Eight or nine potential hub cities
Nicholas Cotsonika of NHL.com: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said they are looking at “probably eight or nine different places” that would be able to host “a dozen or so teams in one location.”
Bettman said there is no timetable and that border and quarantine issues would need to be resolved.
“I don’t think anybody has a fixed timetable, particularly in North America right now,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We have been working very hard since we took the pause on March 12 to make sure that whatever the timing is, whatever the sequencing is, whatever physical ability we have in terms of locations to play, that we’re in a position to execute any or all of those options. There is still a great deal of uncertainty.”
Multiple dressing rooms would be needed and sanitizing each room, hotel space to hold that many teams, and COVID-19 testing capacity that wouldn’t come at the expense of the medical community.
“We’d like to complete this season,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We’d like to award the Stanley Cup, the most treasured trophy and the most historic trophy in all of sports. And our fans are telling us overwhelmingly that’s what they’d like us to do, because people have an emotional investment in this season already.”
Oilers feel they could host
Ryan Rishaug: The Edmonton Oilers feel that the city of Edmonton could manage to hold 12 teams.
A sense of urgency in the Return to Play Committee
Alex Prewitt of SI: Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares is a member of the NHL-NHLPA Return to Play Committee and said there is a “great sense of urgency” in the group “to hone in on what the competitive format’s going to be, to give everyone a sense of what it could look like when we get back. Obviously, when that will be, we don’t know … But in terms of how to finish the season, and how to award the Stanley Cup, I think we want to get something figured out soon.”
The 24-team playoff format is talked about the most. Round-robin games could be part of the format.
“Certainly there’s still a priority to finish the regular season and play the playoffs,” Tavares says, “but as time goes by, you have to consider all our options with the information we have. The 24-team concept has been brought up quite a bit. But there’s been other concepts, other numbers of teams. We’ve thrown around everything. Nothing’s been decided on.”
