Toronto and Edmonton to host restart
There was no official word from the National Hockey League as of Wednesday afternoon — and in this fast-changing environment, nothing is ever certain — but according to various reports around the league, Edmonton and Toronto have been selected as the two hub cities for the league’s planned 24team tournament to start later this summer.
While Las Vegas — considered to be a near certainty just a few days ago — made sense from only a business standpoint, the recent spike in coronavirus cases in Nevada made that spot less than ideal.
It is expected that the Bruins and the Eastern Conference teams will be based in Toronto and play their games at Scotiabank Arena, the home of one of their Atlantic Division rival Maple Leafs, over whom they’ve prevailed in seven-game series’ in the first round of the last two Stanley Cup playoffs.
In their last playoff meeting in Toronto in April of 2019, the Leafs had a chance to finally slay their Black-and-Gold dragon, but the B’s won Game 6 to extend the series and beat them in a Game 7 at the Garden for the third time in seven years.
This time there will be no fans in the stands, nor any media horde waiting for players at their locker stalls.
But during a Zoom call on Monday, B’s coach Bruce Cassidy said he saw both pros and cons in playing in Canada’s largest metropolis.
“We’ve played well in that rink in the playoffs for the most part, so that’s a positive,” said Cassidy. “There’s 12 teams from the East so the chances you bump into them? Who knows, right? That would be speculation. But I think it is an advantage (for the Leafs). If someone told me we could play at the Garden, I’d happily do it first and foremost than travel somewhere else.
“I do believe there is not a home crowd advantage, but there is some advantage to being in your own city, some advantage being in your own building, your own locker room, etc. That’s the part I’d disagree with the league, but again I don’t think it’s an easy decision to find the right spot. Ideally, you’d go to two non-playoff venues, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
“I have no idea where we’re going to end up. I’ve heard different cities. But at the end of the day, we’re going to go where they tell us and make the best of it.”
Cap crunch
According to a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, barring any last minute changes, the salary cap will remain flat at $81.5 million for 2020-21 and 2021-22 and then bump up just a hair to $82.5 million in 2022-23.
That will make things tight for most contenders, including the Bruins, but they would by no means be the worst off.
According to capfriendly.com, the B’s will have just under $18 million in cap space for the 202021 season, thanks in large part to team-friendly deals with Patrice Bergeron ($6.875 million), David Pastrnak ($6.666 million) and Brad Marchand ($6.125 million).
Still, it could be difficult, though not impossible, to re-sign top UFA Torey Krug. While the offensive sparkplug has stated he’s been willing to take a some sort of a discount to stay in Boston, other teams are in better position to offer him deals commensurate with his point production. At the head of that list would be his hometown Red Wings, who have over $35 million in projected cap space and a huge brand new building to fill once fans are allowed to return to arenas.
The B’s also have a fair amount of business to conduct over the next couple of years. After the conlusion of the 2019-20 season, RFAs Matt Grzelcyk, Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork, as well as UFA Zdeno Chara, will be up. In the summer of ’21, RFAs Brandon Carlo, Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie will be looking for new deals, as will UFA Sean Kuray (Davids Krejci’s $7.25 AAV will come off the books next summer). RFA Charlie McAvoy and UFA Bergeron – if he chooses to continue playing – will be due new deals in the summer of 2022.
Whether or not a long-term deal for Krug somewhere between $7 and $9 million is sound business will be for Don Sweeney to decide.
Meanwhile, other teams will be feeling the crunch more severely. The Tampa Bay Lightning would have less than $6 million in cap space, with budding Selke Trophy candidate Anthony Cirelli and young stud defenseman Mikhail Sergachev set to become RFAs after this season. The Leafs, with some $33 million tied up in three forwards, have less than $5 million of cap space with contracts expiring for UFA defensemen Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci and RFA Travis Dermott.
The new CBA and health regulations still need to be ratified by an NHLPA vote.