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NHL 2019-20: PERIOD 3


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The "neutral site arena" plans are no longer being considered

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But multiple NHL sources say the "neutral site" idea never got off the drawing board, due to problems with player accommodations, facilities for league and team staff, and the inability to bring multiple broadcasting crews to cover potential Stanley Cup playoff games. NHL Players' Association executive director Don Fehr said there had been no discussions about specific neutral sites with the NHL, either.

Instead, the league is looking at regional NHL arenas, aligned by division, where teams could potentially finish their seasons. Sources told ESPN that the current favorites are the home rinks for the Carolina Hurricanes (Metropolitan Division), Edmonton Oilers (Pacific Division) and Minnesota Wild (Central Division). A front-runner from the Atlantic Division has yet to emerge.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/29083478/sources-nhl-no-longer-considering-neutral-sites

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  • 4 weeks later...

The NHLPA is voting tonight on a return to play proposal.  Biggest changes are playing games in hub cities, and a 24 team Stanley Cup tournament.

Results should be out tomorrow.

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The playoff format is so stupid. Edmonton, who are 9th overall in the entire league, basically have a play-in series vs. Chicago for the right to play Dallas in round 2, who have a worse record than Edmonton.

Kill the divisions. They mean literally nothing in the age of national TV and exist solely to help the northeast US teams gain an advantage due to lack of travel. I will bang this drum forever.

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8 hours ago, Death From Above said:

The playoff format is so stupid. Edmonton, who are 9th overall in the entire league, basically have a play-in series vs. Chicago for the right to play Dallas in round 2, who have a worse record than Edmonton.

Kill the divisions. They mean literally nothing in the age of national TV and exist solely to help the northeast US teams gain an advantage due to lack of travel. I will bang this drum forever.

I don't think you understand the biggest reason for the divisions: as an Oilers fan do you want to give up games vs Calgary and get games vs Florida or New Jersey instead? Daryl Katz sure as heck doesn't. I can speak from experience of being at midweek games on the Island or in Newark vs an unattractive Western team that featured social distancing in the stands long before social distancing was a thing.

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8 hours ago, Death From Above said:

The playoff format is so stupid. Edmonton, who are 9th overall in the entire league, basically have a play-in series vs. Chicago for the right to play Dallas in round 2, who have a worse record than Edmonton.

Kill the divisions. They mean literally nothing in the age of national TV and exist solely to help the northeast US teams gain an advantage due to lack of travel. I will bang this drum forever.

If all the Eastern Conference teams have the "lack of travel" advantage, doesn't that mean they all have it so it's not an advantage? 

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Honestly, I dislike the 24-team playoff format, but for an opposite reason: This is one of those things that is guaranteed to not end well.

Everyone who knows hockey by now knows the facts of life: In playoff hockey,  the most important (and arguably, ONLY important) factor is "who's goalie caught fire." MAYBE who has home ice can also work, but if home ice won't be a factor in this tournament, it's pretty much down to "which goalie can stand on his head for the longest time."

And every team has been out of play for two months, which means the teams in the play-in rounds not only get a huge advantage over the best 8 teams in the league...but it's such a huge advantage that you can argue going "1 v 12, 2 v 11, 3 v 10, 4 v 9, winners face 5-8" is a fairer advantage than going 5-12/6-11/7-10/8-9, winners face 1-4."

Hell, considering that factor, if you're already going to do something out there to give a NHL playoffs, I'd say go all-out in the weirdness:

32 team playoffs, seeded 1-32.

The NHL matches go from St.Louis vs. Detroit and go from there.

Since Seattle doesn't exist until next season so there's not 32 teams yet....As the President's Trophy winners, Boston faces the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals (the team in the AHL with the highest point total when the AHL suspended their season.) 

It's just as out there as a 24-team playoff, especially with the "an AHL team makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs", but at least this way every team gets to get back on the ice at the same time.

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4 hours ago, Infinit said:

If all the Eastern Conference teams have the "lack of travel" advantage, doesn't that mean they all have it so it's not an advantage? 

No, because the entire Eastern Conference resides within the same time zone, the Western Conference teams are spread across 4 time zones. You're not only traveling farther distances in the West (thousands more over the course of the season) but also dealing way more from the affects of jet lag as your hours bounce around.

It's possible, if things break right in the playoffs, that a Metropolitan team wouldn't even have to step on a plane until the conference finals.

 

Edit: Unless I misunderstood and are saying that it is not an advantage among the Eastern teams, which is true to a point, but not not the point DFA was making

Edited by elizium
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43 minutes ago, elizium said:

 

Edit: Unless I misunderstood and are saying that it is not an advantage among the Eastern teams, which is true to a point, but not not the point DFA was making

That was my point.

I guess there could be an advantage in the Stanley Cup finals, but during the playoffs, all the Western conference teams have the same travel issues, no? And all the Eastern conference teams have the same travel advantages. 

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Having the "but the Western Conference has problems- get rid of the divisions to take the Eastern Conference's advantage away!" thing may have some claims, but at the same time...as if the end result of a division-free NHL wouldn't just be 'okay, if divisions are gone, then the Western Conference as a whole is also gone." Maybe Nashville, Chicago, Dallas, and Minnesota would all survive in their cities (being close enough to the Eastern Conference teams), but that's still 12 teams likely moved to Eastern cities.

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The NHLPA has approved the 24 team conference tournament style return (if they are able to return)

The full board debated and voted on it (so it did include the 7 teams that wouldn't be returning to play)

Nothing beyond that has been finalized

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