Until the NHL returns to action from its current “pause”, most of the news will continue to revolve around when and how the league will return to play. Following a call between the league’s general managers today, the insiders at TSN had a number of updates on the possible timeline, as well as some of the major hurdles facing the NHL as it puts together a plan in this unprecedented time.
Bob McKenzie reports that the NHL has now gone one step further from an earlier report that they had requested arena availability from each team through July. McKenzie says that potential timeline has now been extended through August, as the new request was made this week. This could line up with a popular plan among players, which would see the NHL resume their regular season in July, compete in the 2020 postseason in August and September, take October off as the “off-season” and then return for the new league year in November. A version of this plan could be in play at the NHL, who have reiterated both a hope for a full completion of the current regular season and playoffs as well as a commitment to a full 2020-21 season.
Of course, the possibility of playing games in July and August – important games at that – raises a key logistical issue: ice conditions. Combating the heat of the summer months would be no small task. However, Pierre LeBrun believes that it is possible for every NHL team to maintain suitable ice conditions in those warmer months. He does stipulate that it would be an expensive venture, both in manpower and in air conditioning and maintenance costs. He also adds that the most important factor would be the diligence of the team ice crews, who will have to work harder and smarter than they ever have to make sure the ice surface is playable for potential playoff games during the hottest days of the year.
The other issue with 2020 games in July and August and beyond is of the legal variety. McKenzie points out that a number of current NHL contract are set to expire on June 30. While this date is simply a representation of the last day of the league year, it is written into contracts and would need to be amended to allow for an extended league year through the summer. He adds that work visas would also be affected, which could be an even more difficult hurdle as compared to contract terms, which can likely be handled internally through the league and players’ association.
Regardless, the league will do whatever it can to make sure that the season goes on, hopefully in full but at worst in part. Frank Seravalli relays an estimate that if the league does not resume the 2019-20 season in summer manner, they will be facing losses of up to $1 billion. They also do not expect any insurance bailouts to help resolve the situation. This is all the incentive that the league, teams, players, and all stakeholders need to be flexible when constructing a plan to return to action. Already, the league office and many teams have begun to cut staff salary in an effort to save for possible losses, but the best way to avoid a potential billion-dollar gouge is to somehow find a way to complete the season with as many games, regular and playoff, as possible.
I know a way the league could recoup some of that $1B loss….expansion/neutral site games and the Olympics.
Quebec City/Hartford/Houston/Oakland(S.F.) all possibilities.
moving a game from one home arena to a neutral site does what exactly?
They might be able to finish this season if they skip to the playoffs, are flexible about the schedule and don’t mind playing in empty arenas.
Otherwise…there aren’t going to be any 18,000 people in one building events any time soon and once a few active players test positive on playoff teams it would all be shut down again.
That is a very valid point. Even if the season resumes, if one player gets it that team is shut down. Then how would they proceed? They’re eventually going to run out of time. I’d love to see them resume but just can’t see the reality of it unfortunately
Beings that the Governors of many states seem intent on seeing how much power they can wield by shutting people inside their homes for indefinate periods of time and shutting down businesses, it will be difficult for any sports league to resume play anytime soon. Lots of politics being played with a virus as the excuse to play them.
But if somehow the season did restart, shortening the playoff series to 5 games in each of the first 3 rounds might make some sense. Could at least reduce by two weeks or so the length of the playoffs.
this might be the dumbest thing I’ve read today. congrats.
That might be because it requires thought to read what I wrote.
i certainly applaud the NHL for willing to wait this out for some time to get the season done in full. we dont know what things will be like a month from now, let alone several months from now. might as well take it day by day.