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NHL Not Pursuing In-Season Tournament

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The NHL has clarified that it has no plans to introduce an in-season tournament akin to the NBA’s upcoming European cup-style competition. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed the league’s stance to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski today, stating they are not seeking to follow the NBA’s lead.

The NBA and commissioner Adam Silver recently unveiled plans for an in-season tournament in November and December of next season, leading to speculation about NHL crossover considering the two leagues have long operated similarly in season length, conference alignment, and playoff format. These tournament games will count towards the teams’ regular-season standings, culminating in a championship game that will not affect their season record. Players on the winning team are also in line to earn significant financial incentives.

It would have been a wild step out of bounds for the NHL, whose season format has largely remained unchanged over the past few decades, save for season-shortening factors like lockouts and COVID or the addition of events such as outdoor games in recent years.

Daly emphasized that the NHL is not considering implementing a similar tournament structure. Responding to an inquiry from Wyshynski, he stated via email that “no consideration [is] being given to in-season tournaments.”

Marty Walsh, the newly-minted executive director of the NHLPA, also spoke to Wyshynski. While acknowledging that no formal discussions have taken place among the players, Walsh expressed openness toward exploring the concept of an in-season tournament:

I think it’s worth looking at anything that’s out there. I tell players all the time, even if you have an idea that you think is kind of off the wall a little bit, just run it by me. You never know what turns into a brilliant idea.

However, Walsh relayed that NHL players’ focus on changes to the season structure would revolve around international play, not additional league events. Since assuming the role of NHLPA head in February, Walsh said to Wyshynski that players encourage discussions surrounding the potential revival of the World Cup of Hockey in 2025 and the return of NHL participation in the Winter Olympics, next slated for Milan, Italy, in 2026. The NHL hasn’t sent its players to the Olympics in nearly a decade, last permitting them to attend the event in 2014.

It’s worth noting that an in-season tournament does exist in pro hockey, albeit on the other side of the Atlantic. The Champions Hockey League is an in-season tournament including 26 teams from top-level leagues in 13 European countries, with the number of berths per league divvied up based on how well teams from that league performed in the previous CHL season.

Bettman Presser Notes: World Cup, Senators, Relocation, Nichushkin, Front Office

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Before the start of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights, Commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, and Deputy Commissioner of the NHL, Bill Daly, gave their annual version of hockey’s “State of the Union” address to the media. The two spoke at length about a plethora of topics, and one of the more intriguing tidbits was that the NHL is looking into bringing back the World Cup of Hockey (Tweet Link).

In 1996, what was formerly known as the Canada Cup, the World Cup of Hockey was born, and it took place at the then-new Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and also the then-new Bell Centre in Montreal. The United States was the eventual champion, beating Canada in three games.

The tournament took a short break, continuing again in 2004, where Canada became the eventual winner against Finland. The last time the tournament was held was back in 2016 when Canada beat the European team in two games.

In the 2016 rendition, the World Cup of Hockey featured new teams such as Europe and North America. The European team featured countries that were not represented by their own national teams, including players from countries such as Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, etc. The North American, which ended up being one of the most fun teams to watch during the tournament, featured players from Canada and the United States that were under the age of 23.

Other notes:

  • As the Ottawa Senators look to find a new owner, Bettman states that the process could still take a couple more weeks (Tweet Link). The last time the Senators went through a sale was back in 2003 when the late Eugene Melnyk purchased the team for a reported sum of $92MM. Melnyk oversaw the Senators team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007, and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017. Having passed in the spring of 2022, the team residing in Canada’s capital should have a new owner by the end of the month.
  • After the announcement that the city of Tempe would not be housing the Arizona Coyotes, rumors immediately sprung about a possible relocation. In the press conference, Bettman reported that Ryan Smith, the current owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, has expressed interest in relocating the Coyotes to Salt Lake City (Tweet Link). Although this is considerable news, especially coming from the Commissioner, Bettman did express a strong desire for the Coyotes to remain in Arizona and says that the NHL is helping the franchise find locations in Phoenix.
  • Early in the 2023 NHL Playoffs, it was reported that forward Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche would be sent home for the remainder of the playoffs. Asked about this during their press conference, especially in light of the police body came footage being released, Daly reports that Nichushkin is not under investigation, and is free to play during the 2023-24 NHL season (Tweet Link). Although it was never reported otherwise, it is positive news for Colorado, after recently receiving news that captain Gabriel Landeskog would miss the entirety of next season.
  • As eliminated teams are looking to fill both General Manager and head coach vacancies, it appears that two names could be officially coming to the market. Bettman reports that longtime NHL head coach, Joel Quenneville, and former General Manager, Stan Bowman, have both requested interviews to be reinstated in the league (Tweet Link). Both have been prohibited from working in the NHL ever since the sexual assault exposure from former player, Kyle Beach, came out during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

League Notes: Three Stars, Cut-Resistant Equipment, Challenges

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This week’s Three Stars are in, courtesy of the NHL, and it contains a trio of high-octane forwards. Arizona Coyotes winger Clayton Keller earned first-star honors after he led the NHL with nine points in four games last week, helping the Coyotes earn a four-game point streak. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby took home the second star, while Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner was awarded the third.

Not only has Keller held his own, producing over a point per game on a team near the bottom of the league, but his presence has finally helped crack the offensive game of 2018 fifth-overall pick Barrett Hayton, who now has eight points in his last four games. Crosby’s strong play this week has once again helped keep the Penguins safer in the playoff picture, while Marner recorded six points in two games against two of the league’s best teams in New Jersey and Edmonton.

Some other league notes to begin the week:

  • NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters, including NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston, that the league “would like to get to a point where cut-resistant equipment is mandated for all new players.” Daly notes that talks remain ongoing with the NHLPA on creating said regulation. The issue has come to the forefront in recent years in light of some scary injuries, especially incidents of skate cuts on wrists. Notably, players such as Evander Kane and Ilya Mikheyev have missed significant time in the past few seasons.
  • TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports that NHL general managers have discussed expanding the grounds of coaches’ challenges to include puck-over-glass penalties, as well as two-minute high-sticking infractions. With challenges becoming increasingly rare as the penalties for getting them wrong evolve, the danger of slowing the game down with too many reviews is also decreasing. The managers’ annual meeting is this week.

Snapshots: League Revenue, Coyotes Arena, Mesar

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As many of the league’s bright young stars convened today at the Lifeguard Arena in Henderson, Nevada for the North American Player Media Tour, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly had a chance to meet with the media to discuss a wide range of topics relevant to the league. Daly touched on a recent wave of women being hired and promoted into upper-level management roles with NHL teams, the promising overall start to the Seattle Kraken franchise, the youth movement of NHL teams, the Arizona Coyotes arena situation, and the league’s revenue.

There’s been much speculation around the league’s revenue projections and what it could mean for a significant raise to the salary cap ceiling moving forward. Given the agreement between players and team owners to split revenue 50/50, revenue being naturally down due to the impact of COVID-19, and the players need to pay the difference back in escrow, the salary cap has had to remain relatively flat the past few seasons. The expectation has been that the cap will rise by $1MM next offseason before seeing a meaningful increase ahead of the 2024-25 season, with some speculation that it could happen even sooner. Much of that was confirmed by Daly, who reported a league-record in revenue for this past season, the first time its surpassed $5BN. With the unprecedented revenue last season, one which was still impacted by COVID-19, Daly said that if they see the same kind of excess revenue this season, the timeline for a significant cap increase could come sooner than expected. Ultimately, Daly still believes that based on their current projections for 2022-23, that increase may have to wait another year.

  • Also from Daly’s availability, the Deputy Commissioner was optimistic about the state of the Arizona Coyotes and their short and long-term arena plans. Daly cited the Tempe City Council’s approval of their proposed arena plan in the city, which does still need further approval, as a positive. He also referenced the positive impact playing in an arena of that size could have on the players, expecting it to be filled nightly, thus enhancing the atmosphere, as well as the relative success of this strategy with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and their brief stint in an MLS stadium while their current stadium was being built. Finally, when asked about the duration the team might have to spend playing at Arizona State University, Daly said the worst case scenario appears to be three years, while the best case would be two. No matter which way you frame it, this situation is surely difficult and awkward for the team and the league, however seeing the silver linings laid out does give the team some hope as it rebuilds not only on the ice, but off of it too. Final approval on a new arena plan and setting it into motion would be the best possible outcome for the organization, and when it happens, it could certainly have major, immediate impacts on the team and fanbase.
  • As prospect games got underway today, including one contest between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens featuring prospect Filip Mesar, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu provided an update on Montreal’s plans for Mesar for the upcoming season. Basu reports the team isn’t sure if they would like Mesar to play with the Laval Rocket, their AHL affiliate, or with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, who hold Mesar’s rights. However, it appears clear Mesar will not be returning Europe for the upcoming season. The 26th overall selection from this year’s NHL draft, Mesar played the last two years for Poprad in his native Slovakia, recording 30 points in 73 games over the two campaigns. The decision not to keep Mesar in Europe makes sense, given the need to help him adjust to North American ice and its style of hockey. Deciding between the AHL and OHL could be tough, as the OHL won’t give Mesar opportunities to play against older and more experienced competition, but will give him experience as a top of the lineup player, like Montreal hopes he will be. The AHL will give Mesar a taste of what playing in the NHL will be like in some respects, but may be a bit too advanced for him to see the top of the lineup and thrive like he might in Kitchener.

Snapshots: Brewer, Salary Cap, PHF

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After promoting Sergei Brylin to an assistant role at the NHL level, the New Jersey Devils hired Andrew Brewer as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Utica Comets, per a team release. Brewer has spent the past eight seasons in an NHL video coaching role, and now the 36-year-old will get a crack at some more responsibility in the AHL.

Brewer most recently served as the video coach for the Florida Panthers for the past two seasons. Prior to that, he served in the same role for the Detroit Red Wings in the 2014-15 season and for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015 through 2020. He’s also gained experience as the video coach for Team Canada at various international tournaments. Brewer will join Ryan Parent (assistant coach) and Brian Eklund (goaltending coach) behind Utica head coach Kevin Dineen.

  • Speaking today during his media tour in Europe, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said he believed the NHL salary cap could rise significantly after the 2023-24 season. That marks a change in course from previous league forecasts post-pandemic, which pegged a significant cap jump after the 2024-25 season. The cap will likely raise another $1MM after this year to $83.5MM for 2023-24, but could now increase by much more than that for 2024-25. Some big names, including Auston Matthews and William Nylander, Steven Stamkos, Jake Guentzel, and Sebastian Aho are slated to hit the free agent market then, potentially making it easier for their current teams to re-sign them.
  • The PHF will continue to stay more accessible to American fans. ESPN announced today that they’ve reached a two-year extension on their broadcast agreement, keeping the PHF on ESPN platforms through 2024. The league’s championship game, the Isobel Cup final, aired on ESPN2 last season, which was ESPN’s first cable broadcast of professional women’s hockey. PHF regular-season games will continue to air on the ESPN+ subscription service.

NHL, NHLPA Expect World Cup Of Hockey Return In 2024

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Speaking Wednesday during the NHL’s European Player Media Tour, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL, NHLPA, and IIHF are “moving full steam ahead” and “continuing to have regular meetings” regarding the return of the World Cup of Hockey tournament in February of 2024.

And, as reported earlier this year, more concrete details about the tournament are beginning to emerge from Daly and the aforementioned planning sessions. According to Daly, the NHL and NHLPA are in the process of narrowing down host cities for the tournament, including select European cities for preliminary and qualification games.

We still want to play one pool in Europe, a preliminary round pool in Europe and a preliminary round pool in North America and move the semifinals and the final to a different city in North America likely. I think that short list would universally encompass more traditional hockey markets.

The tournament is expected to take place over a 17-day period in February, including a day on the front and back end of gameplay for travel purposes. Considering the in-season nature of the tournament, there will be little in terms of practice time for the assembled national teams.

Daly also revealed that there are ongoing discussions about expanding the tournament field from eight teams to 10, although any qualification stage to narrow down the field back to eight would take place during the tournament given the compressed schedule.

Of obvious note is the potential participation of Russia in this tournament, which Daly said today is still uncertain.

This would be the first best-on-best hockey tournament of its kind since the last time the World Cup was held in 2016. The last Winter Olympics to feature NHL talent was the 2014 edition in Sochi, Russia. All in all, it would be the fourth edition of the World Cup, as it was previously held in 1996 and 2004.

Business Notes: Salary Cap, 2022-23 Schedule, LTIR

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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke today from Ball Arena in Denver prior to Game 1 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, giving a pseudo-state of the league address as the offseason begins to commence. One of the most striking and important notes from his presser was about the future of the salary cap, including that league revenues hit a record $5.2 billion this year. Drawing on that and the projected revenue increase from that point, Bettman notes that normal salary cap growth should resume within two to three seasons, a much shorter timeline than the five-to-six-year plan rumored early in the season. It’s wonderful news for teams and players, as contending teams will finally begin to have more flexibility when the offseason hits, and players can begin to capitalize on their earning potential in line with inflation.

  • We have a start date for the 2022-23 NHL campaign: Wednesday, October 11. It’s finally in line with the normal routine the NHL had been acclimated to over the past years prior to COVID, and we’re expected to see a normal schedule for the first time since 2018-19. The 2022-23 schedule will be released by the league early next month.
  • Contrary to previous rumors, deputy commissioner Bill Daly doesn’t anticipate the topic of changing the NHL’s long-term injury reserve rules to come up at the next Board of Governors meeting. Noise had been made in past months about some general managers growing unsatisfied with the ability for teams to greatly exceed the normal playing roster salary cap during the playoffs. However, Daly said during the presser that he believed this year demonstrated that teams couldn’t successfully use LTIR as an intentional loophole and still have a successful enough regular season to make the playoffs.

NHL GM Meetings Roundup: Salary Cap, LTIR, No Trade Clause, Russian Draft Picks, Officiating, Revenue

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With the conclusion of this year’s NHL GM Meetings, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly gathered for media availability earlier today to discuss the meetings, including their thoughts on certain hot topics, potential changes to rules, and the overall state of the game.

One change reported earlier was that the salary cap is expected to increase by $1MM next year to $82.5MM. Although the salary cap is expected to remain flat through 2024-25, Bettman clarified that a $1MM increase on the cap is still in-line with a flat cap. Albeit a small change, the extra space could stand to benefit some teams who are already dangerously close to the cap ceiling and project to be in the same position next year. Bettman did add that after 2024-25, he expects that the cap would increase more substantially.

  • On the much-discussed LTIR situation in the NHL, Bettman and Daly did not express much concern, a relay of the feelings of the 32 teams. Bettman did acknowledge the situation, but said that it was “not going to be addressed as a front-burner issue anytime soon.” In regards to teams who have players return right at the start of playoffs, a seemingly convenient occurrence, Daly clarified the NHL’s process of handling these issues, noting that the league, when a player is placed into LTIR, requests the projected date of return, and if that date is around the start of the playoffs, they do look deeper into it and may even use an independent medical expert to verify the proposed timetable.
  • Touching on no-trade and no-movement clauses in light of the Evgenii Dadonov non-trade, Daly said that the league has already had discussions with the NHLPA about the possibility of having a rule requiring all such clauses to be filed with both the NHL Central Registry and the NHLPA. Ultimately, a new software that the two sides could share to store and access the clauses, appeared to be an idea on the table for the league. To get the process started, Daly added that a draft letter agreement had been written and the league was planning on sharing that with the NHLPA today in hopes of jumpstarting negotiations.
  • When asked about any possible restrictions on Russian players in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, Daly did not anticipate any restrictions, but did qualify that the state of the world could be much different at that time.
  • On the topic of officiating, Bettman explained that he thought the officiating meeting went well, with the topic of the meeting being merely an update, and that it was otherwise uneventful. Bettman also appeared surprised that anyone thought the meeting could be construed as contentious and did not share those beliefs when asked.
  • One last topic that many hockey fans may gloss over, is revenue. Bettman mentioned that the league expects revenue to once again hit the $5B mark this year, notwithstanding the attendance restrictions and movement of games in the Canadian markets in late 2021 and early 2022.

NHL Suspends Agreement With KHL

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After the NHL cut business relations with Russia recently, they’ve taken things even further in a memo sent to teams yesterday. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to report that the league has cut ties with the KHL following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, telling teams to cease contact and suspending the memorandum of understanding between the two leagues.

Bill Daly told clubs in the memo that they will now “have only limited contractual information regarding players who are currently or last played in the KHL.” Teams will now have to go through the Central Registry to request contract information on a player’s contractual status and produce “independent written evidence” that shows a player is entirely free of KHL obligations, before signing them for the 2022-23 season.

Previously the two leagues did not operate under a transfer agreement but had an MOU indicating that they would respect contract terms. According to Seravalli, the NHL has told the KHL that it will continue to respect existing and future contracts, though communication will now be cut off.

This will certainly complicate not only free agency but the upcoming draft, which was already a point of discussion given the possibility that young Russian athletes would be denied work visas to enter Canada and the United States. Danila Yurov, for instance, was expected to go near the top of the 2022 draft but is still under contract with Magnitogorsk for the 2022-23 season at least. Without continued communication, it’s hard to know whether an NHL team that drafts him will be able to even speak with the young forward, though the memo does indicate that teams are still allowed to work with North American-based agents.

There are also several pending KHL free agents like Andrei Kuzmenko who were expected to sign after the KHL playoffs are completed. Kuzmenko was drawing the attention of many NHL teams around the league after an outstanding season, where he scored 20 goals and 53 points in 45 games. It is now completely unclear whether his immediate future lies in North America or if he will re-sign in Russia and stay with SKA.

IIHF President Luc Tardif Promises NHL In 2026 Olympics, 2022 WJC Make-Up

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: there is optimism that the NHL will participate in the next Winter Olympic Games. Despite participation being agreed to in the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement, the NHL pulled out of the current Beijing games late, citing Coronavirus as the main concern though many existed. After two consecutive Winter Olympics without NHL participation, it is hard to guarantee anything but IIHF President Luc Tardif is ready to do just that.

In a report by Stephen Whyno for the Associated Press, Tardif states that he is confident that NHLers will return to the Olympic Games in 2026 when the event takes place in Milan and Cortina, Italy. Tardif does not expect there to be any mitigating factors in 2026 as there were this year and that the league will honor the agreement with the NHLPA, IIHF, and IOC to allow their stars to represent their countries on the largest international stage. Tardif briefly mentioned that while he sees plenty of merit in moving the hockey tournament to the Summer Games, he does not see that happening and believes the NHL can make it work in-season. He hopes that an agreement on the terms of participation can be agreed to well ahead of time, at least a year before the tournament starts.

Whyno adds that NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly appears to be on the same page. Daly has stated that the league does not foresee any issues with participation and expect an agreement “on a relatively expedited basis.”

As for other IIHF events impacted by COVID this year, Tardif added that he fully expects the 2022 U-20 World Junior Championship and Women’s U-18 Tournament to both take place this summer after being canceled in December. Tardif believes the Women’s Championship will take place in the U.S. in June, while the WJC returns to Canada in August. Notably, this would put the tournament after the NHL Draft, removing it as an option for any last-minute scouting, though still an invaluable tool for prospect evaluation.

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