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

[getbak]

My money is still on it being the Western Conference in LA and the East in Vegas.

I'd do half the play-ins at Staples and the other half at the Honda Center (pfft), with the round-robins being played at the Kings' AHL rink in Ontario. The winners of each play-in stay in the same city and their first round opponents join them in LA/Anaheim. For the second round and Conference Finals, everyone goes to Staples.

In Vegas, similar set-up with Half the teams playing at T-Mobile and half at MGM-Grand, with the round-robin games at Orleans.


For the ultimate irony, the Flames get assigned to play in Anaheim and go 7-0 to sweep the play-in and first round series.

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Teams from the west playing in the east makes no sense for TV with the time change. The latest game starting at 8pm est is 5:00 pst. While games starting at 8:00pst is 11:00 est which is a bigger problem as a tape delay is no benefit. For tv reasons the teams have to align with the time zones don’t they?

With no crowds does it really matter what time the games start locally? You can have the Eastern games in Vegas start at 1700 local time then the Western games in let’s say Columbus at 2200 local time.

[jayswin]

Yeah, I don't think they're going to worry about time zones or where hub cities are relative to other hub cities. There's no fans, so just keep the host team in another city so they can't get the "staying at home" advantage and nothing else matters.

East teams can play at 4 or 5pm in LA/LV for better local starts or they can tape delay. The ability of the hub cities to pull this off should and will be the only the factor, not geography.

[Toonage]

Still wouldn't surprise me to see an Eastern hub even though, true, it seems largely pointless given how many games a day are planning to be played. I also wouldn't be surprised if delays in getting things going are all because the NHL has an enormous want to be in Toronto.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

With no crowds does it really matter what time the games start locally? You can have the Eastern games in Vegas start at 1700 local time then the Western games in let’s say Columbus at 2200 local time.

Considering this is 100% for TV, prime time broadcasting is key. If they are playing two- three games/ day out of one arena there will be late games. So if eastern teams have a game scheduled to start in Vegas at 8:00pm, that is 11:00 local time. Not quite hitting the prime time slots locally.

Going the other way, do you think starting games at 10pm is logical? Scheduled ending at 1:00am? With overtime games ending well into the wee hours of the next day? There's no way the players go for 10pm start times.

You have to think for the first round, with two games per day per rink the start times will look like 2:00pm and 8:00pm

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Still wouldn't surprise me to see an Eastern hub even though, true, it seems largely pointless given how many games a day are planning to be played. I also wouldn't be surprised if delays in getting things going are all because the NHL has an enormous want to be in Toronto.

What is the benefit of hosting in Toronto?

[chummer]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1271093108378415105

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

What is the benefit of hosting in Toronto?

You tell me lol, but the NHL loves Toronto and Toronto loves Toronto. So when you hear anyone on TV discussing hubs despite all the roadblocks Toronto always comes up. Just wouldn't shock me to see the NHL want to be there even though it doesn't make a lot of sense for people on the outside looking in.