As most of us sludge through the start of a new week, following government-mandated stay-at-home orders, we look forward to the return of sports. That’s why ESPN’s The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary about Michael Jordan, has been the saving grace of life in lockdown. But it ends each Sunday night barely fulfilling our appetite for sports, like a caesar salad at a steakhouse.
At this point, the average sports fan realizes that some sports will return this summer. Of course, under conditions that ensure safety for league stakeholders. Then again, there remains planning and discussion in the task of resurrecting a league’s season. Examples being issues of isolation, facilities, testing, scheduling, and broadcasting all contribute to a looming uncertainty.
Surely league offices are working overtime to get it done, all-the-while keeping their efforts close-to-chest in the interest of competitiveness. But perhaps the hungriest of unsatisfied fans, or at least that’s what they’ll tell you, are hockey fans. Those robbed of fiercely, intense playoff matchups that were just ten games away.
Return of Hockey
That said, hockey fans may have the most reason for hope. Though no facilities have been reopened yet, Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reports, the NHL is hoping to re-open facilities in late May. This is different from the NBA, which allowed teams to practice starting May 8th, so long as they’re abiding by their state’s regulations. The NHL refuses to do this, citing unfair advantage to teams able to practice, as the reason to hold off. I think at the very least we deserve some on-ice training videos with P.K. Subban, but maybe that’s just me.
Still, it’s more than probable that NHL players who returned home are beginning to find their way back to their teams. Assuming they can resume the NHL season, let’s take a look at how they might go about it.
The Playoffs
I won’t bore you with the logistics of how teams will practice, test players, or maintain safety. We’ll leave that to the league offices, so we can speculate on what kind of playoffs we might see in July.
According to Pete Blackburn of CBS Sports, the NHL is prioritizing the conclusion of the regular season, before advancing to a potentially altered playoff format. The playoff format would likely limit NHL games to be played in just a few locations. But even as the subject of fans remains sensitive, teams are bidding their facilities to be used. As Mark Spector of Sportsnet reported, “between nine and 12 teams bidding to host what are expected to be four National Hockey League playoff ‘tournaments,’ should the league be able to resume its playoffs this summer.”
Per Sportsnet, these “tournaments” refer to the 24-team playoff structure where the:
“Top six teams from each division meet in one city. They would open with a best-of-three series between the No. 1 and 2 seeds (to decide a Division winner), while No. three meets six and four meets five for the right to keep playing.”
So far, this is the structure that players and league stakeholders favor, and as a pandemic expert myself, I think it’s a plausible solution. For reference, here is a picture of what the pandemic-offs might look like, for the metropolitan division.
To Determine Division Winner
#1 Washington Capitals v.s. #2 Philadelphia Flyers
Elimination Series
#3 Pittsburgh Penguins v.s. #6 NY Islanders
#4 Carolina Hurricanes v.s. #5 Columbus Blue Jackets
While the league may run with this structure, I do think it beats the point of finishing a regular season. Just let the Rangers shelter-in-place, the Islanders can take this one.