Quick Hits: June 13, 2020
1) Via the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sportsnet's Chris Johnston reported on Friday night that Las Vegas will be one of the NHL's two playoff "hub cities," and the announcement will come by June 22. Johnston expects the announcement to come sooner. Las Vegas has been rumored for weeks to have the inside track to being one of the two cities.
The second hub city is yet to be decided. Toronto is the most-rumored destination among several proposed Canadian sites. Edmonton has also been rumored. The holdup stems from various issues centering around quarantine requirements for players traveling to Canada from team training facilities based in the United States -- where Covid-19 outbreaks are far more extensive than north of the border. The NHL is waiting on the Canadian federal government to make a decision on enforcement of the 14-day quarantine.
If Toronto is the second hub, it is not a lock that all Eastern Conference teams are assigned there with all Western Conference teams going to Las Vegas. At least as of a couple weeks ago, there was a possibility that Eastern Conference clubs could be assigned to the western city, and the Western Conference teams could come to the eastern hub,
Keep in mind that there will not be any fans admitted to the games, so start times could be readily adjusted to teams' geographical home base time zone for purposes of live television broadcasts. Doing so would also alleviate any fears of "home ice advantage" for the Vegas Golden Knights and, presumably, for the Toronto Maple Leafs. If the Eastern teams stay in the east hub and the Western teams in the west, the NHL will implement a policy in which the "host" team players may not return to their residence until after their teams' postseason run is completed.
In terms of the specifics of Phase 3, it has been rumored -- although not yet made official -- that teams will have a two-week training camp (officially starting on July 10, per the NHL) followed by an additional six days of training in their assigned hub city. Unofficially, games would resume on August 1.
2) In this week's edition of Therien's Take on the Flyers' official website, Chris Therien points to three areas to watch for each team once July 10 rolls around and clubs begin to prepare for Phase 4. With teams having the dual objective of getting everyone back in game shape and getting ready to hit the ground running now that the regular season is officially over, Bundy expects camps to be a hybrid of what would normally would be done in a September camp and what is done before and during a playoff series. Click here to read more.
3) Today in Flyers History: On June 13, 1971, the Flyers traded defenseman Larry Hillman (whose brother, Wayne, was still on the team) to the LA Kings in exchange for forward Larry Mickey.
4) June 13 Flyers Alumni birthdays: 1980s defenseman Doug Crossman celebrates his 60th birthday today, while early 1990s center Vyacheslav Butsayev turns 50. Also celebrating June 13 birthdays are defenseman Danny Syvret (35) and rugged left winger Dale Kushner (54).