NHL pauses regular season because of coronavirus

[LawMan]

Edmonton has to be one of the sites I would imagine.

Pros

- Northern Canada so it has cooler climate for warmer months
- It has an arena with an attached rink that could be used as a practice facility.
- There is an attached hotel to the arena that could host 8 teams..
- Supposedly they have one of the lowest cases per capita in Canada?

Cons

-

Agreed.

Winnipeg would seem like a front runner as well, all of Manitoba's numbers are very good

Honestly the only downside I can see is that putting it in a hockey-mad market is going to mean that more idiots are going to try and head down to the hotels/arena/outside the arena to catch a glimpse of the players or the action. I can see the whole block that the rink and hotel on being under more or less 24/7 police lockdown with no non-team officials allowed in or out.

I'm also curious if the league would require the hometown teams to quarantine in the Hotels along with the all the visitors? If not going home could be the biggest home ice advantage in playoff history!

[PenguinHunter]

Agreed.

Winnipeg would seem like a front runner as well, all of Manitoba's numbers are very good

Honestly the only downside I can see is that putting it in a hockey-mad market is going to mean that more idiots are going to try and head down to the hotels/arena/outside the arena to catch a glimpse of the players or the action. I can see the whole block that the rink and hotel on being under more or less 24/7 police lockdown with no non-team officials allowed in or out.

I'm also curious if the league would require the hometown teams to quarantine in the Hotels along with the all the visitors? If not going home could be the biggest home ice advantage in playoff history!

I agree fully. Thats where Edmonton is unique because supposedly the hotel is attached... so if they lock that whole building down than the fans cant see them.

Winnipeg does not have that luxury. The Arena is attached to a mall and a library... but not directly to a hotel. And being right down town there is no other arena that I am aware of nearby. So they would have to bus for morning skates and practices

[butch]

I think edmonton would almost be a lock but I'm certainly no expert . they have 89 assorted sheets of ice within city limits according to this https://arenaguide.ca/city/edmonton-...itle&order=ASC

[Axeman33]

I think edmonton would almost be a lock but I'm certainly no expert . they have 89 assorted sheets of ice within city limits according to this https://arenaguide.ca/city/edmonton-...itle&order=ASC

And a hotel connected too.

[The Comish]

I agree fully. Thats where Edmonton is unique because supposedly the hotel is attached... so if they lock that whole building down than the fans cant see them.

Winnipeg does not have that luxury. The Arena is attached to a mall and a library... but not directly to a hotel. And being right down town there is no other arena that I am aware of nearby. So they would have to bus for morning skates and practices

Haha, you mentioned "luxury" in the same sentence as Winnipeg! lol Well done.

With my luck, Edmonton will host and this will be the year Calgary wins the Cup...yes, such is life as an Oiler fan lately!

[PenguinHunter]

Haha, you mentioned "luxury" in the same sentence as Winnipeg! lol Well done.

With my luck, Edmonton will host and this will be the year Calgary wins the Cup...yes, such is life as an Oiler fan lately!

Haha... touche! It is a luxury to not live within the perimeter highway surrounding the city as well

And the NBA has announced it is targeting May 8 as opening the facilities in select markets...

[pmorrow]

Stephen A Smith saying he believes the NBA will be back in July, FWIW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtoUH3auSNY

I'm sure the NHL is watching closely to see what the NBA does over the next while.

[PenguinHunter]

Stephen A Smith saying he believes the NBA will be back in July, FWIW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtoUH3auSNY

I'm sure the NHL is watching closely to see what the NBA does over the next while.

Just hopefully the NBA doesn't take all the legit locations and leave the NHL with none! NBA basketball in Edmonton?

[ericdaoust]

The NHL is already kind of sort of planning a July return.

[lucafen4]

How many games before Rudy Golbert takes receives his first flagrant fowl ?

[PenguinHunter]

How many games before Rudy Golbert takes receives his first flagrant fowl ?

Haha... pun intended for him being a chicken? I don't really know Golbert or how he plays the game..

[Axeman33]

Interesting take from some of the players.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl-players-begin...tart-1.1470792

Montreal Canadiens centre said on Tuesday what he says other NHL players have been thinking as the league continues to plan for a season restart.

“Some players could be away from their families for three to four months and I think that’s way too much,” Danault said on a call with reporters. “I’m not the only one thinking like that, I’m sure.

“I can’t make sense of it in my mind.”

Danault, who voiced his opinion with his toddler son playing in the background, is far from alone.

It’s been one of the worst-kept secrets in hockey – that through all of this, one hurdle to a return might be the players themselves – and the whispers have only grown louder since word broke last week that the NHL is considering forging forward with players reporting to centralized sites to resume the season and beyond into the Stanley Cup playoffs in a relative bubble.

Any plan to return to play that the NHL concocts will have to be agreed upon by the NHL Players’ Association.

“If the players have a say on it via a vote, I’m not sure that it will be a positive one,” Danault said.

So far, most of the players who have publicly poured cold water on a return to the ice for the 2019-20 campaign have one thing in common: their team is outside of the playoff picture, like Danault’s Habs.

“It wouldn’t even be like winning a real Stanley Cup,” Los Angeles defenceman said on April 13, while fully admitting that he would have a different opinion if his Kings were in the mix instead of 28th overall in the standings.

“Every player is going to think selfishly,” Canadiens forward said last week. “If [playing this summer] is going to interfere with our ability to prepare for [2020-21] where we have a chance, I’d rather continue my training. If it’s a situation where you have a chance to play and they extend the playoff bracket, obviously, then I’d be all for it.”

But even players on likely playoff-bound NHL teams have privately expressed the same concerns as Danault. Would the drive or incentive be the same for, say, a three-time Cup champion on the Pittsburgh Penguins to come back and compete this summer?

What about players from teams like the Kings, Ottawa Senators or Detroit Red Wings, who are so far out of the mix that they’ve already been mathematically eliminated from contention?

That remains to be seen. One possible solution might be to build in schedule breaks that would allow teams to return to their city to be with family for a period of time, but that could also further open players to contact with COVID-19 and increase the risk of an outbreak among the player population when they return.

There are so many hurdles and potential setbacks.

Those viewpoints will be well represented on the joint NHL-NHLPA Return to Play committee. It includes five players – Edmonton’s , Philadelphia’s , Winnipeg’s , Toronto’s and Ottawa’s – representing teams that run the standings gamut. The only constituency missing is a European perspective, with many players having only recently decided to return home to Europe.

The Oilers, Flyers and Maple Leafs are likely playoff-bound; the Jets are squarely on the bubble; and the Senators have their sights set on the Draft Lottery format more than the regular season schedule.

If the NHL can indeed find a way to resume the 2019-20 season, it’s likely to test the resolve of players in a way we haven’t seen in some time.

They have already received 93 per cent of their gross pay for the regular season, there is no more money that will directly hit their pockets for the playoffs and the plan to resume play is likely to be very limiting in both family time and arena atmosphere.

A significant bloc of players might prefer to conclude the season now without a champion and focus on picking up next season in November.​

Then there is still another bloc that is likely hungry to hoist Lord Stanley’s chalice, knowing that opportunities are far and few between, and some others that see the financial ramifications clearly if play does not resume.

“We have to play,” one NHL player said Tuesday. “This is too much money to miss out on. This is messy. I know other players aren’t going to want to leave their families, but we have to come to an agreement to play. If we don’t play, the billion dollars lost is going to come back to haunt us for a long time.”

[PenguinHunter]

Interesting take from some of the players.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl-players-begin...tart-1.1470792

Those viewpoints will be well represented on the joint NHL-NHLPA Return to Play committee. It includes five players – Edmonton’s , Philadelphia’s , Winnipeg’s , Toronto’s and Ottawa’s – representing teams that run the standings gamut. The only constituency missing is a European perspective, with many players having only recently decided to return home to Europe.

Canada wants to claim Philly as a Canadian team?

The NHLPA must really like the reps from these teams in comparison to others in the same position in standings as them.

-4 out of 5 teams are Canadian
- no southern representation
- Edmonton is the furthest West

[Call of Doughty]

Until they have a plan in place that will ensure no player gets sick (with 100% certainty), no league action will take place. Right now, those assurances cannot be met and might not be met in June-July either.

[LawMan]

Canada wants to claim Philly as a Canadian team?

The NHLPA must really like the reps from these teams in comparison to others in the same position in standings as them.

-4 out of 5 teams are Canadian
- no southern representation
- Edmonton is the furthest West

Because I was curious here are the NHLPA reps for those teams:

Edmonton – Darnell Nurse (25) – $3.2 mil this season - RFA this Summer
Philadelphia – James Van Riemsdyk (30) – $7 mil this season - signed until 2023 then UFA
Toronto - Zach Hyman (27)(alternate: Tavares) - $2.25 mil this season – signed next season then UFA
Winnipeg - Adam Lowry (27) - $2.9 mil this season – signed next season then UFA
Ottawa - Brady Tkachuk (20) - $925k + bonus this season – ELC expires next season -RFA

Seems like a pretty good mix of reps, young and old, one RFA, most signed for a bit of term.

Most of the reps are not the stars of the team. The biggest names on the options of reps are: Jonathan Toews and Kris Letang.

https://www.nhlpa.com/the-pa/executive-board

I really think that if the league can get approval to do the 4 quarantine sites plan that money will win out over the difficulties and family struggles. It will really suck to be a team that is out of the playoffs playing those final games but those players can suck it up, finish up whatever regular season games they have and then get back to their families, at least their time away will be shorter than the teams that go on a long playoff run.