The NHL laid out their plans for how the NHL plans to return the other day. They now have the when in mind. It looks like if everything goes as planned (ha) we are looking at a late September/early October Stanley Cup Final
#NHL tentative RTP schedule:
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 8, 2020
🔔 July 24: Travel to hubs
🔔 July 25: Exhibition games
🔔 July 30: Qualif. round begins
🔔 Aug. 9: First round of playoffs begins
🔔 Aug. 23: Second round begins
🔔 Sept. 6: Conf Finals begin
🔔 Sept. 20: SCF begins
🔔 Oct. 2: Last poss. game of SCF
They are looking at starting games in three weeks. Hopefully, we have hockey then. Three weeks is a long time in the current landscape. If things do go off without a hitch we are looking at six games a day using both of the hub cities. The games would start at noon EST and look like the following
Toronto 12 PM 4 PM 8PM
Edmonton 2PM 6PM 10PM
All times are EST
This would be an awesome serving of sports in a bare landscape. With the NBA in Florida I like the NHL’s odds of pulling things off better. This could be quite an opportunity for hockey to gain fans with games at all times of the day. This is conducive to pretty much anyone’s schedule and when combined with a lust for sports in general it is a great opportunity.
Additionally, the NHL is reportedly targeting December 1st for a start date for the following season.
The NHL is targeting a Dec. 1 start date for next season..
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) July 9, 2020
....which, like everything these days, is tentative and subject to change https://t.co/SXQDqQ6Sc1
The NHL is targeting Dec. 1 as the start of the 2020-21 season, according to a memorandum of understanding obtained by ESPN that is being voted on by NHL players. The league's board of governors also must approve it. The critical dates in the memorandum of understanding are all tentative and could be pushed back, including:• The Stanley Cup Final will begin Sept. 20 and end no later than Oct. 2 • The 2020 NHL draft will be held Oct. 6 • Training camps for the 2020-21 season will begin Nov. 17
Now we sit and wait for virus test results to see if any of this is a reality.
Thanks for reading!