Shoutout to perennial cup winning organ-eye-zations like the Devils, Kings and Red Wings for sitting out the farce Covid Cup playoffs
yeah very strange. Would figure Florida would be on the map. CF3234 I would have thought south Florida would be an option. Some games at BBT and then others at Fort Myers arena or hell even Coral Springs.
It’s based on availability of arenas, lodging, etc. The cities all made bids based on current conditions so I am sure they have made assurances that they could proceed as things are today.
It’s certainly doable. We get a full year in now in nine months of time. I would just play from January - September this year, and then in 2022, start adopting a full time switch to a season that begins in December.
They want games in NHL arenas. so Coral Springs and Ft. Myers would be out. Considering each hub would need 600 hotel rooms, and there are maybe 200 in the near vicinity of the rink. Teams would need to stay on the Beach and the NHL doesn't want players that far away. Also, Coral Springs, which is the obvious practice location, would be an hour+ drive from the beach.
They want the re-start to the conference finals done in about a month. b2b's are going to have to be on the table.
Not nearly as dumb as having the team with like the 6th best record in the league stuck in some stupid "play in" round because their division is loaded and the regular playoff format is fucking garbage.
Thanks It seems like nhl has by far made the most headway of all the major US sports but there still seems to be a lot of hurdles. I’m cautiously optimistic
I know it’s probably low on the list of stuff to work out but has anyone hinted at any possible TV deals for this? Assuming there’s not much else on sports wise + they are forced to play multiple games through the day, would they be able to put more games on TV than normal?
Starting the comeback with literally the highest attended game seems doubtful UNLESS we go full pond hockey game with no fans for the classic which would fucking rule.
Gotta think Vegas is a lock, the local beat reporters here really think Columbus is going to get the east. We have the whole arena district that's entirely empty that the NHL can take over essentially unobstructed
Shit I remember weekends where we’d drive down to anchorage (6 hrs) Friday morning, play a game that night. Play 3 games Saturday. Then 2 on Sunday morning and afternoon and drive back and be home by 10 PM. Oh to be young.
I remember once I played in 6 straight outdoor roller hockey games in the middle of may. Literally played from 8 am to 2 pm straight. Kept subbing for teams that didn’t have a goalie. Now you couldn’t pay me to play goalie for single outdoor game
We got a new rule added to USA hockey because we needed to get a player eligible for state (was burnt out so didn’t want to play junior year) but decided at the 11th hour that he wanted to play. So we played 10 games in 12 hours from 6 PM on Valentine’s Day until 6 AM. Had refs and scorekeeper and everything. Now there’s a rule where there had to be x number of hours between games.
This. Sens odds haven’t changed, not that they should be given extra odds. They lucked out by finishing 2/3 on the last day before shut down so there’s that. Just don’t like the second grouping of teams getting the same chance as before especially after a team loses a playoff play in game. Sorry, but that’s a playoff game. Not all teams are participating and you have a best of five head to head match up where the loser goes home. That’s a playoff. Texted my Leaf buddy last night to congratulate him on winning the draft lottery. He laughed. As for hub cities, Edmonton/Vancouver and Vegas. Having one Canadian team makes things 30% cheaper for the league. Have them both out west.
With no fans and the effects of not having fans (doors not opening constantly as they enter the arena), I imagine it will be a bit easier to manage the climate within these arenas to keep the ice in good shape.
I like not having a bye. Getting some warm up games is going to be huge in that 2nd round. Those teams on byes not playing for months are going to get rolled in game 1 and maybe 2.
The bye teams have 3 round robin games to play. Won’t be completely cold, but i doubt those games are played as intensely as those play in series
Missed that part. Sort of just a pre-season for them? Ok not as bad then but still think gonna be hard to step up to anything resembling playoff hockey after months off.
So they are going to run the lottery before they do they play in rounds? If you’re one of those teams and say phase 2 teams get the 1 and 2 picks, doesn’t that incentivize losing your playoff series? I’m confused how this works
The 8-15 slots are going to be “blank” for phase one. If they win the lotto, a second lotto will be held after the play in round where all of the teams eliminated have an equal shot to win
So lets guess how these games are going to get scheduled. 8 teams, 2 hubs Assuming no b2b's that means 2 games per day at each hub. Can either go with no overlap. Hub 1: 2:00 Puck Drop Hub 2: 4:30 Puck Drop Hub 1: 7:00 Puck Drop Hub 2: 10:00 Puck Drop Or stagger by an hour so there is always hockey going Hub 1: 4:00 Hub 2: 5:00 Hub 1: 8:00 Hub 2: 9:00 I think the stagger strategy could end up extremely flawed because of the potential for a 2+ OT game. 90 min between games cuts it extremely close.