Bettman to go through with attempt at 24-team playoff

Gary Bettman’s combover was looking a little long, Bill Daly’s clean shaven pate a touch spotty. Like the widely spread sports league they control, however, they could easily be forgiven for a few loose ends during an ongoing coronavirus siege.

Presenting the NHL’s “Return To Play” sketch plan could hardly be considered a clean-cut vocation, of course, but you got the feeling that considering politics, death toll counts and everyone’s shared case of antsiness, what league commissioner Bettman and deputy commish Daly presented on a Zoom chat with the North American hockey media Tuesday was an example of the best anyone could do.

“It’s an important day for sports and the NHL,” Bettman said at the top of the video chat. “...We hope this is a step toward normalcy.”

Actually, it seems more of a step toward trying to squeeze some television contract money out of a 2019-20 season that was promising for the rejuvenated Flyers, exciting for top league scorers and Edmonton Oilers teammates Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, and ultimately a lost one due to a pandemic that has hit North America harder than anywhere else in the world.

It’s a disappointment for the fans, players and team and league officials. It’s a black hole for a league ownership group that once thought it economically necessary to trash a whole season for the greater good of a beneficial collective bargaining agreement with the once-underpaid players.

“Fortunately, our franchises have never been stronger,” Bettman said. “Our franchises have never been better owned . ... My guess is most owners in all sports are probably not as wealthy as they were 12 weeks ago, but I believe based on our condition, while it may be painful with some substantial losses in the short term and the intermediate term, we will get through this.”

If the curve and the numbers and the odds continue to twist in a generally favorable arc, Bettman indicated that in about three to four weeks, the league will attempt to see through a 24-team format to a 2019-20 Stanley Cup playoff. All those games will be held in two cities, one “hub” in the West, one in the East.

Reportedly, the East city candidates are down to Pittsburgh, Columbus and Toronto, though Bettman indicated restrictions still in place with the Canadian government could make it difficult to have playoff games staged in Toronto.

The western cities under consideration are Chicago, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas (ding-dingding), Los Angeles, Minneapolis/ St. Paul and Vancouver. Of course, with no fans and media invited, does it matter where the games are held?

Teams would hole up in nearby hotels during the playoffs, not allowed to have traveling parties of more than 50 players, coaches, support staff, et. al., and essentially no one else would be permitted to enter the arenas. What fun. The NHL called a halt to its season on March 12, the Flyers having just 13 regular season games remaining at that point. Bettman said Tuesday that the regular season is now officially at an end. All of six of the league’s 31 teams will be forced to wait for 2020-21, a season that Bettman said will be played in full, but admitted could be pushed back to a November, or maybe December or even Jan. 1 start.

There are ongoing discussions Bettman added, that the late start next season would then impact the beginning of the 2021-22 season, with a starting date in November, and that could become a permanent starting month for the future.

So this fan-less playoff better be worth it.

“At the pause, we committed to resuming play only when appropriate and prudent,” Bettman said. “We are hopeful the Return To Play Plan will allow us to complete the season and award the Stanley Cup in a manner in which the health and safety of our players, on-ice officials, team staff and associated individuals involved are paramount.”

The plan for this so-called postseason calls for team facilities to open perhaps as early as next week for voluntary and limited workouts, something dubbed “Phase Two.”

Real practices could commence sometime in mid-late July with a “Phase Three” training camp at the club facilities. Games would then be ready to commence afterward, probably sometime in August, though no date has been set for that. Ideally, the playoff would be a two-month exercise in hockey joy.

There will be a “round-robin” mini-tournament in both conferences between the top four teams to determine seedings, while lower seeded teams will be determined via a best-of-five “qualifying round” tournament.

Once the 16 surviving playoff seeds are determined, the first two playoff rounds might be bestof-five formats, though conference championships and the Stanley Cup Finals would both remain best-of-seven playoffs.

All games will be played without fans in the stands. Media coverage will be extremely limited, though television coverage seems likely for many or even all games in one form or another.

All of that, however, is subject to the great unknown: The virus itself. In the name of safety, the NHL is investing what Bettman called “millions” of dollars alone in virus testing for its players.

“Our hope is that by the time we open Phase Two ... most if not all of the 24 teams coming back to play will have the ability to test their players prior to engaging in Phase Two,” Daly said. “And our Phase Two protocol specifically specifies testing at least twice weekly and perhaps more.”

Bettman added that the current estimate throughout the process of attempting to get a 2020 Stanley Cup winner is “between 25,000 to 35,000 tests.”

That would add to the cost of the playoffs themselves. With no gate revenue, Bettman said the league will absorb expenses “in the tens of millions.”

As for other hurdles, Daly said the league “reached an understanding” with the Canadian government that both American and European players can cross the Canadian border in joining their teams for camps and games. He added that “the one issue that we continue to work actively on is the mandatory federal quarantine that’s in place in Canada for all people who travel into Canada ... we don’t have a resolution there but it’s an ongoing dialogue for sure.”

Asked if the whole process could be shut down if there is even one person testing positive for COVID-19, Daly said the league’s medical consultants advise, “One single positive test, depending on the circumstance, should not necessarily shut the whole operation down.

“Obviously we can’t be in a situation where we have an outbreak, that (would) affect our ability to continue playing,” he said. “But a single positive test or isolated positive tests throughout a two-month tournament should not necessarily mean an end to the tournament.”