A decision to go directly to a tournament would allow the NHL to establish a draft lotteryGETTY IMAGES
The NHL's reopening plan has "shifted" from completing the regular season to "instead staging a 24-team tournament that would include a best-of-three play-in round," according to sources cited by Larry Brooks of the N.Y. POST. Issues related to testing -- "procuring enough kits, swabs, and attendant equipment and labs to enable regular testing with rapid results -- remain outstanding." The league’s focus has "shifted to the tournament plan for three basic reasons: 1) Condensing the duration of play to better guard against the potential of a second wave of the coronavirus striking and necessitating a second shutdown; 2) Avoiding having to reassemble teams with no realistic chance of making the playoffs and having them play up to a month’s worth of meaningless games; 3) Avoiding the prospect of a quarantine within a hub city/hotel for up to four months, including a three-week training camp, for teams going deep into the playoffs following a regular-season completion." A decision to go directly to a tournament also "would allow the league to establish a draft lottery under which the seven teams on the other side of the cut line would be eligible for the first-overall pick" (N.Y. POST, 5/8). TSN's Pierre LeBrun confirmed the 24-team plan is "gathering a bit of traction," but stressed that "nothing is decided." He said, "These are just the conversations that are being had between both sides this week” ("Insider Trading," TSN, 5/7).
THINGS CHANGE: On Long Island, Andrew Gross cites a source as saying that two weeks ago, the NHL was "'hell-bent' on including regular-season games if play was able to resume," but the 24-team playoff idea now is "getting 'more attention.'" The straight-to-the-playoffs model "would allow the NHL to conclude its remaining games more quickly and, potentially, guard against a second wave of coronavirus in the fall" (NEWSDAY, 5/8). SPORTSNET.ca's Elliotte Friedman wrote, "With each passing day I believe more and more that, if the NHL does return sometime this summer, we are going to punt the regular season and go to a 24-team playoff." Phase 2 of the NHL's plans to return features an opening of training facilities for small groups, which "may not happen until June." Even with '20-21 pushed back to December or January, "we’re not overflowing with runway." The players "rightfully made it very clear they don’t want months of quarantine without their families." If the league is not going to include them in the hotel setup, it can "shorten the amount of time apart by dropping the remaining regular-season games" (SPORTSNET.ca, 5/7).
A LOT TO ASK: In Minneapolis, Sarah McLellan reports centralizing action in a finite number of cities is "one of the latest restart scenarios to gain traction," but it "comes with plenty of logistical questions -- including how players will live when they aren’t on the ice." Wild G and NHLPA player rep Devan Dubnyk said that specific options "haven’t been tabled, but the effect on families is on the players’ minds." He explained, "Obviously we’re not just going to play in all 31 arenas, so there’s going to be some form of neutral sites or single sites where a bunch of teams are. What are we looking at as far as are we going to see our families? How's that going to work? How long are we going to be away? And again, questions that can’t be answered right now but certainly concerns for guys." He concluded, "Nobody with kids is going to want to be away for three or four months at a time. I think that’s a lot to ask out of guys" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/8).
COSTS CAN ADD UP: TSN's Frank Seravalli noted one question is whether the "cost-benefit analysis" of concluding the season is worth the financial outlay. Securing the necessary tests could "wind up in the millions, if not in the tens of millions of dollars, to conduct." That does not include the cost of sanitizing locker rooms and arenas. Seravalli: "These are all mounting expenses. So far to this point the NHL has determined that the juice would be worth the squeeze, but we’ll see as these continue to add up" (“Insider Trading,” TSN, 5/7).
