A difficult season for junior hockey in Canada continues. The Western Hockey League, whose teams did not begin regular season play until late February at the earliest, will play no more than their shortened 24-game season this year. The league has announced that there will be no 2021 WHL Playoffs due to “the ongoing challenges with COVID-19”. The season will conclude when all teams have completed their schedules, which for some is as early as later this month, and no league champion will be named.
On the heels of the announcement last week that that the CHL Memorial Cup would also not be played, the WHL’s decision not to host a postseason further limits their players’ abilities to showcase themselves to NHL teams. With the QMJHL facing a similar decision and the OHL still out of action this season, this is simply yet another blow to NHL front offices and their ability to evaluate top Canadian prospects ahead of July’s 2021 NHL Draft, not to mention the prospects hoping to be selected. While there have been talks of a CHL Top Prospects pre-draft tournament, such an event will not make up for a missed postseason, or in the OHL’s case a missed season.
Alas, the league is trying to put the health and safety of their players and staff first, even if that means impacting their draft chances. They also faced logistical struggles due to teams from multiple provinces and the United States participating, as travel is still restricted at Canadian borders. In the WHL’s release, they summarize the situation with the following:
We remained hopeful that public health conditions would improve, but unfortunately that is not the reality we see in front of us today. The ongoing challenges with non-essential interprovincial and international cross-border travel leave us no alternative but to cancel the 2021 WHL Playoffs.
Just as the WJC U18 championship was moved to Texas, I’m sure some state would be open to hosting this tournament. Let the kids play!
They should have just created a bubble just like the NHL did and the World Juniors did. I get these are young guys but the only way to almost ensure no cases is to not have anyone leave the bubble. the NHL playoffs ran smoothly last year yet we tried to recreate the wheel.
Good point. There’s more than enough options available to have allowed these playoffs to go ahead. To just flush these kids season away like this was unnecessary.
why not just name the regular season champ the league champions?
Is there a way to do it?
Sure. Have everyone tested. Fly all of the teams to Portland and Seattle. Put them on buses. Put them up in hotels. Keep testing them. Feed them. Pay the arena staff. Then fly the winners to one of the two cities for a title round. More testing. More food. More buses. More hotels. More arena staff.
Who is paying for it?
These leagues don’t have big TV deals that can absorb these costs like the NHL does.
So the players don’t eat, travel, lodge or get tested now?
The real problem is the players can’t leave Canada due to the ridiculous covid rules set in place. There’s plenty of rinks right across the border that could host the event.
Junior players typically have host families that house and feed them during the season, not the team.
The teams would have to assume those costs for weeks.
As you said there are plenty of rinks right across the border that host the event, but no, the rules complicate travel into Canada, not out of it. They could easily enter the US and play, but again, who is paying for it?
That depends on whether it would be considered essential travel or not.
link to help.cbp.gov
But during the Memorial Cup, where do the teams from out of the host Province stay? Seems some type of shortened playoff format (3 game series?) could’ve been worked out.
In a normal year, there are revenues to pay for playoff and Memorial Cup expenses.
Canada’s overboard COVID policies are a joke. Forget about fans going to a game up there. Everyone but the Sharks and Caps can have fans in the U.S. Blue Jays won’t be able to return any time soon. The ridiculous realignment will be back in place next year too.