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League Notes: COVID Safety Measures, Draft Lottery, Draft Date

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As alluded to earlier, the NHL and NHLPA have revealed a joint release describing several new Coronavirus safety measures in response to the growing list of players in the COVID Protocol and game postponements. Included in the list of new strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus are a “work/home quarantine”, a ban on non-virtual team meetings and social interactions, removal of the glass behind the penalty box, KN95 face masks, and even revised seating assignments in the locker room and during travel to use previous positive-test players as “buffers”. There will also be rapid testing for all U.S. teams on game days, with a similar system in the works for Canadians clubs, genome sequencing tests, greater testing availability for household members, and a greater emphasis on COVID education. Will all of this change the current COVID calamity across the league? It certainly won’t hurt.

  • As rumored this off-season, the NHL is going to take a closer look at changing the structure of the NHL Draft Lottery. On Thursday’s edition of TSN’s “Insider Trading”, Pierre LeBrun reported that NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has revealed to him that a review of the lottery process is officially underway. He believes that a pitch will be made to the Board of Governors soon as to a proposed new format. The assumption of course is that the new structure will give increased odds of winning the lottery to the teams finishing at the bottom of standings. The talk this off-season centered around the Detroit Red Wings, who failed to win even one of the lottery draws for the 2020 NHL Draft and fell to fourth in a season in which they were historically bad and well below even the 30th-ranked team in the NHL. Many owners and GM’s felt that this shifted the status quo and placed importance on avoiding such poor teams missing out on top picks in the future, or at least offering them a better chance of landing those picks. Whether or not these lottery changes will be approved, and if so in time for the next entry draft, remain to be seen.
  • The question still remains of when the 2021 NHL Draft will actually be held. Given the lack of opportunity for a number of prospects this season, there have been considerable talks about postponing the draft. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that NHL’s general managers plan to meet soon to discuss options for the coming draft. Dreger believes there are three possible options for the draft. The first, of course, is to leave the draft as is in June. With the CHL leagues working toward a return and the American junior and collegiate levels and European leagues well underway, there will likely have been a chance for every team to see every prospect, even if only in a limited sample size. This will put teams on an even playing field, however those drafting later in the first round may wind up benefiting from the lack of complete information allowing some superior prospects to slide. The other two possibilities involve postponing the draft. The first is to schedule the draft for the winter, either December of January, to allow teams to gather more data over the remainder of this season, in summer tournaments, and early next season. The second, and to Dreger the one likely to be most supported by GM’s, is to hold the 2021 and 2022 drafts back-to-back next summer, allowing for another complete season to replace the current campaign before teams are asked to select players. All three options hold merit and there are likely still many factors to consider over the next few months before a formal decision can be made.

Evening Notes: Canucks, Stars, Reign

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The Vancouver Canucks entered Monday over the NHL’s salary cap upper limit. Yet, when waivers are completed tomorrow, the team will be in near-perfect shape regardless of the results. Spotted among the many names on waivers today were two veteran forwards from Vancouver: Loui Eriksson and Sven Baertschi. While any Canucks fan would like to see both claimed off waivers, there is almost no chance that either one will be moving elsewhere. Eriksson and his $6MM cap hit have failed to live up to expectations for four years now and no other team is likely to be willing to take a chance on the former All-Star. Baertschi and his own $3.37MM price tag were up for grabs on waivers multiple times last season and no one took a chance, leaving him buried in the AHL for much of the year. However, neither player needs to be claimed for the Canucks to benefit. Once both wingers clear waivers, they can be moved to the AHL or – more likely – the taxi squad. Their cap hits will thus be reduced by $1.075MM apiece for a total savings of $2.15MM. As CapFriendly points out, that is not only enough to get Vancouver back in the black relative to the cap ceiling; it will also leave them enough room to add a player on a minimum $700K salary back to the active roster. This is important, as it will bring the cap payroll as close to the upper limit as possible, allowing the team to take close to full advantage of Micheal Ferland’s Long-Term Injured Reserve placement. The savings of nearly $3.5MM will be used to sign defenseman Travis Hamonic and to replace one or two of the forward slots abandoned by Eriksson and Baertschi. Whether anticipated or not, it’s some impressive salary cap magic by GM Jim Benning and company.

  • The Canucks were also back at practice today after a COVID-19 scare on Sunday. Vancouver canceled all team activities yesterday in response to a possible exposure, but fortunately no players or staff have tested positive, per Sportsnet. The team is back on track and there are no further issues expected from this specific case of potential exposure.
  • Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars are still dealing with their Coronavirus issue. After six players and two staff members tested positive before Friday’s practice, the team shut down their facilities over the weekend and were not able to open back up today.  Their first three games of the season, on the road against the Florida Panthers twice and the first of two against the Tampa Bay Lightning, have already been postponed but the hopes is that their new opener, set for January 19 in Tampa, will go on as scheduled. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly tells Matthew DeFranks of The Dallas News that the league is prepared to do what needs to be done, but that they do feel the Stars are “at the end of that outbreak” and are now focused on how it occured initially. Daly added that medical personnel would decide when it is safe to re-open the facility and that all parties feel the 19th remains a fair goal for Dallas to be both healthy and well-prepared. DeFranks has since reported that Dallas will indeed return to practice on Tuesday, though all further camp sessions will be closed to the media.
  • The Ontario Reign, AHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, have announced the hiring of Craig Johnson as an assistant coach for the club. The Reign already have a new head coach in John Wroblewski and now add another new face in Johnson, who is actually a familiar name to Kings fans who remember him from his seven season playing with the team in the late 90’s and early 00’s.  Johnson’s coaching experience is somewhat limited, serving as a head coach for local youth and high school teams in Southern California. However, he has also served as a development coach for the Kings over the past two seasons and briefly worked for the Reign previously in the ECHL back in 2010-11.

San Jose Sharks Expected To Open Season In Arizona

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With the NHL and NHLPA inching closer to a resolution on the 2020-21 season, teams are beginning to prepare for the reality of a forthcoming campaign. While the Canadian clubs have issues to work out before the season can begin, the San Jose Sharks are another team facing questions. Santa Clara County has banned contact sports locally through at least January 8, a policy that was recently extended and could be extended again as Coronavirus numbers remain high. This proves problematic for the Sharks, who as a reigning non-playoff team would be eligible to begin training camp on December 31 and may need to host games as early as January 13.

The Sharks’ solution appears to lie in following a fellow Bay Area team south. An anonymous source tells the Associated Press that San Jose will open their season in Arizona, much like how the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers have moved to Arizona to conclude their own season. While there is no word on whether the Sharks will share a facility with the Arizona Coyotes as the 49ers have done with the Arizona Cardinals, that is the expectation. Fortunately, this move will not disrupt the NHL’s current plan for realigned divisions and exclusive inter-division play this season, as both teams have been slotted for a new-look Pacific Division.

The AP source remained anonymous on this issue as details both on the league’s return to play and on the Sharks’ move have not been finalized nor have they been made public. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly took the same approach, telling the AP that he would not discuss details related to the Sharks’ plans as details of the restart still need to be papered and voted upon by the NHL Board of Governors and NHLPA both. The Sharks have additionally declined to comment on the relocation proposal. However, given the lack of any contrary reports, the restrictions facing San Jose, and the path already paved by the 49ers, it is a safe bet that the Sharks are Arizona-bound at least to open training camp and to begin their 2020-21 season.

Latest On Mid-January Season Start

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The NHL and NHLPA have resolved their financial issues that were a potential hold up for the 2020-21 season. Now, both sides are moving forward to work out a season that could start as early as January 13, according to Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun of TSN. Dreger adds that NHL training camps will likely be ten days long and not include any exhibition play. The seven teams that did not qualify for this summer’s postseason bubble are now unlikely to receive any additional training camp time.

In his piece for The Athletic, LeBrun includes a quote from NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly:

We are moving forward with the process of working through all of the issues that need to be addressed and agreed to, and that are obviously unique to playing a season during a pandemic.

That doesn’t spark a ton of confidence, but LeBrun explains that both sides have agreed to leave the financial terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, signed this summer as part of a CBA extension, as they currently are. That “renegotiation” was one of the things that the players’ union would not budge on, believing they signed a fair deal a few months ago. With the NHL presumably backing down on any changes, things can now start to move forward on planning and protocols for the upcoming season.

There is no guarantee that the two sides can work through everything, but the focus now is on a January 13 start of a 56-game schedule. Today’s news has brought plenty of optimism among the hockey community, but LeBrun cautions that the COVID-19 situation all across North America and the world could still potentially delay or derail the season completely.

Outdoor Games Being Discussed By Several NHL Teams

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It’s about that time in an NHL/NHLPA negotiation (or, not negotiation) where things start to get weird. With the league still trying to figure out a way through the upcoming season, with the financial climate so dire for many teams and with players refusing to budge on the agreement they made a few months ago, all kinds of revenue streams are being discussed.

One of those, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, is the possibility of holding games outdoors where fans could potentially attend. Friedman writes today that at least four teams are “investigating the possibility” of outdoor games, listing the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. The Kings were apparently the first to consider the idea, though it’s important to note that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told James Mirtle of The Athletic last month that holding more outdoor games was unlikely.

Still, following Friedman’s report came one from Pierre LeBrun, who writes that it’s not just those four teams considering the idea of holding multiple outdoor events. The Penguins, Bruins, and Kings are on his list of teams that would be open to hosting or taking part in outdoor games, but so too are the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, and Nashville Predators.

It’s important to remember that even if the NHL caves and doesn’t amend the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed a few months ago, the players still would have to eventually pay back any salary that brings them over 50% of the hockey-related revenue. With no fans and very little revenue to be made, it seems likely that both sides would be open to out-of-the-box ideas like outdoor contests if it brought in ticket sales.

Still, those outdoor games also have a substantially increased cost, which is what Daly pointed out to Mirtle last month. As LeBrun writes, commissioner Gary Bettman is also worried that holding so many outdoor games could hurt the Winter Classic brand, which has been a success for the league in previous years. Those negatives may eventually win out in the end, but there is nothing stopping teams from exploring the option at this point.

Bettman Discusses Regional Hub Cities, Reduced Schedule

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The NHL is still targeting a January start for the upcoming season, but there is still a lot of work to be done between the league and NHLPA. As reported by Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com, Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke today about some of the things still being discussed, including the idea of hubs where teams would enter a city and “play for 10 to 12 days” without any travel, and then return home. Players have been very clear about the fact that they will not agree to a season-long bubble away from their families, and Bettman confirmed that he will not ask them to.

The idea of realignment has also come up extensively around the hockey world in recent weeks, especially in regard to the seven Canadian teams. Bettman confirmed that it was being discussed, though specifically mentioned how it also wouldn’t make much sense to have teams from Florida travel to California either. A “Canadian Division” is getting plenty of headlines, but it seems likely that there will be other geographical realignments as well given the different restrictions throughout the United States.

Of course one of the most important things for the league to decide will be how many games actually get played in the upcoming regular season. Though they have tried to maintain the goal of fitting in 82, there have been obvious doubts that is practical and Bettman himself suggested that the league is contemplating a reduced schedule.

None of what Bettman said today provides any real answers for hockey fans looking forward to next season, but there are hints to what it might look like. Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia also reports that deputy commissioner Bill Daly sent a memo to each NHL team today saying that the league and NHLPA hope to make a recommendation to the board of governors on Thursday on the start date, maintaining that “the objective remains to start as early as January 1.” The memo included that the league is hoping to get back onto a regular calendar for 2021-22.

East Notes: Tampa Bay, Weegar, Islanders Arena

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Back in the summer, Tampa Bay was ruled out as a possible host for one of the hub cities as the NHL worked to return to hold their playoffs.  That may not be the case when it comes to next season, however, as Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times that the city will garner consideration this time around if the NHL opts to use bubble cities for at least part of next season:

In terms of the boxes that need to be checked and the things that we’re looking for, certainly Tampa is an attractive possibility on a host of levels, including the fact that I think players would enjoy Tampa as a base for operations as opposed to some other cities.

Certainly, if we went that direction — and I’m not suggesting that we’re going that direction — but if we end up deciding to go that direction, certainly Tampa would be strongly considered.

As things stand, there are no firm plans in place for next season’s schedule but the possibility of using short-term hubs where a team plays several games in a short stretch before returning home for a little while has been discussed.  It certainly seems like Tampa Bay will be looked at more favorably than it was for the playoff hubs.

More from the East:

  • While the Panthers were able to avoid arbitration with defenseman MacKenzie Weegar last week, things weren’t always headed in that direction. Speaking with reporters today including David Dwork of WPLG (Twitter link), the blueliner acknowledged that he had heard from his agent a couple of times to advise that a trade may be in the works.  Weegar had acknowledged his frustration with the status of talks although in the end, they were able to agree on a three-year deal worth $9.75MM in total that bought out two years of UFA eligibility.
  • The new arena for the Islanders remains on track to open for the 2021-22 season despite a two-month delay due to the pandemic, notes Allan Kreda of the New York Times. Despite everything going on and the fact that puck drop is at least another year away, the facility has already sold roughly half of its inventory for club seats and suites.

NHL Facing Major Challenges In Planning 2020-21 Season

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The 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the “bubble playoffs”, were nothing short of an immense success for the NHL. The venture may have cost the league upwards of $90MM to put on and there were a few complaints after the fact about living conditions and scheduling, but the postseason was an incredible accomplishment for the league and players’ association. In the midst of a global pandemic, the NHL hosted 24 teams in two cities over two months, fielded a workable playoff structure and competitive match-ups that yielded a fair champion, all while receiving zero positive COVID-19 results out of more than 33,000 tests. It was as close to perfect execution as anyone could have expected.

Yet, the issues faced in planning the postseason are exponentially more difficult to tackle in mapping out how the 2020-21 regular season may proceed. As Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly tells The Athletic’s Michael Russo, “it’s going to be a challenge”:

It’s a totally different challenge and requires a whole bunch of different considerations that I think probably, in some respects, are more challenging than the (postseason) return to play plans. You need to gather as much information as you can, you need to take as much time as you can, and you need to make the best decisions you can… We’re in a situation where things are evolving every day. You’re monitoring the evolution of the virus and the searches for answers on the virus. You’re monitoring travel restrictions and how we can move clubs around, if we can move clubs around. And we’re monitoring local restrictions with respect to spectators and fans. You’ve got to stay on top of everything and understand things, and they become a very relevant context for the ultimate decisions you make.

While the league is sticking with their expected start date of on or around January 1st, there are still several hurdles to beginning play and they may still be in place by that point in time. The league undoubtedly hoped and believed that the Coronavirus would have subsided somewhat by this point, but the numbers in North America are still not close to ideal. This all but rules out fans in the stands from the get-go, a tough pill to swallow for a league that relies on gate revenue, and even makes travel a struggle. The U.S.-Canada border is the largest travel issue of all, with no resolution to that closure in sight. The league can’t possibly support all 31 teams playing in just two bubbles again, but there is some thought that there could be several hubs, including one that contains all seven Canadian clubs. However, is even this format feasible for a full season or will the NHL have to shorten another year?

There are many questions the league still has to answer and Daly believes that they have the full support of the owners in figuring out some resolution to make sure the 2020-21 season happens and is as close to normal as possible. Of course, this is not a binary decision for the league though, as Daly acknowledges:

We have to work with the Players’ Association over what a return to play plan looks like for next year. And anything considered, talked about, discussed in the context of that ultimately has to be signed off on by both sides. Everybody has an interest in us having a season and awarding a Cup next year. And everybody will be pulling in the same direction in terms of getting there… The players’ perspective and the Players’ Association’s perspective and their input on whatever plan we ultimately come up with is critical to our ability to be successful.

With so many moving parts, questions without clear answers, and an ever-changing pandemic landscape, there is still nothing firm as to what next season could look like. Planning a full professional sports season right now is a daunting task – the MLB and NFL have had their fair share of issues even without fans in most cases and limited travel – so the NHL will take their time, consult their partners and stakeholders, and try to come up with some format that works. Daly believes they will find a solution, but admits that they are still far from that point:

I’m being honest when I say that there is no likely scenario. In other words, I couldn’t pick one. I could identify 10 to 12 scenarios for you right now and I wouldn’t be able to pick a likely scenario. While we have to make these decisions in a matter of weeks, I couldn’t tell you that we’re leaning any one over any other. It really is going to be a product of a whole bunch of considerations that have yet to materialize.

League Notes: NHL Awards, 2020-21, USHL

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While the NHL has already revealed several of their end-of-the-year awards prior to recent playoff games, they will save the remaining awards for one special presentation. The league has announced today that the five remaining awards –  the Hart, Lindsay, Vezina, Norris, and Calder – will be presented virtually in a 30-minute special at 5:30pm CT on Monday, September 21. Since the event is technically being hosted from inside the Edmonton bubble, the awards will also have an “Oilers twist” to them. Wayne Gretzky is set to present the Hart and Calder trophies, with Mark Messier announcing the Lindsay, Grant Fuhr announcing the Vezina, and Paul Coffey announcing the Norris. The winners will then be made available to the media via Zoom for interviews following the awards presentations.

  • As the Stanley Cup Final gets underway in the Edmonton bubble, it is remarkable to look back at hat the NHL has been able to accomplish this postseason in Edmonton and Toronto. However, they face a much more difficult task right around the corner with trying to implement the 2020-21. While the league has held firm on their desire to begin the new season before the end of the calendar year and to play a full 82-game schedule, doubts are starting to creep in about how this can be arranged as COVID-19 continues to be prevalent in North America. Even Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly recently stated that he does not know for sure when and how the league will return to regular season play, though he did that a start date prior to December 1 is more unlikely than not. Speaking with others around the league, The Athletic’s Scott Burnside gets a growing sense of skepticism across all corners of the NHL . While most believe the season will still occur in some form or fashion, his sources believe that a likely start date is not until January at the earliest, which could rule out an 82-game season. Some believe that the league could wait until it is safe for fans to attend games before returning to play, while others believe that early-season schedules could be geographically-influenced to play a more compact schedule and to reduce travel risks. Burnside notes that continued outbreaks of Coronavirus in U.S. cities and the closed border between the U.S. and Canada will make a typical season impossible until they are resolved. In other words, there is still a lot to figure out before teams can return to play for the regular season, so a delayed start beyond what had previously been anticipated is an ever-growing possibility.
  • Two USHL teams have now decided to scrap their seasons altogether in response to the continuing COVID pandemic. The league announced today that the Cedar Rapids Roughriders and Madison Capitols will suspend operations for the 2020-21 season. On top of troubles related to Coronavirus, the Roughriders sustained damage to their arena in a recent storm and are finding it impossible to be prepared for a new season, while the Capitols, who are owned by Minnesota Wild star Ryan Suter, are so overly restricted by local health regulations that they cannot operate this year. The league stated that a dispersal draft will be held to give the teams’ players a new home for the coming season. However, the rights of those players who wish to continue in the USHL beyond this season will revert back to their teams next year.

West Notes: Blues Facilities, Guerin, Juolevi

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As of now, the St. Louis Blues hope to re-open their facilities and allow players to return to the ice on Monday after a report that several Blues’ players tested positive for COVID-19. That report forced the Blues to close their facilities over the weekend. With a similar incident happening to the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 19, forcing the team to close their facilities for five days before re-opening. Regardless, the positive tests isn’t expected to affect the NHL’s plans to start training camps in a week.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly released a statement earlier today (via Fox’s Andy Strickland):

I don’t believe that what we’ve seen to this point is unexpected. We have always anticipated that we were going to encounter positive tests. What we want to avoid is mini-outbreaks. So the focus is taking the necessary precautions to avoid a cluster of positives. We think the enhanced structure and precautions that will be in place once we reach the training camp phase will actually create safer conditions for players and staff. And we think the Hub City Protocol will make it even safer still.

  • In The Athletic’s Michael Russo’s Q&A with Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin (subscription required), the GM made it clear that the team will be fully focused on its series with the Vancouver Canucks and not the potential of landing the No. 1 overall pick, if the team falls in the play-in round next month. All eight teams that lose in the play-in game have a 12.5 percent chance to earn the right to draft super prospect Alexis Lafreniere. “I think everybody thinks about it, but our job is to win hockey games, and not to play for a first overall pick,” said Guerin. “We’re going in to win. You can’t do that. You can’t do that. Like I said, these games are going to come fast and furious. We’ve got to be ready and we’re going in there to win, not play for a pick. You can’t do that. You just don’t do that.”
  • In his mailbag series, Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre writes that defensive prospect Olli Juolevi may have to accept being a third-pairing defenseman down the road. The 2016 fifth-overall pick has yet to make his NHL debut and the only player among the top 17 drafted players that year who has not appeared in an NHL game. The 22-year-old has struggled with both injuries and inconsistency, yet remains close to making his NHL debut and is expected to be on the Canucks roster for the playoffs next month. A third-pairing role might be the most reasonable expectations for Juolevi as it likely isn’t going to get easier to crack the Canucks’ roster over the next few years.

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