Hub Cities Resolved: O'Canada

TSC

SoSH's Doug Neidermeyer
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Oct 25, 2007
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Between here and everywhere.
Per TSN's Bob McKenzie.

Long night of negotiations/hard work between NHL/NHLPA appears to have resulted in agreement on most issues on Phase 3/4 RTP, CBA extension, transition rules. Still a couple of items to finalize today. NOTHING, of course, is actually done until both sides ratify a tentative deal. Barring any last-minute complications, and we have seen some of those (Vancouver and Las Vegas), the two NHL Hub cities will be Edmonton and Toronto.

View: https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1278297602128216067?s=20

Flag of Canada
 

cshea

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Nov 15, 2006
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The bigger news to me is the CBA. First time without a work stoppage in almost,30 years. And they pulled it off in the most uncertain of economic conditions.

Canada makes sense as the Hubs, they’re doing a lot better job against the virus than we are.
 

burstnbloom

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Jul 12, 2005
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This feels like the best chance to actually play games given the dichotomy between how Canada has handled this vs. the US. It would be nice to get some hockey games. Very interested to hear the details of the CBA extension.
 

cshea

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Some CBA tidbits from Friedman:

View: https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/1278321095079342082?s=21


Flat cap fat $81.5 million for the next 2 seasons, then $82.5 million in 22-23 season. 10% of next seasons salaries deferred. Escrow capped at 20% next year, then decreasing each year. There will be new rules regarding contract structure (signing bonuses, salary fluctuations). Olympics are back. Also, there will beopt out language for the return to play this year.
 

Mighty Joe Young

The North remembers
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Sep 14, 2002
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The bigger news to me is the CBA. First time without a work stoppage in almost,30 years. And they pulled it off in the most uncertain of economic conditions.

Canada makes sense as the Hubs, they’re doing a lot better job against the virus than we are.
Even if the border closure issues are resolved (and I don’t think it’s opening until the fall If then) it makes all kinds of sense .. but I don’t get why governments would have been lobbying for this. I suppose it will make a few hotels , bars and restaurants extremely happy but beyond that?
 

CaptainLaddie

dj paul pfieffer
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Sep 6, 2004
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where the darn libs live
Wow. I am kinda shocked that Vegas didn't get the call on this one, but it makes sense to have both cities be in the same country considering there's a chance Canada shuts down the border.
 

TSC

SoSH's Doug Neidermeyer
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Oct 25, 2007
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Between here and everywhere.
The leafs are in big trouble. They are at the cap next year already.
Pretty close, yea. According to CapFriendly they're at 76.9 next year with only 16 players rostered.

More distressingly - for 2021-2022 they're at 68.2 with only 12 players rostered, and no starting goalie.

They're gonna need to move Nylander or Muzzin to open up space, and they're going to have to hope one of the 2021 FA goalies is excited to go somewhere with Jake Muzzin and Morgan Rielly as your top D.....
 

burstnbloom

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Pretty close, yea. According to CapFriendly they're at 76.9 next year with only 16 players rostered.

More distressingly - for 2021-2022 they're at 68.2 with only 12 players rostered, and no starting goalie.

They're gonna need to move Nylander or Muzzin to open up space, and they're going to have to hope one of the 2021 FA goalies is excited to go somewhere with Jake Muzzin and Morgan Rielly as your top D.....
That doesn't include Johnsson's $3.4 mil because he's on LTIR right now. So they are at $80.3 in 2021 and $71.6 in 2022 already. They'll trade for Ryan Kesler and repeat their LTIR shenanigans.
 

cshea

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They'll probably have to move one of Johnsson, Kapanen, Kerfoot, Hyman before next season, whenever that is. Then they can lose another contract to Seattle in the expansion draft after next season (we're about a year away from that, kinda weird to think the Stanley Cup is supposed to be awarded twice within the next 12 months), if they play cards right. I don't think they'll have to move one of the big boys, but their avenues to improve their weaknesses are going to be much more limited. They have to hit on some prospects in their system because they'll have to fill out the roster with ELC's. Their system isn't very good at the moment., I think they have a lot of eggs in the Nick Robertson, Rasmus Sandin and Travis Timothy Liljegren baskets. This year, they'll either be drafting Lafreniere or they'll be without a first round pick.
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
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Dec 7, 2008
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Wow. I am kinda shocked that Vegas didn't get the call on this one, but it makes sense to have both cities be in the same country considering there's a chance Canada shuts down the border.
Our (nevada) virus numbers the last few days have been really really bad
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
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Dec 7, 2008
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Yeah, I've been paying attention there. I think the "everyone wears a mask in a casino" new rule will help, but the trailing numbers from reopening are bad.
Yeah it should, I haven't been to the casinos but at the places I have been going, basically grocery stores and walmart, it's gone from maybe 50% wearing masks to close to everyone wearing them, since they're supposed to be mandatory indoors anywhere now
 

mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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Edmonton always made sense to me, cooler climate and great ice. TO? Not so much - it gets really hot here (high of 89 tomorrow), and it will be tough to control virus vectors in a city that's way bigger than any of the others that were being seriously considered (roughly 3x Vegas population, without the ability to create an equivalent bubble). But the intercountry travel thing makes sense - at a glance, it looks like 40%+ of NHL players are Canadian, with another 30%+ from Europe, where they are doing a good job of managing COVID. The 25%-ish that come from the US are problematic, but a 14 day quarantine should make this a bit better for those of us who live here...
 

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
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Dec 12, 2004
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I'm somewhat curious why Ottawa doesn't seem like it was considered. There are an assload of generally vacant hotels in Kanata, it's close to Toronto, definitely similar to Edmonton in "bubble" potential - just seems like going with Toronto is asking for trouble for reasons stated above.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
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Jul 31, 2006
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Arvada, Co
Did they mention how the team alignments will work? I assumed EC in Toronto and WC in Edmonton but I happened to play golf with a couple of Colorado Avalanche today and they thought there was no way Toronto would be allowed to have home games so the east and west should be switched. BTW, they were not all that happy to be moving from Vegas to Edmonton.
 

CaptainLaddie

dj paul pfieffer
SoSH Member
Sep 6, 2004
36,684
where the darn libs live
Yeah it should, I haven't been to the casinos but at the places I have been going, basically grocery stores and walmart, it's gone from maybe 50% wearing masks to close to everyone wearing them, since they're supposed to be mandatory indoors anywhere now
That's great news. My business partner lives in LV and he's said similar things.
 

Over Guapo Grande

panty merchant
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Nov 29, 2005
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Home games don’t matter given there aren’t any fans and they won’t be staying at their homes.
Building on this thought-- not disagreeing. On a neutral site playing area- which homefield/ice/court advantage is best-- in the "Bubble" world

1) I would say hockey, due to last change. ( so to clarify- Toronto wouldn't necessarily have "home ice" in that regard)



2) Baseball - Take out field dimensions... bottom of inning? Maybe?



3)Football- 50/50 chance the other team wins the toss. No in-game benefit (on neutral surface)
4)Basketball - I can't think of anything -- for a neutral surface.
 

cshea

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I think it is probably baseball. I don’t think there is a ton gained in by having last change in hockey. Teams generally get the matchups they want regardless of last change. Mismatches typically come after icings.
 

cshea

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I don't know...I think last change can be pretty valuable.
I don't have data to back this up, but I don't think it's adds a ton of value to win probability. Maybe Dom L or one of the analytic writers has done some work on it, I'll dig around. To me though, I think the lack of travel, comfort of being home, and crowd support are much more impact elements of home ice than last change.

This could be me looking at it through Bruins glasses though since Cassidy doesn't line match often. He does it when the situation calls for it, but he primarily puts the first two lines out for ozone starts and the bottom two get the dzone starts.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Jul 22, 2006
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I don't have data to back this up, but I don't think it's adds a ton of value to win probability. Maybe Dom L or one of the analytic writers has done some work on it, I'll dig around. To me though, I think the lack of travel, comfort of being home, and crowd support are much more impact elements of home ice than last change.

This could be me looking at it through Bruins glasses though since Cassidy doesn't line match often. He does it when the situation calls for it, but he primarily puts the first two lines out for ozone starts and the bottom two get the dzone starts.
Yeah, I was going more on feel here than any statistical analysis. And to be honest, I was kind of thinking about when I coached HS, but of course the talent gaps are much larger there, so matchups are more important.
 

Red Right Ankle

Formerly the Story of Your Red Right Ankle
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Jul 2, 2006
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Did they mention how the team alignments will work? I assumed EC in Toronto and WC in Edmonton but I happened to play golf with a couple of Colorado Avalanche today and they thought there was no way Toronto would be allowed to have home games so the east and west should be switched. BTW, they were not all that happy to be moving from Vegas to Edmonton.
Just burying that little brag in there eh? :D
 

cshea

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They are trying to tie up the MOU for CBA/RTP today or tomorrow and then get everything ratified shortly thereafter. The current dates:

7/13- Training Camps Open
7/26- Travel to the Hubs
8/1- HOCKEY GAMES
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
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Jul 31, 2006
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Just burying that little brag in there eh? :D
They are friends of my neighbor. It was pretty cool but they don't speak a lot of English and I don't follow the Avs at all. I did wear my Bruins golf shirt at least. This thread also let me break the news to them that they would be in Edmonton and not Vegas so SoSH got to make a 12 year NHL vet pretty bummed for a bit. They didn't seem to care even a tiny bit about the CBA extension.
 

Red Right Ankle

Formerly the Story of Your Red Right Ankle
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Jul 2, 2006
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They are friends of my neighbor. It was pretty cool but they don't speak a lot of English and I don't follow the Avs at all. I did wear my Bruins golf shirt at least. This thread also let me break the news to them that they would be in Edmonton and not Vegas so SoSH got to make a 12 year NHL vet pretty bummed for a bit. They didn't seem to care even a tiny bit about the CBA extension.
Ahahaha that's awesome.
 

LogansDad

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Has anyone seen any news on viewing options? I did a quick search, and the NHL Live site says that it will have all the playoff games, but appears that is a different subscription from my NHL.tv sub. Do you guys happen to know if NHL.tv will also be airing the playoff games, or if I will have to find a *cough* different *cough* way to stream?
 

cshea

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306, row 14
Has anyone seen any news on viewing options? I did a quick search, and the NHL Live site says that it will have all the playoff games, but appears that is a different subscription from my NHL.tv sub. Do you guys happen to know if NHL.tv will also be airing the playoff games, or if I will have to find a *cough* different *cough* way to stream?
Do you have cable? Under normal circumstances, all playoff games are available under the NBC umbrella. They can be streamed through the NBC sports app. I’d imagine it’ll be a similar set up for this year, but who knows.
 

LogansDad

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Nov 15, 2006
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I don't have cable, we decided to cut the cord after my retirement. I had Sling for a bit, but was only using it for hockey, so I might just have to get it turned back on once this starts up.
 

Haunted

The Man in the Box
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Aug 23, 2006
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I'll be firing YouTube TV back up when the time comes. I signed up for it about 2 weeks before the season got postponed.
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
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Dec 7, 2008
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Has anyone seen any news on viewing options? I did a quick search, and the NHL Live site says that it will have all the playoff games, but appears that is a different subscription from my NHL.tv sub. Do you guys happen to know if NHL.tv will also be airing the playoff games, or if I will have to find a *cough* different *cough* way to stream?
Have you had NHL Live and been able to watch playoff games in the past? I'm pretty sure that NHL Live would get you playoff games on the radio, but not on tv unless you lived outside the US.