Report: NHL considering move to temporarily relocate Canadian teams if necessary
By baggedmilk
3 years agoThis afternoon on Twitter, basically every NHL insider tweeted out the news that the NHL is considering a move that would see all 31 teams playing south of the border for the upcoming season if agreements can’t be reached with local health authorities.
As you can imagine from the headline, social media was ablaze with takes of all spice levels when it came to the idea of having the Canadian squads move to the United States for the year. You see, some of us made jokes when the Raptors and Blue Jays had to relocate for their respective seasons even though it made perfect sense for them to do it since no other team in their leagues reside in this country, but I don’t know why I hadn’t really considered this same strategy for hockey sooner than today. With COVID-19 still very much in the mix and the 2021 season hanging in the balance, maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising to hear that the NHL would also consider something as drastic as moving all seven Canadian teams south of the border if it means they can proceed with their year. And while there’s still time for the local health authorities to approve the NHL’s plan provided that they get the answers they need to give the green light, the league is clearly looking at varying avenues to make sure that they’re ready for any incoming speedbumps that may pop up and I can’t say I blame them as time is moving along.
Over at Sportsnet, Chris Johnston broke the situation down quite nicely:
While there’s nothing concrete to indicate that the necessary government bodies won’t eventually sign off on the NHL’s plans, that had yet to happen as of late Thursday afternoon.The NHL would prefer to have each of its seven Canadian teams based out of its own city and arena for a 56-game regular season. The travel would be limited to within the country and would therefore be unaffected by any border issues.However, the plan requires approval from health authorities in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. They need to be comfortable with the league’s protocols, which have been an ongoing point of discussion with the NHL Players’ Association.Should that fail to happen, the NHL is willing to have the Canucks, Flames, Oilers, Jets, Maple Leafs, Senators and Canadiens play out of the U.S., if necessary.
At this point, I also think it’s important to highlight the “if necessary” point in Johnston’s story because a similar flavour of this same issue happened before the COVID Cup kicked off in the summer. While it was a different time of year, at a different stage of the pandemic, and with a completely different set of numbers, I remember how it was no sure thing that the hub cities would be approved unless the league could prove that they were also committed to ensuring public safety, and I think we’re in a similar spot here, albeit with bigger stakes. Of course, local health authorities are going to take their time with a decision like this because of all of the moving parts it would take to execute an NHL season, and I think the same can be said about why the league is working ahead on coming up with a Plan B or C or D just in case things don’t work out. What’s going to be interesting to see how things actually play out when the dust has settled, and how much the final outcome differs from where we’re at today.
But even if the Oilers really do have to move south for the season, does it really matter all that much if we can’t go to games anyway? Which cities would be in the running to be the temporary home for our boys? Would Atlanta take back the Jets or Flames? These are the questions that can only be answered with time, my friends. As Lowetide always says, we wait…
Oh, and what would happen to the all-Canadian Division? Well…
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