What if the NHL has to cancel the rest of the season?

[Phileas Fogg]

Yup. At this point, the smarter choice feels like ending the season where we are, and starting fresh in the fall.

I'd be open to the idea of having the teams continue to hold point differentials to start the new season based on where they were at the end of this one. At least try to salvage some sort of meaning from the lost year.

 

[bustaheims]

Yup. At this point, the smarter choice feels like ending the season where we are, and starting fresh in the fall.

I'd be open to the idea of having the teams continue to hold point differentials to start the new season based on where they were at the end of this one. At least try to salvage some sort of meaning from the lost year.

I get the sentiment, but it just too difficult to do in a truly fair way. Teams haven?t played the same number of games, which makes point differential an uneven metric.

Better to just accept the season as lost, and start fresh in the fall.

 

[Zee]

English (and the rest of the U.K.) Football Association has said today they?ll not be playing before 30th April now at the earliest

MLS said 8 weeks which puts us into May

 

[Frank E]

The British league has ended that way - declared the season void and that there?ll be no winner and quite frankly I feel that?s the right decision. Sport has never really felt as insignificant as it does right now. It?s strange how the atmosphere has changed so rapidly. I?ve never felt or experienced anything even close to being like it and I grew up through what was basically a civil war.

Edit to also add: I am finding it hard to motivate myself to go to work at the minute also or to go about my usual daily routines (and from Monday my work is shutting our office and enforcing work from home). I imagine mentally it will also be tough for athletes to go back to work.

If you're looking for some motivation, understand that many will have no choice but to accept layoffs, and the financial implications that go along with that.  Most would prefer to keep working to make money for their families. 

We're looking at laying off 40% of our workers next week.  Tough decisions to make, but necessary to protect the business so that we remain afloat through this.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I get the sentiment, but it just too difficult to do in a truly fair way. Teams haven?t played the same number of games, which makes point differential an uneven metric.

Better to just accept the season as lost, and start fresh in the fall.

Considering how different a teams roster can be from season to season as well that just wouldn't seem fair to most teams. A programming teacher of mine way back in high school used to always say the same thing to us, KISS: Keep it simple stupid. The sooner we just accept this as a lost season because of something that absolutely nobody could control, the better.

Also if the league does resume sometime in the summer it's not because of some noble quest to award a champion at the end of the season, it's because they're desperate for revenue. Screw that.

 

[Highlander]

The British league has ended that way - declared the season void and that there?ll be no winner and quite frankly I feel that?s the right decision. Sport has never really felt as insignificant as it does right now. It?s strange how the atmosphere has changed so rapidly. I?ve never felt or experienced anything even close to being like it and I grew up through what was basically a civil war.

Edit to also add: I am finding it hard to motivate myself to go to work at the minute also or to go about my usual daily routines (and from Monday my work is shutting our office and enforcing work from home). I imagine mentally it will also be tough for athletes to go back to work.

Yes very hard to remain focused and mentally strong.  Please take some solace that you are still employed and making an income.  My job is done and don't know what the future holds. I will be 64 in the fall. Luckily I can sell my house and have some funds to live on until this blows over.  We are all in the same boat and in this together. 

 

[Kin]

https://twitter.com/TheAthleticNHL/status/1242850850088849409

Yes.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Regardless of if that's a good idea or not, we're clearly at the "every GM needs to submit a unique proposal" stage of brainstorming.

 

[Frank E]

I'm not a subscriber, so I can't read it...but are we talking about playing hockey for the pick?  Like, when?

 

[Kin]

I'm not a subscriber, so I can't read it...but are we talking about playing hockey for the pick?  Like, when?

I'm assuming it's a "when things resume" sort of proposal.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Regardless of if that's a good idea or not, we're clearly at the "every GM needs to submit a unique proposal" stage of brainstorming.

So I just read the article and I wasn't actually wrong:

?They?ve requested ideas on a number of things,? said an Eastern Conference executive of the league. ?They?re looking for ideas about anything and everything.?

 

[Kin]

So I just read the article and I wasn't actually wrong:

?They?ve requested ideas on a number of things,? said an Eastern Conference executive of the league. ?They?re looking for ideas about anything and everything.?

I think that when we finally see the other side of this there'll be a lot of nuttiness at teams try to recoup some moneys they've lost.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

https://twitter.com/TheAthleticNHL/status/1242850850088849409

Yes.

That is awesome!

 

[Arn]

So are we beginning to accept that this season won't be completed and there'll be no Stanley Cup winner for 2020?

And that actually we're much more comfortable with that than trying to shoe horn something that is as insignificant as sport in considering how much worse this has been than certain "leaders of the free world" were telling us two weeks ago.

I feel like it would be better to just have a fresh start when this is all over. Like a clean break and new beginning.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

So are we beginning to accept that this season won't be completed and there'll be no Stanley Cup winner for 2020?

And that actually we're much more comfortable with that than trying to shoe horn something that is as insignificant as sport in considering how much worse this has been than certain "leaders of the free world" were telling us two weeks ago.

I feel like it would be better to just have a fresh start when this is all over. Like a clean break and new beginning.

It will be really tough to get this going again just for the simple fact that there are 31 different markets involved and stages of recovery may be at completely different levels in each of those cities.

 

[Arn]

This is an interesting story that kind of shows why we likely won't have anything for a good while yet

Game Zero: Spread of virus linked to Champions League match

https://apnews.com/ae59cfc0641fc63afd09182bb832ebe2

 

[L K]

Alex Ovechkin will now have had 129 games in his career cancelled due to league lockdown.  Using his career goal scoring average that has robbed him of an additional 79 goals on his career.  The guy could be sitting at 785 goals right now.

 

[Kin]

Apparently there's now some talk of getting everyone in the NHL to North Dakota so that they can play out the season and the playoffs in an empty UND hockey arena.

Which, aside from all of the logistical concerns and bad optics of it, would be just so ridiculous if it purported to honor a "legitimate" Cup champion.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

 

[Zee]

I heard about that crazy North Dakota option, sounds to me like the NHL is grasping at straws at this point.  The fans are already resigned to it, just cancel the season.  Hopefully we get a normal training camp start in September.