NHL Season Start Date: January 13, 2021

[Curt]

17 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

I think they will want teams to socially distance.  IMHO, teams should have players socially distance and wear masks on team flights and then have 1 player per room in the hotel to slow the spread of any infection.  Maybe team meals should be where the air is getting pulled upward from the table.  Honestly, this goes hand-in-hand with the 30 player teams with 10 Preston Ridlehubers.

As for scheduling, let us work backwards.

The Olympics begin on Friday 23 July 2021.  So the playoffs have to end by, say, Saturday 17 July.

We assume 8 weeks for a normal set of playoffs.  That backs us up to 23 May.

56 games in the normal density of an 82 game season is 17-18 weeks (a shade over 3 games each week; this would include 1 "off" week.).  That backs up to at most 17 January.  You can have the off-week or off-half-week to be at the end of the season.  I also project a lot of "double headers", where teams play 2 games in 24-48 hours each time.  So you could arrange a lot of "dead spots" in each team's schedule to postpone a set of games when there needs to be.

For reference, if the season were 48 games, then the season could take 14-15 weeks.  This puts the start of the season at 14 February at the latest if there is no "off" week.  That seems chancy.

NHL players share hotel rooms?  I would be absolutely shocked if this happens regularly.

[LGR4GM]

6 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Really looking like the individual restrictions  in the Canadian provinces are the issue. No guarantee they will able gather and travel in the manner the league needs.

The same regulations that made the playoff bubbles a success seem to be blocking non-bubble options

They should pair each team in Canada with a US host team and put the Canadian team in that division. 

1 minute ago, Curt said:

NHL players share hotel rooms?  I would be absolutely shocked if this happens regularly.

Pretty the CBA has that language about traveling and how rooming works. 

[Curt]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

They should pair each team in Canada with a US host team and put the Canadian team in that division. 

Pretty the CBA has that language about traveling and how rooming works. 

Interesting.  Looks like guys on their ELC still have to share rooms.  Seems dumb.  These are elite athletes making millions per year.  Get them their own hotel room.  What if a guy snores or is just really annoying.  Who wants to room with that guy?

[Eleven]

2 minutes ago, Curt said:

Interesting.  Looks like guys on their ELC still have to share rooms.  Seems dumb.  These are elite athletes making millions per year.  Get them their own hotel room.  What if a guy snores or is just really annoying.  Who wants to room with that guy?

I think they can do so at their own expense if they want to, no?  Plus, at ELC age it's probably no bother to them to have roomies.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

They should pair each team in Canada with a US host team and put the Canadian team in that division.

Dreger talked about this. Huge added expense for owners, huge pushback from players, who will have to leave their homes and families, or parts of their families, and face the cross-border quarantine issues any time they need or want to reconnect.

Edited December 18, 2020 by dudacek

[LGR4GM]

18 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Dreger talked about this. Huge added expense for owners, huge pushback from players, who will have to leave their homes and families, or parts of their families, and face the cross-border quarantine issues any time they need or want to reconnect.

Feel like they could get a real nice hotel deal or just rent out a couple houses for the season. 

[Thorner]

Play the season without the Canadian teams. They weren't going to be a factor in determining a Cup winner, anyways 😉

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Feel like they could get a real nice hotel deal or just rent out a couple houses for the season. 

They probably can.  But that doesn't really address that the players and the support staff either have to be away from their families for months or have to uproot their families for months, nor that they might hit the parlay and wind up having to do both.

Fully expect them to come to a mutually acceptable resolution to this problem, but it likely won't be as simple as saying "ok, TO, you get to live in Detroit for 6 months.  Don't worry about it; you can see your wives and kids via Zoom nearly every night."

There's the proverbial ####load of money on the line, so they'll work something out.  And soldiers and sailors and others have to be separated from their families for long periods under much less favorable conditions and find a way to make it work; but the players and trainers (who don't make nearly what the players do) still are going to get their lives disrupted once again in a way they didn't expect a couple of weeks ago.

And none of this even addresses that those hotel rooms and houses are another expense that wouldn't be necessary in an MLB or NFL model.  Am still expecting wherever games are played that they start out for 10-20 games in a handful of bubbles, so there'd be a portion of that cost necessary anyhow, but in a bubble the families probably aren't going to be included full time and now they might have to be.  And if they were going for an NFL model, then those costs would've been avoided for the most part.

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Play the season without the Canadian teams. They weren't going to be a factor in determining a Cup winner, anyways 😉

Glad one of you guys from that side of the border finally addressed the elephant in the room.  😛

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Play the season without the Canadian teams. They weren't going to be a factor in determining a Cup winner, anyways 😉

We should play for our own cup ...

... a coffee cup from Tims.

I hate that stuff ...

[Derrico]

So if some of the Canadian teams are forced to play out of us cities that would throw the whole proposed divisions out of whack.  All Canadian division may only have 4 or 5 teams.  The whole model would have to be revamped. 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Derrico said:

So if some of the Canadian teams are forced to play out of us cities that would throw the whole proposed divisions out of whack.  All Canadian division may only have 4 or 5 teams.  The whole model would have to be revamped. 

So, they finally figured out a way to get the Otters back into the playoffs you say?

[Brawndo]

 

 

 January 13th Start Date 

Canadian Division remains intact 

[dudacek]

Jan.13 start date, Jan. 3 training camp, Dec. 30 for Sabres and their fellow cellar dwellers.

Canadian question still outstanding, but expected to be solved over the weekend.

[Brawndo]

 

[I-90 W]

Agreement reached and Juniors in one week.. hockey is back boys 🥅 🏒 

[Brawndo]

 

[dudacek]

Best sports news since Oct.12.

 

[Brawndo]

 

[Brawndo]

They should expand the playoffs with play in rounds to generate more revenue. 
 

The 3rd Place Finisher in each division plays the 6th Place Finisher and the 4th and 5th Place Teams play each other in a best of three series. The higher seeds arena hosts all three games. 
 

The winners advance to the full playoffs. 
 

This would generate extra much needed revenue for the league 

[Thorner]

Canadian division a pretty wide open path to semis, crazy. 

Sabres are going to have to have a great season to finish top 4 in ours. 

Excited to watch. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Thorny

[Taro T]

Any word on whether they're starting in bubbles or in home team rinks?

[Taro T]

So January 13 is the start date?  Cool.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Any word on whether they're starting in bubbles or in home team rinks?

Home rinks.

One province in Canada has yet to agree on the protocol yet though, so there is a chance the Canadian division may have to hub in Edmonton, at least to start.

[nfreeman]

Do the taxi squad players have to clear waivers?  I.e. does AZ have to expose a goalie?