Hello June, nice to see you. NHL playoffs could return in late July, which is just over a month away, but before that June will provide us with an actual hockey event: the draft lottery. How intriguing and suspenseful would it be if a team seeded 8-15 won the lottery?
A mere 75 days after the NHL paused the 2019/2020 season, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman outlined the National Hockey League’s return-to-play plan yesterday. Bettman didn’t give an exact date for a return because, “anybody who gives you a date is guessing,” he said. However, he does have a plan and here is some information on…
Last week the NHL proposed an unprecedented 24-team playoff. Well, the first round would be considered a play-in, not a playoff, but whatever they want to call it, for the first time in league history 24 teams will be involved in a win-the-series-and-move-on-or-lose-and-go-home scenario. Great. I love the 24-team idea. It makes sense, and while…
Earlier today the NHL and NHLPA released a detailed report on Phase 2 Return to Play protocol. It focuses on small group workouts. “Based on the current information available, we are now targeting a date in early June for a transition to Phase 2,” the memo said. There will be a maximum of six players…
The independent hockey league, 3ICE, plans to begin play in the summer of 2021. It will consist of two halves, each eight minutes with a running clock. There are no penalties, only penalty shots, and faceoffs are discouraged. The league announced their eight head coaches early this week and they went with star power. They…
The NHL has played 85.1% (1,082) of this season’s 1,271 regular season games. Today, it seems unlikely the league will play the remaining 189 games. But will they play any of those games? Does a 74-game season make sense? Many players have stated they prefer to play some games before skating directly into the playoffs….
Maybe it is the 78 days without hockey that has many riled up, but I’ll admit I’m a bit perplexed by the frustration penned by some about the NHL potentially having 24 teams in the playoffs. We are in unprecedented times. There is no blueprint on how to finish a suspended season.
Georges Laraque likes to have fun. He likes to sing on his radio show. He makes fun of himself and loves joking and chirping with his friends and hockey fans. He seemingly always has a smile on his face. But for many years, behind that larger-than-life smile was pain. Laraque was one of the most…
Jesse Puljujarvi celebrated his 22nd birthday today. The fourth overall pick from the 2016 NHL draft is still very young, and despite playing last season in Finland, he is still one of only 45 players from the 2016 NHL draft to have played 20+ NHL games thus far. His 139 NHL games are 14th most…
There is no sane reason for the NHL to host their entry draft in June, yet right now the NHL is pushing to do exactly that. And to add to the lunacy, they are pushing to move the draft ahead three weeks to June 5th. This truly defies logic.
Happy Positive Friday. We hope you are doing well and it was great to see some positive announcements yesterday from Premier Jason Kenney about slowly re-opening up things in Edmonton and surrounding area. We know we have to remain diligent with our social distancing and washing our hands, but it was nice to see some…
We don’t know when this NHL season will be completed, if ever, nor do we know when the 2020/2021 season will begin, but when it does the Oilers will look very similar to the team you saw on the ice on March 11th. (Side note, that was 50 days ago. Seems much longer. Stay strong…
