On Monday, Dr. Bonnie Henry opened the door to the possibility of Vancouver being one of the NHL's hub cities if/when the 2019-20 season gets completed later this summer.
Monday's briefing was an optimistic one, where Henry stated definitively that we have "flattened the curve" in British Columbia. That sets the stage for the first phase of the province's re-opening plan, which will be announced on Wednesday.
When asked if the re-opening could include hockey, here's what Henry had to say:
I hadn't thought about the face mask situation, but that's an interesting point — and certainly suggests that she has given this idea some thought; it wasn't just an off-the-cuff answer. Sounds like she's suggesting that perhaps players should wear full plexiglass face bubbles as a way to potentially limit transmission of respiratory droplets during games?
NHL teams that are interested in hosting games were required to submit their applications to the NHL by the end of last week. Canucks COO Trent Carroll confirmed on Monday that the Canucks were one of those teams.
There has been lots of talk about Edmonton being a preferred destination in this part of the world, with its fancy new arena, attached hotel and practice rink all part of the Ice District complex.
With the Parq Hotel and JW Marriott just down the street from Rogers Arena, the Canucks also have a slam-dunk for accommodations — and you wouldn't have to go too much farther afield to get access to more ice at places like UBC, 8 Rinks or the Pacific Coliseum.
Both Vancouver and Edmonton have two advantages that will make them appealing to the NHL — they're well along on their road to recovery from the pandemic, and they're operating in Canadian currency, which cratered as the price of oil dropped and has since held pretty steady, with a U.S. dollar currently worth about $1.40 Canadian.
Would the league go with two hub cities in such close proximity? Perhaps. But there are other markets also in consideration. In their weekly hockey COVID news rundown on Monday,
ESPN listed these potential sites — including Edmonton, but not Vancouver:
• Carolina Hurricanes
• Columbus Blue Jackets
• Dallas Stars
• Edmonton Oilers
• Minnesota Wild
• Pittsburgh Penguins
• Toronto Maple Leafs
• Vegas Golden Knights
The league has options.
You may have also noticed that the talk around when a re-start could occur has shifted. Gary Bettman said last week that he'd be willing to push back the beginning of the 2020-21 season as far as December. My sense is that the goal is to allow enough time to get things as far back toward normal as possible — probably in hopes that more jurisdictions would be cleared to host events and that there will be a greater likelihood of at least some fans — and their wallets — eventually being allowed back into arenas.
Pushing back next season will allow the league more time to complete this season, which I think will increase the likelihood that they'll try to play out the regular-season schedule and satisfy their broadcast contracts, as well as having as full a playoff as possible.
Still lots of question marks — and for sure, all this speculation veers toward the optimistic. But when
Dr. Bonnie says we're at "the end of the beginning" and explicitly says that hockey is a possibility, I'll take it.
Meanwhile, about the draft...
The NHL held a call with the Board of Governors on Monday, where nothing was decided about the early-June draft date that was floated late last week.
My read on that is that the Governors had enough pushback and/or enough significant questions about how a June draft would unfold that the league had no choice but to apply the brakes and look more closely at some of the obstacles and logistics.
Ben Kuzma of
The Province talked with Canucks GM Jim Benning about his draft plans on Monday.
When Benning acquired Tyler Toffoli just before the trade deadline, I remember him talking about how he'd try to recoup the second-round draft pick that he sent to L.A. in that deal, but I didn't give it much thought. He often talks about acquiring more picks, but rarely does so.
Now, of course, if the draft does happen while rosters are still frozen, that task gets even tougher.
“It’s going to be hard now — it’s just different this year,” Benning told Kuzma. “We would (normally) have to trade somebody off our group or somebody we’ve moved on from before the draft. We’ve lost that ability. Things aren’t going to be as smooth as we’d like them to be and we just have to figure it out and move on.”
Would teams be allowed to deal non-roster players or put together packages of picks?
“There is stuff they’re still trying to figure out,” Benning said.
I still think, with all the weirdness in the world right now, that it's not the worst thing in the world to not be heavily invested in this draft. I think I'd rather be the Canucks, with five picks, than the Montreal Canadiens — who have 14. The feeling seemed to be that Marc Bergevin was probably looking to wheel and deal for more immediate help. A June draft would eliminate that possibility for him.
The NHL is airing some draft-related content this week. Wayne Gretzky will be interviewing top 2020 draft prospects Quinton Byfield, Jamie Drysdale, Alexis Lafreniere, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stuetzle for "#HockeyAtHome: The Next Great Ones?" It'll drop on the league's social channels on Wednesday at 2 p.m. PT and air on Sportsnet on Saturday at 3 p.m. PT.
Also on Sportsnet, the Canucks' struggles against the Chicago Blackhawks continue when Game 6 of the 2011 first-round series airs Tuesday night at 7 p.m. PT.
I'd forgotten just how awful Game 5 was. Vancouver basically had one good shift at the beginning of the game, but was down 3-0 by the time the first period was barely half finished. Early in the second, Roberto Luongo got pulled for the second straight game after giving up four goals on 12 shots — and outhitting the Hawks 40-14 did nothing to help the Canucks get their feet back under them in the 5-0 loss.
Iain MacIntyre has the story of Kevin Bieksa's futile attempt to get his teammates back on track during that game.
Plenty of drama still to come — I believe Cory Schneider's getting the start for Game 6!
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