UPDATE: NHLPA votes for further negotiations on 24-team return to play format

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Rejean31

Why the month long delay? Surely they could open training camps before the first week of July?

Maybe for travel? I could be wrong, but I don't think any players could get across borders at present; is the delay in Hope's that by 1 July int'l travel is more likely possible?

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[handgroen]

So over under on the regular season games in the 2020/2021 season? 40?

[Patek23]

Originally Posted by handgroen

So over under on the regular season games in the 2020/2021 season? 40?

My guess is it’s a 70 game season with a shortened preseason and they scrap the bye week concept.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by The Familia

I think the hub city idea is crap. Not fair that Edmonton gets to play every game at home where they know the arena, and every aspect of the playing surface. Just cancel the season already.

OMG.


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[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Maybe for travel? I could be wrong, but I don't think any players could get across borders at present; is the delay in Hope's that by 1 July int'l travel is more likely possible?

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Travel plus quarantine.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Maybe for travel? I could be wrong, but I don't think any players could get across borders at present; is the delay in Hope's that by 1 July int'l travel is more likely possible?

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The NBA is planning about the same timeframe it seems. I imagine in addition to travel, there’s logistics of getting the testing set up, all the catering etc.

There is a lot that has to happen to get these bubbles set up I imagine.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Rejean31

Why the month long delay? Surely they could open training camps before the first week of July?

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Maybe for travel? I could be wrong, but I don't think any players could get across borders at present; is the delay in Hope's that by 1 July int'l travel is more likely possible?

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Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

Travel plus quarantine.

At present cross border travel is permitted provided you have a residence you are traveling to. Lots has been made of the border situation but it’s not about players returning to their homes they live in during the season, self isolation protoclas vary by state and it’s 14 days for Canada. I can’t believe not one NHL reporter has looked into this and realized it’s not a big deal for players to return to team cities. The problem that currently exists is getting a whole team across the border for games. This can be changed with the stroke of a pen. The less obstacles the better however so I highly doubt Edmonton will be one of the HUB cites. Friedman said earlier this week the last thing the league needs is having to deal with 2 Federal governments.

Overall I could see this perhaps moving up by two weeks max. Start camps mid June and playoff bracket mid July?

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

The NBA is planning about the same timeframe it seems. I imagine in addition to travel, there’s logistics of getting the testing set up, all the catering etc.

There is a lot that has to happen to get these bubbles set up I imagine.

Yah, interesting for sure. In Vegas tons of rooms right next door at either Park MGM or New York New York. Would have ton arrange busses to practice facility, catering not a concern in Vegas, 100’s of empty restaurants use to serving 1000’s every day.

Columbus in the east is home to Ohio State University which has a student population of over 60,000, 12 NHL teams, staff, officials is nothing. I read somewhere that they would consider using OSU as the host facility.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by dino7c

We are discussing the proposal as it was presented, two hubs and brackets is the latest... obviously things can/should change

Sure, but it seems the NHL has just temporarily repurposed their wheel of justice with different formats.

A savvy negotiator identifies issues that are potentially important to their counterpart, but of little concern to themselves. If you can dream up a reason you can [pretend] to care about the option least favourable to your counterpart, you've got yourself an easy concession to exchange.

Look no further than Bill Daly's "5 year contracts is the hill we will die on". Perhaps that is how the league really felt at the time. Or, perhaps they simply wanted some reasonable term length, but turned it into a major concession to get most of their other desires taken care of.

I think ideas like "completing the regular season", or these little seeding things might be similar.

[topfiverecords]

Even one Vegas buffet setup is enough to feed an entire league of NHL players and staff.

The Eastern conference is going to be so much more well fed than the West. Assuming Edmonton hub for WC. Going to need semi loads of bottled water too.

[Patek23]

Dont know how to embed tweets but seen that US announced an exemption for professional athletes coming through their border. I'm sure that's definetely a good sign for the NHL and trying to finish off this season.

Seems like the heat helps stave off the virus a bit. Wonder if they do something like Vegas for the West and Florida for the East as both places also have allowed sports venues as long as certain protocol are followed and both are warm climates.

[Vinny01]

For a while it sounded like the NBA had a plan for Vegas-Orlando but from what o read today the entire league could take Disney over and run all out of Orlando. I could see Vegas definitely being a hub for the NHL which would kill the Edmonton bid I assume as I would think it will be a eastern hub and a western one

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Even one Vegas buffet setup is enough to feed an entire league of NHL players and staff.

The Eastern conference is going to be so much more well fed than the West. Assuming Edmonton hub for WC. Going to need semi loads of bottled water too.

I have an idea. Let’s put them all on a cruise ship.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by handgroen

So over under on the regular season games in the 2020/2021 season? 40?

If fan attendance doesn't appear imminent, I bet we see things scheduled as series, kind of like baseball. It helps with risk mitigation and to reduce costs. It might also help inject some more life into the games.

7 team Central division makes things a little clumsy, but still doable.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Even one Vegas buffet setup is enough to feed an entire league of NHL players and staff.

The Eastern conference is going to be so much more well fed than the West. Assuming Edmonton hub for WC. Going to need semi loads of bottled water too.

Buffets may not survive the pandemic.

https://www.marketplace.org/2020/05/...d-19-pandemic/

https://www.reviewjournal.com/entert...r-day-2031935/

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Seems like the heat helps stave off the virus a bit. Wonder if they do something like Vegas for the West and Florida for the East as both places also have allowed sports venues as long as certain protocol are followed and both are warm climates.

Florida has insane humidity in the summer, which is bad for ice-making.

Also, I don't know if either Miami or Tampa have the necessary facilities for both playing the games and practicing.

I don't think they can do the current plan with all games played in the NHL arena, so they're going to need a second arena in each city where games can be played for at least the play-in round and the first round of the regular playoffs. I don't know if Tampa or Miami have such a thing. Miami has the Heat's arena, but I don't know if it's hockey-capable. They'll also need practice facilities for 12 teams, plus potentially 12 teams worth of Black Aces.


Another strike against Florida is that they're looking at resuming at the start of hurricane season. It would be hilarious if they successfully restarted the season and everything went smoothly with regards to COVID, only to have a massive hurricane hit Florida just as the second round of the playoffs were about to start.

[Strange Brew]

Yeah a massive hurricane wouldn’t be all that hilarious.

I don’t know what the plan is for practice rinks and all that. It does seem like you need a lot of sheets of ice. But I don’t imagine teams are bringing a second squad of black aces at this time.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Yeah a massive hurricane wouldn’t be all that hilarious.

I don’t know what the plan is for practice rinks and all that. It does seem like you need a lot of sheets of ice. But I don’t imagine teams are bringing a second squad of black aces at this time.

"Hilarious" in the context of the restart breaking down, obviously not in the whole human disaster sense.


Teams are going to need to have a bunch of Black Aces on-hand and ready to go. For one thing, there won't be any AHL squads to make recalls from, so teams are going to want to make sure the players are practicing and in game shape if they're needed. Also, they'll need players who have cleared isolation/quarantine protocols and won't be able to wait 2 weeks for an emergency recall to be able to play.

The other option for the Black Aces would be to have them locked-down in a nearby city where they could be quickly transported to the hub if needed. For example, if Edmonton was a hub, the Black Aces could be sequestered in Calgary and practicing at WinSport. That way, if one of them was needed, it would be a quick drive up the #2 to get them to their team.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I have an idea. Let’s put them all on a cruise ship.

The newer Royal Caribbean ships have ice rinks. Maybe they can set up some boards and buy some nets. Problem solved!

[combustiblefuel]

Jesus christ. Just call the season already. Not in favour of any thing at this point of the year. Just stop.