NHL INCHING CLOSER TO ITS RETURN TO PLAY

TORONTO, ON -- Things are percolating. The NHL is formalizing its plan to resume the 2019-20 season with what appears to be a 24-team format that has been discussed and reported all week long.

As I reported just over three weeks ago, the NHL is aiming to hit the ice next month with camps, followed by a return to action in/around July. It remains unclear how the structure of a 24-team play-in would look like – though, one option gaining steam seems to have the top-four teams in each conference getting a bye and the remaining eight playing against each other in a best-of-three or best-of-five series to solidify seeding to form the top eight per conference – but that’s being discussed all weekend and will be part of the call with the NHL Board of Governors on Monday.

We discussed this during Saturday’s show, The Hot Stove, on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, as my co-hosts (Dennis Bernstein and Ryan Paton) and I mulled over the possibilities.

One thing that seems clear is that players around the League are eager to get back on the ice with their teammates and those not already in their NHL city have been making, or are starting to make, plans to get their butts back to town.

Another factor in all of the planning revolves around hub cities. Part of the discussions within the NHL and between the League and the Return To Play Committee is playing in team arenas – without fans, of course.

There is a possibility, and it may not occur right away, that playoff games (after the play-in games conclude) take place in team cities as opposed to centralized markets. This would certainly eliminate the concerns from the players of being away from the families for several weeks, but it will all depend on local government consent and the advice of medical experts the NHL is continuously in touch with.

Talk around the league suggests the NHL Draft will take place after the Stanley Cup is awarded, which would appear to be in early-to-mid September. Following a mid-to-end-of-September Draft would be free agency throughout October (the new off-season), and training camps would get going in November. There is also talk of starting the 2020-21 season without fans if an antibody or vaccine isn’t available, but that’s still premature at this point (though, still on everyone’s mind).

Speaking of free agency, several pending restricted free agents and unrestricted free agents, and even some players with one-year remaining on their current contracts, have been investigating insurance policies against risk of injury. This is certainly a different situation everyone is dealing with, and guys want to be protected, so they are exploring their options, which include a career-ending policy, a long-term injury policy, a loss of value (on their next contract) policy, and more.

Optimism has picked up across the globe with some sports back underway, other sports planning their returns, and the overall curve flattening. This is going to be an interesting week for the NHL, and everyone invested in it.

We should know in the coming days, perhaps we early as Monday, what the players are doing with their final paycheque – give back some, all or none of that money back to the owners to help with escrow, or defer their decision another week or two until a plan to return to play is finalized. The players have been voting all weekend.

In and around that announcement, the NHL is expected to announce its plans for the 2020 NHL Draft; they’ll either move it to after the playoffs, which is now likely, or hold it in late-June.

Following its ongoing discussions with the Return To Play Committee and its call with the BOG on Monday, the NHL could put the finishing touches on its plan this week. The NHLPA Executive Board would, of course, need to sign off on the plan.

We are not out of the woods yet, but if/once the NHL returns, we will have a little bit more normalcy back in our lives.