The Columbus Blue Jackets were informed today that they will not play host to the NHL’s 24-team playoff reboot of the 2019-2020 season, tweets Blue Jackets’ reporter Jeff Svoboda. Minnesota has also been eliminated from consideration, per The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline and Michael Russo (via Twitter).
Columbus had been one of ten cities under consideration to host the remainder of the NHL season. With two arenas to utilize, there was at least some logistical cause for Columbus to merit serious consideration. There was no reason given for their elimination, so it’s hard to know at this time what the thinking was behind the process.
Las Vegas is believed to be a frontrunner for one of the two spots. It’s widely believed that Canada would house the other hub, though where exactly has remained up for debate. If indeed Vegas does take one of the spots, that could be reason enough for Columbus to fall out of the running. It’s been widely assumed that one hub city would be in the United States and one in Canada.
Portzline provides a quote from Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen, who said: “They had a lot of positives about our presentation, but they’ve gone in a different direction. It’s disappointing, but we were also among the last few cities to be considered. You take the positives along with the disappointment and you move on.
There is a decent chance that the final decision on hub cities will be announced this week, and perhaps even as early as today. Presumably, the NHL will not want to make their decision public until the logistics are worked out and finalized. That could still happen today, though that’s not a guarantee.
For now, what we know for certain is that Columbus and Minnesota are out. Per Russo, Vegas, Chicago, and Los Angeles are thought to be frontrunners on the U.S. front, while Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver are the likeliest hub cities north of the border.