NHL Start 2020/21

[Deleted]

So the NHL is trying to formulate a plan to start the upcoming season. They currently are looking towards January 1st and realigning the league due to the covid challenges between Canada and the US. I'm wondering what everyone thinks about how, or if, they can even start. With cases in the US reaching all time highs (over 140,000 new cases reported for November 11th) I don't know how safe it will be to even consider starting up again.

 So starting a poll and curious what everyone thinks about the upcoming season. Time to discuss!

[T-man2010]

AHL already said their plan for Jan.1 is moved to Feb 1 now.

[galaxytrash]

if i recall the majority here was against finishing up the 19/20 season but it went off basically without a hitch.
the big difference is that there is no safety under a bubble for the upcoming season.
it seems baseball managed okay despite a couple of hiccups, it appears to be the same for the nfl so far.
the nhl rosters sizes are a bit less than mlb and a lot less than the nfl's so that can't hurt.

i'm going to hold off casting a vote. the situation is far too fluid to even make an educated guess. i'll just straddle the fence like i often do and say that i hope conditions allow a season to take place in 2021. with covid numbers on a steep rise there's a good chance it won't happen though.

bettman and company did an admirable job pulling off the playoffs, this will be heaps harder to accomplish i think.

[BigT]

I’m with ya GT. I cannot cast a ballot on this yet. I don not want to lose a full season. I can’t lose a season to this. I do not possess any type of offering in the way of a solution. I sure hope they figure it out. I’m hopeful, but the US seems to be pushing an Abrams M1 tank up a San Francisco street at the moment. It’s a tough time right now. I wish all of the US the best with this thing. But until it gets better there. I don’t see much happening in the way of sports!!!

[jaty84]

I voted to start the season. Over here in Slovakia we do not have that high number of positive cases but the rules are quite strict. Restaurants, bars, cinemas, theaters, all summonings over 6 persons are forbidden, etc. The economy is bleeding like a chicken with cut head and running amoc. But professional sport (5 selected - soccer, hockey, basketball, handball and 1 more) is allowed. No hub cities, no bubbles. Each athlete needs to be tested prior to each match. In case of a positive finding, he goes to a quanrantine. Almost every team was already sidelined for 2 or 3 weeks due to high number of covid cases within the team. The schedule is not so tight over here, so there is space to reschedule postponed games.

My opinion is that it's complicated, for sure. In terms of NHL waaaay more complicated than in terms of Slovak jungle league. But let them play. Those players are not critical group of persons suffering most of covid. Should they get infected, let them get treatment and wait for cure. NHL teams have a big benefit of a vast reservoir of players they can play. Each team can have up to 50 players on its roster so up to 2 teams.

To cut it short, I'm all for starting.

[Deleted]

Nov 11, 2020 21:33:49 GMT -6 galaxytrash said:

if i recall the majority here was against finishing up the 19/20 season but it went off basically without a hitch.
the big difference is that there is no safety under a bubble for the upcoming season.
it seems baseball managed okay despite a couple of hiccups, it appears to be the same for the nfl so far.
the nhl rosters sizes are a bit less than mlb and a lot less than the nfl's so that can't hurt.

i'm going to hold off casting a vote. the situation is far too fluid to even make an educated guess. i'll just straddle the fence like i often do and say that i hope conditions allow a season to take place in 2021. with covid numbers on a steep rise there's a good chance it won't happen though.

bettman and company did an admirable job pulling off the playoffs, this will be heaps harder to accomplish i think.

I think the unique challenge the NHL has is the number of teams in Canada. Baseball has only 1, and football none. So the potential realignment of an all Canadian division would be a critical change. But the mass numbers of new cases in the US really changes the narrative as well. While they were playing in the bubble, numbers were either stable or decreasing in the US, and the league still decided to have all games played in Canada, where the numbers are lower (I haven't heard numbers so would be interested if someone from Canada could share).

I haven't voted simply because I created the thread. But I'm leaning heavily towards the safety of the teams. For that reason, even with mass testing, I'd sadly opt to cancel the season completely, unless they decide to use all Canadian rinks and once again play in a revised virtual bubble. As it would have to be from January thru the playoffs, it's likely that would last 6 to 7 months. That's a long time to keep players confined and away from their families.

[hsbob]

MLB's regular season was played mostly in the summer when the virus' veracity and spread lessens and people are outside more but......WINTER IS COMMING!

This bastard's a runaway train at this point with months to go before the vaccine is widely available,I also didn't vote because I don't want to vote for the cancel option. MAYBE enough testing can produce a safe environment but we're seein' college football games canceled every week now and I'm sure they do tons of testing. It sounds like the first available vaccines will go to frontline workers,the elderly and the compromised......I highly doubt pro sports sees the same priorities with the vaccine that they see with testing.

[Tater]

Man, this time of year when it's getting cold quick really makes me miss hockey. I always look forward to every game night normally, and never miss a minute of the game. Nights just aren't the same now.