Larry Brooks, in his inimitable style, threw a bit of shade on the NHL and the plans for the 24-team playoff. The premise of his column is taking to task all those claiming the moral high ground of the lack of "intensity" of such a format, since the league has been the bastion of integrity in the post-season for years. Brooks also discusses the looming NHLPA decision on escrow for their last paychecks. In addition, a trio of Rangers brightened the day of several nurses on the front line.
Several fun sentences and paragraphs in the column, but besides "Integrity now," this one may be my favorite:
Year after year, brackets produce matchups that reward the weak while punishing the strong, but now, in 2020 while the world has been turned upside down by a pandemic, it might not be fair if teams like the Rangers, Montreal and Chicago are included in an expanded tournament because one of them could actually win?
Pardon me while I guffaw.
Escrow is also at the heart of this week's Slapshots column. As you see below, not an easy choice for the NHLPA and their members. The impact is beyond this year and the current player base, which makes a decision all that more difficult. In addition, a major factor may be how much the 14% is needed by the players, who remain home, like all of us, due to the Corona pandemic.
If the players ultimately vote to accept the checks with the standard 2019-20, 14 percent escrow deduction, then all of the additional escrow resulting from the effect of the pandemic would roll over into next season. If the players instead turn their final paychecks over to the league, that would reduce next year’s escrow burden.
But here’s the twist: Players who retire after this season (or are not in the NHL in 2020-21) would not be responsible for a nickel of carryover, additional escrow. They’re not getting dunned. So it is in their self-interest to be paid with the 14 percent deduction and vote to accept the checks.
Meanwhile, players making their NHL debuts next season would be responsible for the escrow obligation incurred before they came into the league. Of course they have no voice in this decision.
Scott Burnside discussed what the playoffs could look like: He discusses the 24-team playoff model, where the Rangers - who have the 11th-best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference - would move over to the Atlantic Division, as has been mentioned previously. (Atlantic Division Hub: Boston, Tampa, Toronto, Florida, New York Rangers and Montreal). Also mentioned is the 20-team model, where New York, due to their current placement in the conference, would be on the outside looking in.
In the 24-team model, here is how the
remainder of the regular season could look along with the playoffs:
To give all teams time to get back up to game speed, multiple sources indicated this 24-team model would begin with a round-robin style lead-in to the playoffs with each team playing the other teams in its group for five games. Given no travel and expanded rosters with the recent cancellation of the American Hockey League season, this could be accomplished in about eight or nine days.
The round-robin games are important in that it allows the players and the league to get a feel for the routine of playing in centralized cities before the introduction of elimination games, which is critical to competitive balance.
Using points percentage from the round robin combined with the regular season points percentage, the top two teams in each divisional group would be given a bye, and the bottom four would play a best-of-three series to create the traditional 16-team playoff field with the third-place teams playing the sixth-place teams, and fourth- and fifth-place teams facing off.
The Rangers organized a call for four New York nurses, who also are fans of the team, to discuss how their lives have changed during the virus and also discuss their history as hockey fans. Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, and Marc Staal crashed the call to thank them for fighting coronavirus. Strome invited the nurses to attend a future home game at MSG.
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