Upcoming season coming into focus
Negotiation with players association needs ironing out for projected Jan. 1 start
The best-case scenario for the Ottawa Senators is they get some clarity Thursday about the start of the 2020-21 season.
They're not the only ones waiting with bated breath.
As Postmedia reported Tuesday, the NHL's board of governors will hold a conference call Thursday to get an update from commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly on where negotiations stand with the players association to finalize plans for the start of next season. The call is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Daly sent out a memo Tuesday indicating that negotiations with the union were continuing for a season that would start sometime around Jan. 1. The hope was to make a recommendation Thursday.
He also said the NHL plans to award the Stanley Cup before the summer, so the 2021-22 campaign will be an 82-game season with a regular schedule from October to April.
“We believe that progress toward finalizing a recommendation to the board of governors is being made,” Daly wrote in his weekly update.
Daly added “the objective remains to start as early as Jan. 1.”
The news from Daly has the Senators and every other team in the league ramping up for the start of training camp which could begin early next month if an agreement is worked out.
Camp is scheduled to be two weeks, but the seven teams not involved in the July restart — the Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo
Sabres and Anaheim Ducks — will be allowed an extra week with their players.
That means if the NHL is determined to start New Year's Day, then it must get an agreement quickly. Players coming to Ottawa from the United States, Europe and Russia will have to isolate for 14 days when they arrive, unless the NHL negotiates different rules involving testing for COVID-19.
Fortunately, the ice is already installed at the Canadian Tire Centre and the expectation is the club will announce in the coming days when it will open to allow players to hold informal precamp skates.
While Thomas Chabot, Erik Gudbranson and newly signed blueliner Artem Zub are in town, several prospects are playing overseas so when the rink does open, the group will be pretty small to start.
Erik Brannstrom (Switzerland), Vitaly Abramov, Lassi Thomson (Finland), Filip Gustavsson (Sweden), Rudolfs Balcers (Norway) and Filip Chlapik (Czech Republic) would need to make their way here.
Colin White (Boston), Brady Tkachuk, Logan Brown (St. Louis), Evgenii Dadonov (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Alex Galchenyuk (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Josh Norris (Detroit), Christian Wolanin (Grand Forks, N.D.), Austin Watson (Nashville), Artem Anisimov and Mike Reilly (Chicago) are in the United States.
Also, goalies Anders Nilsson and Marcus Hogberg are in Europe along with defenceman Christian Jaros and Nikita Zaitsev, who would have to come in from Russia.
That's a big list, and it's not even everybody that would be required to quarantine when arriving in Canada for the start of camp. This is why the league is either going to have to negotiate with the government to allow the players to undergo testing if they want to be able to avoid a full 14-day quarantine.
If this is really going to happen, the players better start making travel plans.
Like everybody else, the Senators don't know what format the season is going to take.
There's been talk of a 48- to 56-game season that will start in four divisional hubs, including an all-Canadian division. The league hopes to have the regular season completed by the end of April.
The NHL asked each team what the local regulations are for gathering restrictions, and it will use that data to determine where the league will locate the four hubs — if it goes that route. You can rule out Ottawa as a hub because it would need the support of city hall and that's likely not forthcoming.
Instead, it would make the most sense for hubs to be located in either Montreal, Vancouver or Winnipeg.
One thing is certain, after all the changes, the Senators and their faithful just want to see the club back on the ice.
Owner Eugene Melnyk, general manager Pierre Dorion, coach D.J. Smith and president of business operations Anthony LeBlanc will be waiting with great anticipation to hear the update from Bettman and Daly.
Plans need to be made and business has to be done, so they're hoping to get some idea what's next.
The Senators have made a lot of changes in the off-season, and they're excited about the opportunity to get back playing in hopes of returning this team to respectability.
“We're excited. I can tell you as a longtime resident of Ottawa, there's a buzz in this community about the Senators,” LeBlanc told The Fan 590 in Toronto on Tuesday. “The excitement about getting back on the ice is real. Everybody I talk to here is so excited about the team and what we'll be able to do.”
Starting on Jan. 1 still sounds ambitious, but it does feel like there's momentum on both sides to make the upcoming season a reality.