We still don’t know which two cities will be serving as the hub hosts for the NHL’s planned return to action but we now know two more that won’t be. After Columbus and Minnesota were reported as out on Tuesday, the Penguins announced that they were no longer in the mix while Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that Dallas has been informed that they are out as well.
That means that the hub city field is down to six teams. In the East, Toronto is the last one standing while out West, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Vegas are still contenders.
The league’s preference is to have host teams play out of the opposite hub (in other words, the East plays in a Western city and vice versa) but that shouldn’t be construed as a sign that Toronto should be viewed as a contender. If Los Angeles was to get it, they’d be able to host the West without any home ice ’advantage’ as the Kings aren’t among the 24 teams taking part. The league has also said they have no concerns about both cities being outside of the Eastern time zone.
There is no firm timetable as to when the host cities will be announced. However, with health and safety protocols still needing to be worked out, an announcement should be in the near future to allow the NHL and NHLPA to work out the final details while being able to hammer out city-specific arrangements.
should just be two US cities, one in east and one in west. that’s infinitely more logical
than a Canadian city like Edmonton or Vancouver with less cases per day? mind you Edmonton is seeing increases but still well ahead of LA, Vegas and Chicago?
Cool.
Will be incredibly stupid if they choose 2 wear coast cities.
They should be concerned if both cities are in western time zones. ALL revenue will be from TV, and if all the games are on west coast time that automatically alienates a large number of east coast fans who won’t be up until 1 AM to watch their team play.
All the games CAN’T be on West Coast time (Chicago is Central Time, Edmonton is Mountain time), because each hub will be in ONE arena. Can’t play two games at the same time.
If they play three games a day in one arena, it’s going to be 10-12 hours of hockey a day in those arenas. The time zone where the games are played will be virtually meaningless. Someone will be on in Prime Time on the East Coast. It might not necessarily be the team each of us is rooting for, but someone will be on in Prime Time. Spitballing here, but think 3PM, 7PM, 11PM on the East Coast.
That’s actually the reason the players want to be on the west coast.
They can play the 7 pm EST games at 4 pm out there and the 10 pm EST games at 7 and still have a semi-normal life schedule with their families.
Don’t think families are going to be around the players during this playoff format, so gametime starts likely won’t be an issue.
Can’t fricken wait! 10-12 hours of hockey a day! In the beginning of course. Still gonna be bada$$!!
I’m hesitant to believe that will happen. I mean you still have to get teams and personnel in and out of the building between games, disinfect locker rooms, etc.