Well, I said a couple of months ago that I couldn't see them having the Cup Finals during the summer, and now they won't! (And no, that wasn't what I meant at the time.)
27 of Finnish NHL players left today for New York. They hired a charter flight so they assume that they don't need to stay in quarantine for two weeks after arrival. Report that I read doesn't say if Kakko was one of the players who boarded the plane. I don't know if this mean that the NHL is closer to start again, but hopefully it does..
Yeah, I read they may announce the Hub cities where games will be played and they will likely be Las Vegas and a Canadian city.
Lots of NHL News: -Training Camps are opening next week. -Games start August 1st. It looks like the NHL is back! -Having the Hub Cities in Edmonton and Toronto makes me believe it will be good to go. -CBA extension also reached through 2026, including NHL players returning to the Olympics.
I am glad hockey is back but it's going to be weird watching them play in August. What does this do for next season? I would guess they won't start up until Dec/Jan. Can they play a full season and get 82 games in. LGI.
Yeah, I think the Cup will be rewarded in early October. Take October/November off. Come back late December, start the season January 2021. Seems like a possible plan at least. So much has to go RIGHT for that to happen though. And then will the 2021 season be a full season? Another good question.
The current plan is for camps to open up on November 17, with the season beginning on December 1. Whether that will actually happen, who knows. The salary cap is staying the same, at $81.5 million. One interesting change for next year actually starts in a few weeks for the playoffs. Player and puck tracking technology will be available at all NHL arenas, enabling speed displays, puck tracking graphics, and marker graphics hovering above players on TV for every game. Don't know if local broadcasters will have to spend money to opt in.
I guess that makes sense since they could treat March-July as an off-season. So you have a shorter break between seasons. Free Agency will be crazy. Players won't have too much time to get ready with their new teams. I think about Braden Holtby. I don't see how the Caps keep him, so he will have to quickly get used to a new team.
The NHL playoffs start today! Let's make our picks for The Qualifier Round and the Stanley Cup: East: Bruins, Lightning, Capitals and Flyers will play a Round Robin to decide seeding. 5 Penguins vs. 12 Canadiens - Penguins in 4 6 Hurricanes vs 11 Rangers - This is tough because Carolina is better, but New York owns them. Rangers in 5. 7 Islanders vs 10 Panthers - Trotz and the Isles will play great D, and score enough. Isles in 4. 8 Maple Leafs vs. 9 Blue Jackets - This is a great match-up. I still believe in Toronto though, so Leafs in 5. West: Blues, Avalanche, Golden Knights and Stars will play a round Robin to decide seeding. 5 Oilers vs 12 Blackhawks - I see a lot of Blackhawks upset picks. Not me. Oilers in 5. 6 Predators vs 11 Coyotes -This could be an upset, but I will stick with Preds in 4. 7 Canucks vs 10 Wild -The Wild have more playoff experience and that is why I say Minnesota in 5! 8 Flames vs 9 Jets -J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS! I miss football. Jets in 5. I am interested to see how seriously the Capitals, Lightning, Bruins and Flyers take the Round Robin. We all know seeding does not matter too much and especially this year where there is literally 0 home ice. I think these other teams may be more into playoff mode after the qualifying round and some of these top teams will be knocked off. Stanley Cup Pick: Champs over Champs, Capitals over Blues. Watch out for the Tampa Bay Lightning though...........
Jacob Slavin quick goal and Justin Williams dropping the gloves quickly. Most excited I have been since March!!!!!
Canes were clearly faster and more talented than the Rags, better team won today. Aho, Svechnikov, Terravanien are a solid first line. I like Canes, Pens, Panthers and BJs, not really caring about the round robin. I admittedly do not know enough about West to predict.
Rangers are in trouble now. Lundqvist is not having a good game today, first two goals should have been saved I think. If they lose this I can't see them progressing to next round unfortunately.
Shesterkin is injured, apparently. "Unfit to play" is the new designation, teams do not need to disclose the injuries during the pandemic..
Andrei Svechnikov - first playoff hatrick in Canes history. This guy is going to be a household name for hockey fans in no time.
Now that it seems likely that Hurricanes moves on to next round, I will swap alliances and start rooting for 'Canes to win the Cup, mainly because they have the most fellow Finns on their team and they just happens to be our young, most exciting players we have. Fun fact: Sebastian Aho and Pekka Rinne are from the same city as I am and during the off season they train at the same gym than me. There's a few lesser known players there as well, Nutivaara, Pokka and Puljujärvi amongst them.
Sami Vatanen is looking really solid right now, and I am sure you know as well as anyone that Aho is a stud. Canes have had many great Finnish players and at one point we used to say that team with most Fins wins!
I guess all those regular season head to head wins lately did not mean much. The Hurricanes have looked really good so far. Could the Caps play @Section 336's boys again? We will see. Bolts-Caps was really good today. Went to the shootout and Tampa won 3-2. Both teams looked good for a Round Robin game. So much hockey, not enough time! It has been a lot of fun so far though.
IMO hockey and the UFC have been the best products so far...having a hard time getting into MLB and NBA...maybe the playoffs will be more interesting.
