow. Assuming fans will be able to start attending in February or March, that means not a whole lot of games to empty arenas. (4) For realignment, I think the NHL will look for as little disruption as possible. They'll have an all-Canadian division, keep the Metro Division the same and then move three teams from the Central Division to each of the other two divisions. Maybe something like this: Pacific Division Los Angeles, Anaheim, Arizona, Vegas, San Jose, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota Atlantic Division Florida, Tampa Bay, Boston, Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville Then I could see all four divisions playing only games within their division and the first two rounds of the playoffs also being only within your division partially to limit risk but also for fairness since the Canadian teams will have to do it that way.