Today TSN's Pierre Lebrun reports some interesting information regarding the league's possible return to play. It seems that the negotiations between the League and the NHLPA have moved forward and that the 24 teams play-in phase is now finalized:
And minutes ago, the NHL public relations account tweeted this:
What does this tell us? Well, for starters, if the return to play happens, only the play-in round will be a best of 5, the remaining 4 rounds will be best of 7. Secondly, there will not be a bracket, teams will be reseeded after the play-in round so say the Habs beat the Penguins (big big IF) they could play one of the top four team Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington or Philadelphia since they all will be reseeded after they play the seeding round robin. More importantly though, this is yet another baby step towards hockey's return but as Lebrun points out, there are still more issues to be worked out. There is no agreement yet with regards to the training camp (phase 3) or the actual games taking place in hub cities (phase 4).
Meanwhile, Sportsnet's Eric Francis says that the league's target date for the opening of training camp has now been pushed to August 1st:
If that is the case and the camps are to last 3 weeks, that means that the possible start of the playoffs would be at the end of August, start of September. At this stage, wouldn't the league be better off focussing on next season rather than trying to award the Cup at all cost? I know, there's a lot of money in play but the odds of the return to play plan being feasible just seem to decrease as time goes on. Furthermore, early this afternoon the Penguins issued this statement:
Covid-19 is still here and the pandemic is far from over. Looking at the current situation of unrest worldwide, it wouldn't be surprising that the second wave of infection could hit earlier and harder than expected. With all the protests taking place these days with so many people in close proximity, chances are we'll see a rise in cases sooner rather than later. If that happens, will the league just push its plans back? At what stage do they decide that this is enough and that there should be a cut off date? Personally, I truly believe that they should focus on next season and forget about the 2020 playoffs, no one should be expected to do the impossible and in the mist of a pandemic holding a huge 24 teams tournament sounds just about impossible to me.
I wonder though, should the 24 teams tournament not happen and the Stanley Cup not be awarded this year, what happens with the rumoured gentleman's agreement between Bergevin and Kovalchuk? It's widely thought that he was traded to Washington but promised to return to Montreal as a free agent after having had a shot at the Cup with the Caps but what if he doesn't get said shot?
How do you feel about all this? Are you dead set on a champion being crowned this year or would you rather the league admits defeat and focus on next season? We all miss hockey but normally, the draft is just weeks away now and so is free agency, wouldn't it make more sense to just go ahead with that now?
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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