WHL to start season ‘in a responsible way’

The Victoria Royals search for a general manager could offer a hint at where the Western Hockey League is in regard to starting next season on time.

The Royals cut ties with Cameron Hope last week after eight seasons of running hockey operations.

Victoria had made the playoffs every year during Hope’s tenure, advancing to the second round five times. They didn’t get farther than that. Royals owner Graham Lee’s belief that someone new at the helm will get the team to the next level is an operating procedure we’ve heard before.

Or maybe Lee is thinking he can save a big salary by not rushing to get a GM back on the books. The physical-distancing measures to combat COVID-19 could still be in place come September and the start of the WHL season could get pushed back.

“The COVID-19 crisis has given us the time to reassess our organization and to set a new direction,” Lee said in a statement on Hope’s departure.

The longer this takes the more you can’t help but wonder if the WHL will be back at full force on its usual timeline.

We’ll have to see what Lee does. The Vancouver Giants, Kamloops Blazers and Prince George Cougars all hired GMs two summers ago. Vancouver announced Barclay Parneta on May 22, the Blazers did the same for Matt Bardsley on June 1 and it was June 19 for the Cougars and Mark Lamb.

Lee hasn’t been granting interviews. WHL commissioner Ron Robison is speaking to the media though and, not surprisingly, he admits that the league’s 22 teams rely so heavily on ticket revenue that games in empty arenas aren’t a viable option.

“We need spectators to make our league work,” he said.

The plan, he said, is to “work with the government and health authorities in our six jurisdictions to try to maximize the number of spectators allowed in our buildings.”

“Our intention remains to start the season on time,” he added.

That’ll be some juggling for Robison and the league, since the WHL’s regions are in distinctly different pandemic situations.

“We’re going to get in front of government officials and discuss how we can best manage this in each area,” Robison said. “It’s about how we do this in a responsible way and make it work for the players, the staff and the fans. We’re obviously going to be respectful of the decisions made by the health authorities.”

It’s easy to see teams having trouble landing European players, due to travel restrictions and players simply figuring it’s easier to play in leagues closer to home.

WHL clubs are permitted two imports. Robison admitted that he’s heard suggestions that if Europeans aren’t available that the league could add another 20-yearold player spot to each roster for this season to make up for it. That would mean going from the usual three overages to four.

“Right now, we’re planning on status quo,” he said. “We’re not looking at a change to our roster composition.”

There’s just so much still unknown. It’s still in play that the NHL gets its playoffs in this summer and pushes back the start of its 2020-21 regular season to later in the fall. Assuming then that the WHL starts at its regular time, WHL teams could have to deal with losing star players a few weeks into league play to NHL clubs.

The Giants could be front and centre there. They could kick off with Bowen Byram leading their charge and then see the Colorado Avalanche give a full-time roster spot to the 19-year-old defenceman, who was the fourth overall pick in last summer’s NHL Draft.

Robison said of all these COVID-19 considerations: “It’s such a fluid situation in every aspect. We’re going to have to read and react at the appropriate times.”

Hope said he believes Lee parted ways with him because “we’re in a result oriented business.

“If you don’t win a championship, you serve at the pleasure of the ownership. I thought we had three good chances — in 2016, in 2018 and, as crazy as it sounds, this year with a team that was poised and it’s disappointing not to get that chance. Often in sports, it’s in the hands of the gods.”