The big talk around the NHL since the last blog has been the league's acknowledgement that one plan on its plate for a possible restart would involve setting up several "hub cities," if you will, that could house a number of teams at once and host up to three games a day — most likely in empty arenas.
Gary Bettman laid out the plan to Ron MacLean on Sportsnet's new "In Conversation," show, which MacLean is hosting three times a week on Sportsnet's digital platforms.
Most important: everything is still tentative at this point.
One format could see a host team for each division — and while many of the late-season games that went unplayed in March and April would be against division rivals for most teams, there are still some exceptions. Vancouver's unplayed schedule, for example, included nine games against Pacific teams, but also one home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and three against teams from the Central Division.
If the league was able to implement the "hub" idea, with the blessing of local governments and health authorities, they'd definitely have to re-work the schedule if they were to play out some regular-season games to get the players warmed up and balance out the standings to set the playoff matchups.
For the moment, it seems like the goal would be to start up something like this around July, leaving time to play for the Stanley Cup and take a break before kicking off the 2021-22 season one month late, in November.
The league also floated the idea of still holding the draft in June as a "trial balloon" with owners this week. This seems crazy to me — the idea of trying to set a draft order when the current season is not yet complete, and basically wiping out the prospect of teams being able to make trades, is hard to fathom.
Sounds like there are two reasons why the idea of doing it in June seems appealing: first, it would give fans something to focus on, and the draft is always a positive day that's filled with hope for fans and franchises. Second, contracts end on June 30 for many scouts and team staffers — including, I believe, Vancouver's Judd Brackett. That's an issue for players, as well, with a summer re-start — in theory, players like Jacob Markstrom, Tyler Toffoli and Chris Tanev are all set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
For whatever reason, the league seems more concerned about this on the scouting side than on the player side. Maybe an agreement can be reached with the NHLPA to re-set players' contract end dates as needed? Hard to say.
Greg Wyshynski of ESPN does a good job of walking us through some of the pros and cons of this idea.
He went home to Sweden after completing the rehab from his knee injury, which he said he first suffered during the second period of Vancouver's big win over Boston on February 22. He said his rehab went smoothly and would have been ready, as scheduled, for the Canucks back-to-back games in California on March 20-21.
Markstrom has not been on the ice since returning to Sweden and said he didn't even take his gear back with him. But he has been working out with his trainer, doing exercises to keep his eyes and reflexes sharp.
Despite the fact that his contract situation remains unresolved, he was even more emphatic than Toffoli or Tanev have been over the past week in saying that he hopes to remain a Canuck.
“With all the other stuff, hockey has kind of become not-so-important with everything going on around the world," he said. "Obviously, I would have liked to have a long-term deal and know what I’m going to do for the next few years here. But that’s not the case right now. Nobody knows what’s going to happen this year. Hopefully, we get back playing. Even next year, and cap hits and all that stuff, hockey is kind of secondary.
“In my mind, I want to stay in Vancouver," he continued, after talking about the loyalty he feels to a franchise that has stood behind him and helped make him the goalie that he is today. "That’s my goal. The season isn’t over this year, either. I’m still hoping we can come back and play and make a push in the playoffs here.
"It’s going to be tough to get fans in the building, but give the people and city of Vancouver something to cheer for. That’s pretty much 100 per cent of my mindset. I’m still a Vancouver Canuck and I’m super proud of being it. I have no plans of leaving."
Another interview dropped last night that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet — Pavel Bure in conversation with Thomas Drance and Jeff Paterson on The VanCast.
A special #VANcast with JPat (@patersonjeff) and Drancer as we’re joined by Pavel Bure!
It's presented by The Athletic, but anyone can listen for free through the Apple Podcasts link in the Tweet above.
I also have not yet made my way through Part 2 of Eliotte Friedman's Big Read about the 2010-11 Vancouver Canucks. That's also on my agenda for today. If you missed it, you can check it out here:
Enjoy! The best team in Vancouver Canucks history, Part II – Sportsnet https://t.co/4wIutnuUIj
And I only caught the third period of Game 2 of the 2011 series against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
Quick takeaways:
• After a quiet Game 1, the Sedins returned in a big way. Daniel had two goals and an assist, including the game winner off an incredible end-to-end rush, and was named the game's first star, while Henrik had two assists.
• The Blackhawks upped their physical game compared to Game 1. Hits ended up 45-40 for Vancouver, led by seven from Ryan Kesler, and Aaron Rome also used his body effectively, with five hits. Chicago's leading hitter was Brent Seabrook, also with seven. Even single Blackhawks player except goalie Corey Crawford was credited with at least one hit.
• The Hawks did not go away in this game. Vancouver had a 3-1 lead after two periods, but Viktor Stalberg got his team within one early in the third. And after Daniel's goal gave Vancouver another two-goal cushion midway through the third, Ben Smith scored less than three minutes later, and Chicago pushed to tie right till the end.
We get a little break now, as the series shifts to Chicago. Game 3 airs on Sunday. Doesn't look like we'll be getting another Canucks Saturday triple-header this week, which is too bad. I'd been enjoying those.
And one final programming note: fresh off his in-depth interview last week on Spittin' Chiclets, Bo Horvat will be doing an #Ask31 with Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on Thursday at noon PT.
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