2019-20 Miscellaneous NHL/Hockey News Thread

[Elsker]

2019 playoffs ran from April 10 to June 12 with each round taking about two weeks to complete.

Shortening some rounds to a five-game series becomes less of a best-team-survives-and-advances sorting mechanism and only marginally saves a bit of calendar time.

Enlarging the playoff pool to more than the traditional 16 teams just seems completely unrealistic considering the amount of calendar time that would require. Shrinking the playoff pool to current division leaders or top-two teams in each division seems more realistic, if any changes are to be made.

The Cup can be awarded this season. But just go ahead and put an asterisk on the result as things definitely are not normal. Working backwards from a "we need to be done by this date" approach in consideration with a "we can't start before this date" will dictate just how many rounds can realistically be played and therefore how many teams can participate.

 

[bagopux]

MLB looking at expanding the rosters to 29 if they start back. I guess the idea is more players will get injured. NHL has no roster size limit for the playoffs right? And I assume the AHL won't start back up.

For MLB, if you are getting rid of some off days and playing doubleheaders, you’re going to need to expand the rosters to add both starters and relievers.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

MLB may play some doubleheaders but not a lot , they probably don't want to give up the ticket money. They could cut travel time by playing more interleague games such as Philly-Baltimore, Pitt-Cleveland along with the same city matchups Mets-Yankees etc.

 

[NoMich]

Trivia Question:
What is the highest amount of goals scored in a season that matches that player's jersey number? (no subscribers to The Athletic are allowed to answer this question)

 

[dwind]

Gretzky 99.

 

[NoMich]

Good guess, but Gretzky never scored more than 92 goals in a season

 

[bagopux]

MLB may play some doubleheaders but not a lot , they probably don't want to give up the ticket money.

They could do split ticket, day-night double headers. Or do 9-inning + 7-inning twin bills and charge more.

 

[andyt]

Trivia Question:
What is the highest amount of goals scored in a season that matches that player's jersey number? (no subscribers to The Athletic are allowed to answer this question)

I’m a subscriber and I read the article. It’s interesting, digging deep into the archives and you can almost feel the writer’s anguish. And it’s only happened once.

 

[andyt]

They could do split ticket, day-night double headers. Or do 9-inning + 7-inning twin bills and charge more.

I don’t even know if anyone schedules a traditional double header anymore. They’re all split admission and almost all because they’re making up a rainout. Tampa Bay might have played one a few years ago.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

yes it seems the doubleheaders are rainout games if the visiting team is not coming back to town that season.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

NBA looking at playing all games at a few sites. Strange idea but it's a strange year. NHL could do the same.

NBA could consider clustering teams to play games in locations such as the Bahamas and Las Vegas, report says

The NBA is looking to the Chinese league for examples on returning to play amid the COVID-19 pandemic

www.cbssports.com

 

[hockeylover]

That seems like it's straight out of the "Dumbest Things You Could Do During a Global Pandemic" file.

 

[andyt]

That seems like it's straight out of the "Dumbest Things You Could Do During a Global Pandemic" file.

It’s in the top 2. The Bahamas only have a few cases, but there over 1,000 in Nevada.

 

[dwind]

E games is the answer.

 

[andyt]

A good article from Pierre LeBrun at The Athletic today about some difficult financial decisions the league and PA will have to face. He quotes a player agent noting that, if the league doesn’t resume, revenue will fall about $1 billion short of the cap target. That means a giveback by players of about $500 million. How to manage that and account for potentially a few more years of declining revenue will be key to the CBA discussions that will need to happen soon. The agent sees a shorter term CBA with a cap frozen at this year’s $81.5 million and fixed escrow rates of 10% until the shortfall is covered. Otherwise, there would be a draconian cap reduction or escrow increase.

The US TV contract expires at the end of the 2021-22 season. Currently NBC pays $200 million per year. Some estimates from last fall projected an increase to $350-400 million per year, based on ratings increases, new teams/new markets and general rights increases since the deal was signed in 2011. If ESPN decides to seriously get back into hockey to provide content for ESPN+ beyond the games they already have, that could ratchet up the fee too. They broadcasted 2 games every night in the last week before the pause.

LeBrun: Once pandemic is over, NHL and NHLPA must find long-term labour peace

The NHL and NHLPA need to find long-term CBA stability out of this to mitigate these turbulent times.

theathletic.com

 

[andyt]

NBA looking at playing all games at a few sites. Strange idea but it's a strange year. NHL could do the same.

NBA could consider clustering teams to play games in locations such as the Bahamas and Las Vegas, report says

The NBA is looking to the Chinese league for examples on returning to play amid the COVID-19 pandemic

www.cbssports.com

The NBA stole the idea from the Chinese Basketball Association. Today, the government issued an order delaying it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28975749/china-delays-re-start-basketball-other-events

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

I think they will play with no fans rather than call off the season. If they allow fans I would probably skip the games since I am in high risk group.

 

[HurryCanes]

A good article from Pierre LeBrun at The Athletic today about some difficult financial decisions the league and PA will have to face. He quotes a player agent noting that, if the league doesn’t resume, revenue will fall about $1 billion short of the cap target. That means a giveback by players of about $500 million. How to manage that and account for potentially a few more years of declining revenue will be key to the CBA discussions that will need to happen soon. The agent sees a shorter term CBA with a cap frozen at this year’s $81.5 million and fixed escrow rates of 10% until the shortfall is covered. Otherwise, there would be a draconian cap reduction or escrow increase.

The US TV contract expires at the end of the 2021-22 season. Currently NBC pays $200 million per year. Some estimates from last fall projected an increase to $350-400 million per year, based on ratings increases, new teams/new markets and general rights increases since the deal was signed in 2011. If ESPN decides to seriously get back into hockey to provide content for ESPN+ beyond the games they already have, that could ratchet up the fee too. They broadcasted 2 games every night in the last week before the pause.

LeBrun: Once pandemic is over, NHL and NHLPA must find long-term labour peace

The NHL and NHLPA need to find long-term CBA stability out of this to mitigate these turbulent times.

theathletic.com

gonna be a delicate issue. given the losses that the average Joe is dealing with right now I hope they tread very carefully on how they deal with this issue.

 

[andyt]

Per Dreger, the self-isolation period has been extended until April 15. It was originally March 27, then moved April 4.

 

[andyt]

gonna be a delicate issue. given the losses that the average Joe is dealing with right now I hope they tread very carefully on how they deal with this issue.

We’ve already made payments on next year’s season tickets. Unless they’re going to retroactively reduce them, they’re locked in. And that’s a double edged sword, any price reduction reduces HRR and the salary cap. Unless they make up in incremental volume what they’ve lost in price.