There was some buzz over the weekend that the NHL is getting closer to finalizing some plans for its restart, with talk of a 24-team tournament. One new idea that has popped up is that perhaps the league would look at two hubs with 12 teams each, instead of the four-hub idea that has mostly been bandied around for the past couple of weeks.
The two-hub idea isn't a complete surprise, given that B.C. Premier John Horgan was pitching his entire province as a 24-team NHL host last week, with games landing in locations as far flung as Prince George and Cranbrook.
Working in B.C.'s favour: our COVID-19 numbers appear to be very good compared to most other places in North America, and the Phase 2 re-opening plan that's rolling out this week seems to be reasonably cautious and methodical.
I'm heartened that we haven't seen a spike in cases since the province first announced its intention to start loosening restrictions nearly two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, Pierre LeBrun reported that we might hear something in the next 7-10 days. Or not.
While it would be exciting to have some concrete NHL news to report, I can't be mad at the idea that the league appears to be doing its best to take as many factors as possible into account, rather than rushing in with something half-baked.
To that end, it even sounds like the June draft could very well be off the table after Monday's latest call with the Board of Governors.
That's probably just as well. As much as I was open to the idea of letting draft hype wash over us for a month when nothing else was going on, it seems like that window is already starting to close as more and more sports come back on line with each passing week. Greg Moore's passing in 1999 put me off auto racing forever, so I still stayed away from NASCAR last weekend. From what I can see, the broadcast itself drew lots of praise and while the ratings were good, they weren't as high as some expected.
So that's the lay of the land in the sports world as we roll into another week. Hope you had an enjoyable holiday weekend!
As for the Canucks, no old games to watch this week, as Sportsnet has turned its attention to re-running the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
They're starting with the pre-tournament games, and I don't mind that at all. Canada's win over the U.S. on Monday's broadcast featured plenty of emotion — much of it directed at Ryan Kesler, who put a target on his back when he went after Shea Weber in the first pre-tournament game between the two teams.
I also enjoyed the Team North America / Team Europe matchup — and while the young guns on the 23-and-under North American team have been elevated to legend status in that tournament, the roster for Team Europe was nothing to sneeze at — even if coach Ralph Krueger did need a bit of time to get his hodge-podge group to coalesce.
The European team literally spanned a generation — from 20-year-old Leon Draisaitl all the way up to 39-year-old Zdeno Chara. Luca Sbisa and Jannik Hansen were members of the Canucks when they suited up for Team Europe. Christian Ehrhoff had already moved on, and Thomas Vanek had yet to arrive.
Tuesday's games feature Canada vs. Russia at 4 p.m. and North America vs. Finland at 6 p.m., then Wednesday will have Russia vs. North America at 4 p.m. and another round of Canada/USA at 6 p.m., all on Sportsnet.
Remember a year or so, when the NHL was trying to pin down a comprehensive international calendar that would have included another World Cup, possibly the Olympics in 2022, and perhaps a Davis Cup-type event? Given where we are now, it's probably just as well that they ended up spinning their wheels. But Monday's World Cup broadcasts got me wondering which Canucks we could have been seeing if there had been a 2020 World Cup this fall.
I've mentioned this before: it's also funny to think of where the NHL and its players would be at right now if the two sides had decided to set the stage for the collective bargaining agreement to be re-opened this September. As things now stand, I can imagine the two sides are trying to factor in some long-term planning as they work their way through their pandemic plan, but I'm not sure we'll see a CBA extension right away, as had been bandied about earlier in the year. Surely both sides will want to see how everything is working and if more unexpected issues crop up before they try to lock down another decade-long deal, right?
But one very real side effect of that re-opener clause was agents' desires to "lockout-proof" their clients' contracts for the 2020-21 season, in case there was a work stoppage.
According to
CapFriendly, the Canucks are actually not hit terribly hard by this. They have just over $11 million in signing bonuses payable for the 2020-21 — typically on July 1, although that varies in some cases. And that date could get pushed back, depending on what happens with the rest of the 2019-20 season.
Vancouver owes $4 million to Alex Edler, $3 million to Loui Eriksson and Brock Boeser, $1 million to Brandon Sutter and $92,500 rookie signing bonuses to Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
Interestingly, they were actually hit much harder last season, with nearly $30 million in signing bonus payments. That was led by $6 million apiece to Alex Edler and Tyler Myers, who both received their entire year's payment in bonus money. Eriksson got $4, Boeser got $3.3, Jay Beagle, Micheal Ferland and Jacob Markstrom each got $2 and Sutter, Roussel, Jordie Benn and Sven Baertschi each got $1 million. A few more players were below the $1 million mark.
Also, Boeser's contract was signed on September 16, 2019 — after the decision was made not to re-open the CBA. So his bonus structure was not triggered by the possibility of a lockout.
Vancouver's bonus payouts for next season might increase once free agents (like Markstrom?) are re-signed. But it's interesting to see that the Canucks don't have a ton of extra money payable soon from contracts that were signed when a 2020 lockout loomed as a real possibility. That's probably good news during a time when cash flows have been impacted for nearly everyone.
As a reminder: bonus money isn't touched when contracts are bought out. If a team chooses to buy out a player, he'll receive any bonuses still payable in full, but just 1/3 or 2/3 of his remaining salary, depending on his age. But bonus money is subject to escrow, at the same rate as regular salary.
Players in the AHL, however, are not subject to escrow while they're on a minor-league roster. So Canucks like Sven Baertschi and Nikolay Goldobin actually made *more* money playing in Utica this year than they would have if they'd been up with the Canucks.
If you missed it, Jeff Paterson of TSN had a frank conversation with Baertschi last week:
Baertschi figures that the Canucks were assuming that he wouldn't be able to effectively come back from his head injury issues when they went shopping for wingers last summer.
While he has always believed that he's an NHL player, "As soon as I was put on waivers and sent down, for me personally it was about confirming to myself that I was one-hundred percent healthy," Baertschi said.
In addition to affirming his health and re-doubling his belief that he'd be able to contribute on any NHL roster, Baertschi said that one silver lining about playing in Utica was the opportunity to spend more time with his newborn son.
"I’m in a better place than ever before in my life. I’ve never been happier in my life. A lot of people connect life with hockey. I got to experience my son’s first full year. In the NHL, you travel and you’re gone weeks and weeks at a time. In Utica, you just travel a few hours away and you’re home after the game. That was an amazing part of my AHL season. I’m a really happy guy right now and I’m just looking forward to what’s next and proving people wrong."
Baertschi also relished the leadership role he was thrust into with the Utica Comets.
"Guys are looking toward you throughout the practice and the game. I was able to help them out. I learned from the best – Henrik and Daniel – and I was able to pass certain things along and be a leader. It was a good team that already had good players and strong leaders, but I was able to jump in there and give my take on NHL hockey and guys picked up on that really fast and they were asking for advice. That was the beauty of it just to become a leader on a team where not many guys knew me. I was really happy about that."
Now 27, Baertschi has one year left on his contract, which carries a cap hit of $3.37 million. While that's a high number, he's still hoping that the Canucks will find a way to move him so that he can get back to hockey's top level and show that he's put his head injury challenges completely behind him.
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