The Lovin Spponful sang: "Hot town, summer in the city, Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty...All around, people looking half dead, Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head." Summer in the city always meant hot temperatures and ice in your glass. Now, the signs point to ice in the arena as the NHL's schedule looks to be changing.
James Mirtle laid out the future timeline for the remainder of this season and beginning of next in his column:
Why the NHL playing games deep into the summer could actually become the league’s new normal. | @mirtle https://t.co/Svy04GVANS
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) June 4, 2020
Training camps are scheduled to begin no sooner than July 10 and continue for at least two weeks.Teams would play two exhibition games, likely after that point, once they’ve arrived in their hub cities.
By late July or early August, the league’s eight planned play-in series would begin and continue for the next 10 or 11 days.
By mid-August, the traditional four-round playoff format would start. If all four rounds are best-of-seven series — which is what the players’ side is pushing for — that could take the better part of two months.
I’m told at this point that the latest the NHL believes it can give out the Stanley Cup is Oct. 8, four days before Canadian Thanksgiving. (The NBA’s current projected end date is Oct. 12.)
The NHL would then begin the draft and free agency in mid-October, followed by a two-month offseason that would carry into December.
By mid-December, training camps and preseason would begin, culminating in the start of the 2020-21 season with the Winter Classic on Jan. 1, 2021, in Minnesota.
If the plan is to play 82 games again next season, then we are looking at a six-month regular season, presuming an expectation of same timeframes as before and two months of playoffs. This puts us with the Stanley Cup getting hoisted in August. If you like ice in your drink, then three hours in a cold arena should be welcomed. But memories of the Aud and Boston Garden or years past with fog on and hovering above the ice come to light when thinking of summer hockey.
Mirtle said the second reason is that a few teams had a rise in attendance after Feb 6. The NHL may very well look to be moving the dates moving forward to avoid battling the behemoth known as the NFL. Shifting the start of the season to December or January means that only the first third of the year goes head to head against that sport. In addition, the league would avoid MLB playoffs and the start of basketball if the dates are moved back.
A January start and August end will coincide starting and ending wise for the most part with basketball. Basketball draws but not at the same level as the NFL, so while hockey might be impacted, the hit will be less than battling the NFL. The same for baseball, as spring training and the middle of the season are interesting, but not at the same extent as years past. In addition, who knows what will be moving forward with both sides unable to find a way to split a multi-billion dollar pie.
Lifestyle changes - including the loss of summer vacations - and change in tradition, especially in Canada, are two looming factors that will need resolution. But another possible plus that is a major component of why the NHL is considering this move, as pointed out by Mirtle, is that "it's possible that by January teams and leagues will be able to allow fans into arenas and stadiums again. Perhaps not in the same numbers as in the past, and likely with many new cautionary measures in place, but any progress in this direction would be huge for a league that drives a huge percentage of its revenues — in the neighborhood of 50 percent — from ticket sales." The impact of those sales on the bottom line, including escrow, might change some mindsets, despite the paradigm shift from winter to summer hockey.
Maybe the NHL's new motto will be: ice, it's not just for drinks in the summer. Follow @airjan23