Hold onto your hats: the NHL’s hub cities saga is taking yet another turn. Las Vegas is no longer a presumed selection for one of the NHL’s hub cities, per Frank Seravalli of TSN Sports. Veteran NHL Reporter John Shannon notes that increasing cases of COVID-19 in 36 states across the United States – including Nevada – are among the reasons the NHL has started to look more seriously at letting Canada host both the Eastern and Western Conference playoff bubbles. Toronto and Edmonton would be the presumed frontrunners now, though still, nothing is official. It’s surprising that it took the NHL this long to move off Vegas as their top choice, but if the delay amounts to the league doing their due diligence, the process is working as intended. Still, we continue to wait for the final word from the league. In the meantime, let’s check in on some player health notes…
- Minnesota Wild defenseman Carson Soucy has recovered from a mid-season upper-body injury and he’s ready to participate in the Stanley Cup Qualifier, per Pete Jensen of NHL.com. Soucy, 26, missed the final nine games of the season after scoring 14 points in the first 55 games. Soucy averaged over 15 minutes of ice time per game when he was healthy. He’ll be an option in the third pairing for Minnesota if indeed he’s back to full strength. Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Mathew Dumba, and Jonas Brodin figure to make up the top two defensive pairings for the Wild.
- Mercurial forward Phil Kessel told reporters today that he’d never been more banged up in a season than this year, his first with the Arizona Coyotes, tweets Coyotes’ beat reporter Craig Morgan. In 70 games with Arizona, Kessel managed just 14 goals, the lowest total since his rookie season in 2006-2007. His 24 assists somewhat salvaged the campaign for the 32-year-old Kessel, but it’s still a far cry from the 75 points per season he racked up in four years with the Penguins. Kessel is a typically strong postseason performer, but he’ll have to come out the gate hot to push the Coyotes past the qualifier stage. This very well might be a case of a player putting a positive spin on a down year, but Kessel at full-speed is a big enough difference-maker that it’s worth tracking.
Interesting development. It shows the NHL is actually taking the safety of their players seriously.
The easy thing to do would be to pick hub cities in certain US states where they won’t shut things down no matter how many people get sick to make sure the games get played.
Alaska
Testing positive for CV-19 is not the same as getting sick from CV-19. This fear mongering nonsense needs to stop. Fact is, the number of deaths in these hot weather states is very low, which everyone said was the key indicator for reopening. Now the criteria changes yet again. Locking people inside in hot weather regions is about the worst idea one could have.
nope posting this nonsense was the worst idea one could have.
Seriously?
People spread it to others who may die.
And even young people who’ve survived have long lasting effects from the ravaging it does to the body.
We would all love to see hockey and other sports in person… But the only way that’s going to happen is for everyone to get on board with prevention methods (a vaccine is not going to be more than 40% effective).
People suffer ravages of many different illnesses. Does anyone stop the world because of it, or do we only care when the illness has been politicized?
As for MoneyBall, if there were an ignore feature on this site, you’d be on it.
moneyball with the best comment of the week
Yeah, it was devastating.
Pretty much every country on Earth is taking this seriously. More seriously to be precise.
Are individual political concerns driving this in each individual country?
Or are you saying the ENTIRE world hates the guy just that much that they’ll destroy their own economies?
And most other countries are opening up their economies, or did you miss that?
Try actually reading some sources that may not comport with your currently held views. Even publications like The Atlantic are questioning how the CDC is counting test results. Does not the constantly shifting criteria for states reopening not at least raise questions? Does not the cost of lost jobs, businesses, homes and the mental and health issues related to that matter?
And does anyone think the NHL or NHLPA is going to put their players at risk knowing the public relations nightmare that would follow?
Thousands have died. Need I bother saying anything more?
Most other countries are opening up because they don’t have people like you acting as if it’s no big deal.
Want to watch some NHL in person, at an arena? That’ll only happen when everyone ignores your advice and does the right thing.
Ok Phil.
This is the perfect comment.
I love Phil and appreciate everything he did in 2016 and 2017, but the “Pens didn’t enough for Kessel” takes haven’t aged well.
Trading Phil was the win.
Boston is the real winner then the leafs and then Pits
Ummm.. he won 2 Cups in 4 seasons with the Pens. That. Is. Winning.
that is so stupid. granted, having both cities in Canada is better then 1 in Canada and 1 in the US is a worse idea, so i guess i cant get too angry about it.
Hey, just remember that we all owe “Phil the Thrill” perpetual Thanks for the immortal “Good One, Randy”! Sure Phil’s seen as polarizing (Ya think?!), but he doesn’t go down “Cliche Boulevard”, like so many other players. Love him, or dislike him, at least you know where he stands. I appreciate that about him (no surprise there, right?)
And, as far as Vegas losing ground in the Hub City race, I wonder how much of that has to do with players voicing their concerns about the COVID spikes there.
trying too hard