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NHL season plans coming along; Canucks' situation remains a question mark |
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The news is emerging in bits and pieces, but the NHL's targeted training-camp opening of Jan. 3 is now just two weeks away, so everybody needs to get a move on.
That's why, late Friday, we got word that the league and the NHL Players' Association had reached a tentative agreement on a structure for the 2020-21 season.
Not all of the paperwork has been completed yet, and the two sides will both need to vote to approve the agreement. But by at least indicating consensus, details can continue to be hammered out, with the idea that everybody is work towards a common goal.
The idea of the Canadian Division was born out of necessity, with the Canada/U.S. border still closed to non-essential travel. But now, the NHL has embraced it — and I'm sure Sportsnet would be beyond thrilled to have a full slate of rivalry games running all season long.
However, Ryan Rishaug of TSN reported out of Edmonton on Saturday that health authorities in B.C. are balking at the idea of hockey teams from other parts of Canada flying in and out, even with strict safety protocols in place.
Balanced against all the good news around the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, we're seeing case numbers exploding in many parts of the world. An even more infectious strain has popped up in England, now necessitating a strict lockdown.
This chart is incredible to me, showing how much higher case numbers are now than they were during the first wave of the virus — basically, everywhere.
If B.C. is the only jurisdiction that doesn't sign off on the NHL's plan, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Canucks move back to Edmonton for a bit. They could share Rogers Place, with Vancouver on the road while the Oilers are at home and vice versa.
The Oilers normally share with Edmonton's WHL squad, but that league has now scuttled its plans to try to start in January, with no new target date selected.
Stateside, the San Jose Sharks are in a similar boat, due to the restrictions in Santa Clara County, so the word is that they'll be relocating to Arizona right from training camp — which will start on Dec. 30 for them. California's overall Covid numbers are skyrocketing; I wonder if the Kings and Ducks — and Lakers and Clippers — might be at risk of not being able to play in their home arenas?
Over on the World Junior side, pre-tournament games were supposed to kick off on Sunday. But after the positive Covid tests on the Swedish and German teams extended quarantines for both those clubs, they won't get an exhibition game. The eight remaining teams will each play just once before the tournament begins.
Here's the revised schedule:
Tuesday December 22
3 p.m. PT - Finland vs. USA
6:30 p.m. PT - Switzerland vs. Austria
Wednesday December 23
3 p.m. PT - Canada vs. Russia
6:30 p.m. PT - Czech Republic vs. Slovakia
All games will be televised on TSN3 and TSN5.
For Canucks fans, the game to circle is definitely the Canada/Russia clash on Wednesday. The two teams are in different groups, so they won't meet again until the medal round.
In my opinion, they're the two teams with the best chance of winning gold. We're hearing a lot about Canada's deep, stacked roster — but I wonder how much the Russians will benefit from the fact that they've been playing games all fall, and even had their terrific Karjala Cup tournament together in November? I feel like Igor Larionov has done everything right in preparing his group. If they surprise the Canadians, how much will the narrative change?
Am I cheering for Russia? Let's put it this way: I'm cheering for Canucks prospect Vasily Podkolzin to have a great tournament and quiet some of the doubters.
The Canucks have one other prospect in the tournament, Swedish centre Arvid Costmar. We won't see the Swedes in action until Boxing Day, when they take on the Czech Republic. With all the hurdles they've faced surrounding their Covid situation — shorthanded in their roster and their coaching staff, and now losing out on valuable practice time as quarantine continues — I think the Swedes are going to have a tough time.
The good news — because of the strange circumstances, no team will be relegated this year. No Division 1A tournament is being held, so no team is set for promotion, and it's not really fair for a country to lose its spot in the top division with everything that's happening this year.
Meanwhile, over in Moscow, Canucks prospect Lukas Jasek had a productive weekend playing for his home country, the Czech Republic, at the Channel One Cup. The Czechs finished in a tie for last in the four-team tournament, with a win over Sweden and losses to Finland and Russia, which emerged victorious. Jasek had three points in three games — a goal and two assists.
Nice net-front tip here, with Jasek playing in the dirty areas.
The 23-year-old has been on loan to his old Czech club, Trinec, this season. In 19 games, he has two goals and 12 assists.
With the AHL not set to start up until February, I'm hearing stories about European prospects on some other teams staying where they are for the rest of this year, rather than going through the disruption of changing course and potentially not getting much playing/development time. I wonder if that might end up being the case for a guy like Jasek, or if he will now be headed to Vancouver and into quarantine for training camp?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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