final nail for NHL season ?

[Harry Lime]

I think that the only pro sports league that has a chance of playing before September is baseball. Even that will be an 81 game half season played to empty stadiums.

Travel bans will have to be lifted before there is any chance of even that happening, and the most optimistic projections are for July.

[dissentowner]

The NHL was already planning for an August restart at best so not seeing how this kills the current season.

[Reggie Dunlop]

I think the entire 2020-21 season will be eventually cancelled as well.

[pseudoreality]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

The NHL was already planning for an August restart at best so not seeing how this kills the current season.

Exactly. Not that they might not call it later, but I don't see canceling events until the end of June the final nail.

I also don't think it is outside of the realm of possibilities that the 2019/2020 season and playoffs is played in the fall and a 2021 season starts in January.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by UKflames

Can't see the Stampede going ahead with no international travellers visiting, that is a big hole in the finances to run the thing, let alone the fact Canadians cannot travel.

Not to mention the lack of locals interested in dropping stampede money in a couple months.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by UKflames

Can't see the Stampede going ahead with no international travellers visiting, that is a big hole in the finances to run the thing, let alone the fact Canadians cannot travel.

75+% of Stampede visitors are locals. They'd totally run the event if they could. The problem is that many vendors and the company that runs the midway likely won't be able to come. Or major musical acts.

[dino7c]

NHL has multiple teams in New York and California...games before June 30th weren't gonna happen anyway

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

It would be bush league to award a cup with an # beside it anyway

What about with a * beside it?

[FlamesAddiction]

Using South Korea as an example, they hit their peak infection rate about 3 weeks ago and the number of new cases has slowed down. But 3 weeks later, they still have current cases that are about 40-50% of what their peak was.

Keeping in mind that:

- Canada has not peaked yet and may not until May.
- Our total number of cases will be a lot higher than what South Korea had when ours peak.
- South Korea is the poster-girl for best case scenario.

I am sure there is some type of math or modelling that can be done to predict and model this, but I am not the one to do it. I don't even think the experts agree when we will peak or what the numbers will look like.

We are over 12,000 confirmed cases today, I am going to assume 50,000 is the peak (not sure if that is reasonable to be honest). Based on the South Korea example, we can probably assume that we would still have 25,000 cases by mid June and over 10,000 in mid July. That also assumes that we stick to social distancing and the health care system keeps up. If you cut that in half every month, you would still have over 1,000 active case by October... way more than enough to spark another pandemic if you let up on the social distancing and keep in mind that actual cases are likely much higher than confirmed cases.

I just don't see how NHL hockey was going to happen again before July and we will be lucky if it happens before January. It likely won't happen until a vaccine is developed, produced and delivered, or until the virus cycles through the population completely. The only wild card will be if mass testing and temperature taking will be the norm before then. That could help speed up things a bit.

[keeper34]

Flames hockey during Stampede how awesome that would be

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Toonage

If its like Toronto, this won't apply to pro sports (NHL) as they don't require a permit

This is true. However the reason, imo, that there will be no NHL this season, has nothing to do with Canada but with the US. They are in far far far worse shape than us. I can't see them starting up pro sports anytime soon.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by keeper34

Flames hockey during Stampede how awesome that would be

Irritating and pointless, honestly.

[Freeway]

NHL has requested July/August dates from all their buildings, but they're aware it's a moving target.

[chedder]

Originally Posted by Freeway

NHL has requested July/August dates from all their buildings, but they're aware it's a moving target.

Just me, but the last thing I want to do is go watch hockey in the summer. I hope they just turf the season at this point.

[Gallick]

Well, if it ends here and starts fresh in October, then this was without a doubt the weirdest season in Calgary Flames history.

[calgarygeologist]

Just cancel the season. Continuing the season 6 months from now when players and fans just don't care anymore and players are out of shape just makes no sense.

What would be awesome to see is a fun simulation tournament with some of the big stars and personalities playing online against each other. Watching Ovie and a couple of his Capitals buddies playing online against Crosby and his buddies would be great. At this time the fans would love to see their favorite players having some fun and cheering people up.

Edit: I just saw on TSN that they are broadcasting an NBA2K players tournament. Come on NHL where is your tournament?

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Just cancel the season. Continuing the season 6 months from now when players and fans just don't care anymore and players are out of shape just makes no sense.

6 months from now is when next season would begin normally.

Why would fans not care anymore?

If anything, the thirst for sports will be bigger than ever.

That being said, its becoming clear that getting a full season in for next year is becoming doubtful.

May have to look at a 60ish game sked starting around the new year.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by transplant99

6 months from now is when next season would begin normally.

Why would fans not care anymore?

If anything, the thirst for sports will be bigger than ever.

That being said, its becoming clear that getting a full season in for next year is becoming doubtful.

May have to look at a 60ish game sked starting around the new year.

With respect to fans not caring after an extended break I equate that with the lack of natural progression of the season. In the normal course of a season everything builds up to the playoff run but without that build up I don't think there will be a lot of excitement going into the playoffs.

I think the level of play will be significantly diminished as well which will make it difficult for fans. We obviously don't know when social distancing measures will be eased up but how many players have skated in the last three weeks? How many will continue a high level training program during this break?

[Eric Vail]

If fans aren't going to attend the games, couldn't several teams just gather in one city and play each other in the same arena several times. There wouldn't be a need to be travelling to a new city every few days. They could have new divisions, one for Canada and three in the States. The best team emerges from each division and the final four have a tournament to find a Stanley Cup winner.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

If fans aren't going to attend the games, couldn't several teams just gather in one city and play each other in the same arena several times. There wouldn't be a need to be travelling to a new city every few days. They could have new divisions, one for Canada and three in the States. The best team emerges from each division and the final four have a tournament to find a Stanley Cup winner.

The empty Vegas Hotels make perfect sense for this. Sequester everyone for two weeks then have your tournament.