Shutdown sends NHL into uncharted territory
Many questions still to be answered as hockey takes an unprecedented break
The ice is going to be awful.
You think the puck bounces a lot in early June? Think about what it will look like at the end of July. Or — gulp! — mid-august.
That was the first thing I thought about after the NHL suspended its season on Thursday due to the spreading novel coronavirus. According to various reports, commissioner Gary Bettman has already asked teams to look into building availability through the middle of summer.
It’s one of the many possibilities — and there are an infinite number of them — floating around the NHL offices on what comes next in this great unknown.
Bettman was hopeful that a Stanley Cup would still be awarded this year. If so, will teams still play 82 regular season games or will they dive straight into the playoffs?
If it’s the latter, then how will the playoff spots be determined? Will there be a play-in format for the wild card seeds? Could the NHL open up the playoffs to additional two or four teams? Will the standings as you see them today be the determining factor?
As Stephen Whyno of The Associated Press noted on Twitter, this might be the only time when it’s appropriate to use the phrase, “if the season ended today.”
Here is what we know: If the season did end today, there would be mass confusion.
We’ve had lockout-shortened seasons before, but nothing quite like this. We’re in uncharted territory. As of Thursday, some teams had played 71 games and others had played 68. That’s a huge difference in a season where only three points separate the five teams battling for the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference standings.
After beating Edmonton on Wednesday night in what might have been the final game of the regular season, Winnipeg pushed Vancouver out of a wild-card spot in the West. But because the Canucks have played two less games, they actually have a better winning percentage than the Jets.
Of course, no one knows what criteria the NHL might use if that really was the final game of the regular season.
There’s so much we don’t know and so much that we won’t know. Every hour — much less day — brings a new set of developments.
On Monday, teams had made dressing rooms off limits. Two days later, the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets had decided on playing games in front of empty buildings. And then on Thursday, following a positive test for COVID-19 in the NBA, came the scenario everyone had been dreading: The NHL placed its season on indefinite hiatus.
The league is hopeful that this is just a temporary interruption in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus, but no one can be sure when — or if — hockey will be played again or what it will look like when it eventually resumes.
If this ends up being nothing more than a second bye week, then it could soon be business as usual. Anything longer, however, could threaten to disrupt the season in a way we’ve never seen before, especially if teams are unable to practice.
Maybe the league will hold a mini-training camp to get players up to speed. Maybe there won’t be enough time for that. Maybe the next time hockey is played, it will be Game 1 of the playoffs.
For the Blue Jackets, who have lost more man-games to injury than any other team in the NHL, this could be a chance to get healthy. The same goes for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who could have an extra week or more to get Steven Stamkos healthy in time for the playoffs. Vancouver no longer has to rush goalie Jacob Markstrom back into the lineup.
Other teams, meanwhile, get a much-needed mental break.
The Dallas Stars and New York Islanders had looked like they were running on fumes lately, so a week or two off could be the equivalent of calling a time out to clear their heads and regroup. Others, like the red-hot Philadelphia Flyers or surging Jets, might find that whatever momentum they had been carrying is gone by the time hockey is played again.
Really, we won’t know how teams or players will react.
After the last lockout, it was the kids who had been skating in the minors that had a leg up on their older competition. Will that be the case again this time? Or will this break, however long it takes, give the veterans a second wind for the playoffs?
The biggest question of all is whether a Stanley Cup will be awarded this year? If so, will we be placing an asterisk next to the eventual winner?