Playoff Formats for Suspended Seasons

[Soundwave]

Really boils to what the NBA does. I suspect the NBA will have playoffs even in front of empty arenas because the NBA's TV contract is massively bigger than the NHL's is and they do not want to bail on sponsors and their networks.

But in turn that will cause the NHL to say "OK, our big brother is doing playoffs, so we'll do the same thing as them".

Every playoff eligible player is tested 14-21 days prior to the start of playoffs and tested again at regular intervals, players agree to go into a team-specific quarantine with teammates for the duration of the post-season.

Flights are private planes only.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I doubt it. Ending the season be unfair to teams that bought at the deadline and revenue will go down the drain. I could see two solutions:

1. NHL immediately calls for games to be held without fans and continues regular season + playoffs as planned (until a player contracts the virus).

2. Hiatus begins immediately, regular season standings freeze, playoffs begin afterwards with potentially a different format. This would likely bump the draft to late July and free agency to the 1st of August, and the 2020-21 season could begin late.

They will hope a hiatus will give them time but the virus isn’t going to disappear in 3-4 weeks time. They haven’t hardly even begun testing in the US. Once they realize how out of control it is down there I think they will see they need at least 60 days minimum.

Too many issues to resolve on the business side. Too many unknowns with the virus. This seasons a write off.

I could see cap relief in the form of allowing 1-2 compliance buyouts as the cap may drop due to the loss of so many gates. As long as players are made whole who are bought out, teams get some cap relief in this manner.

The spill over into next season could be massive including a possible shortened season.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Really boils to what the NBA does. I suspect the NBA will have playoffs even in front of empty arenas because the NBA's TV contract is massively bigger than the NHL's is and they do not want to bail on sponsors and their networks.

But in turn that will cause the NHL to say "OK, our big brother is doing playoffs, so we'll do the same thing as them".

Every playoff eligible player is tested 14-21 days prior to the start of playoffs and tested again at regular intervals, players agree to go into a team-specific quarantine with teammates for the duration of the post-season.

Flights are private planes only.

No it doesn’t boil down to just the NBA. You are also vastly oversimplifying what teams need to do regarding quarantine and ensuring player safety.

 

[Soundwave]

No it doesn’t boil down to just the NBA. You are also vastly oversimplifying what teams need to do regarding quarantine and ensuring player safety.

If the NBA has playoffs, the NHL will follow suit, there's no way they don't IMO. The NHL's own sponsors will be asking them why the NBA can do it and they can't.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

They will hope a hiatus will give them time but the virus isn’t going to disappear in 3-4 weeks time. They haven’t hardly even begun testing in the US. Once they realize how out of control it is down there I think they will see they need at least 60 days minimum.

Too many issues to resolve on the business side. Too many unknowns with the virus. This seasons a write off.

I could see cap relief in the form of allowing 1-2 compliance buyouts as the cap may drop due to the loss of so many gates. As long as players are made whole who are bought out, teams get some cap relief in this manner.

The spill over into next season could be massive including a possible shortened season.

We'll see, I guess. I just don't see the NHL cancelling the playoffs, even if the virus is still uncontained.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Safe to say if they suspend the season there will be no plsyoffs

 

[Soundwave]

The point is to keep large tranmission vectors to a minimum. Having 20,000 fans in an arena + 500 arena staff is the dangerous part, not the 25 people on each respective bench, especially when you can have control relatively over those people and test them even daily if you want.

Yes people are going to have to be more careful from now on, and yes large mass gatherings of people are gonna go kaput for the next couple of months, but at the same time, this isn't China, people aren't going to be locked in their homes for weeks on end.

The model they will likely most closely try to follow in the West is more like what South Korea is doing.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

We'll see, I guess. I just don't see the NHL cancelling the playoffs, even if the virus is still uncontained.

I do. They won’t have a choice. Governments won’t let them play even in empty buildings as this thing takes hold.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

If the NBA has playoffs, the NHL will follow suit, there's no way they don't IMO. The NHL's own sponsors will be asking them why the NBA can do it and they can't.

NBA can move their season back by months. It was tabled at their last GM meeting in fact, to start in in January after the NFL season was over.

NHL is a winter sport. There will be no games or playoffs in the summer. Players won’t even want that as there is no prep time for the next season.

NHL will have a drop dead date at which point the season will be cancelled just as they did in the lock out.

And if they can cancel over a lock out you can bet they can and will cancel over a global pandemic.

 

[Soundwave]

I do. They won’t have a choice. Governments won’t let them play even in empty buildings as this thing takes hold.

Western governments can't behave like the Chinese government, that isn't going to work either.

Even in Italy, that lockdown can maybe go on for 2-3 weeks, but past that, people are going to lose it.

Government's main job will be keeping large transmission vectors down (gatherings of like 100+ people) and encouraging people to stay away from 60+ year olds. Really they are the main issue.

Past that, some people are going to die and that's unfortunate, but I mean people die everyday in car crashes, from the flu, etc. etc. etc.

I think the main thing is for older people with pre-existing conditions to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary contact with others. They are the ones who are in danger from this, not 22-year-olds like Connor McDavid.

 

[OiledUp]

They could buy themselves some time by shutting down now, let current points %age decide the playoff tree, push the playoff start date a week or three and see where things stand. The virus will still be a major thing, certainly in the US who are way past Rubicon already, by then but perhaps there’s more awareness of what you need to do at that point. You could then decide on playoffs or not, likely with empty stands.
I don’t know what’s more beneficial for the league economically, playing with only TV audiences or cancel the whole thing? If countries go into lockdown for a longer time there’ll be a huge demand for entertainment and it might actually be better for the public health to keep pro sports going. With proper precautions ofcourse, which likely means empty arenas and a very strange playoff atmosphere.

 

[Kolja]

Could this mean...

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

-suspend the NHL for a month
-freeze the standings and the top 8 teams based on points % from each Conference make the playoffs
-play the games in empty buildings if need be

-Stanley Cup winner decided in mid to late June like in 2006

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Honestly, wouldn't it make more sense to push the season? Shorten the off-season and regular season next year? I see zero downside to that.

Many people agree the off-season and regular season schedules are too long anyways.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Could this mean...

Poor Winnipeg if this comes to fruition.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

NBA can do this as I said earlier in the thread. NHL can’t.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Poor Winnipeg if this comes to fruition.

No BOA if this happens as Calgary crosses over to the Central. But the dream liver killing series of Vegas Nashville does.

 

[FlameChampion]

I hope that players/teams avoid being infected first and foremost.

If the players are safe, I still hope we get playoffs even if its in a empty arena.

I'd be ok with shortened playoffs. Best of 5 or something. I personally think the playoffs are too long especially after round 1 (it tends to just drag on too much) anyway.

It could also be a full 7 game playoffs and then a shortened season next year. I wish we could go to a 60-70 game season regardless.

 

[Llamamoto]

Could this mean...

Wow. 0.001 difference between Winnipeg and Calgary, especially with the Jets surging lately. Poor Jets.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I’m with Burke. Season is over due to the inability to contain the virus in the 4-6 weeks needed.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I'd give 6 weeks from today as the last possible date to begin the playoffs (April 23rd).

Here's my off-the-rocker approach to an NHL playoff:

As Detroit is the only team officially/mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, let the remaining 30 teams play in a single elimination playoff for the first two rounds with the two highest seeded teams getting a "first round bye". Round 2 would also be single elimination with 16 teams. Once the playoffs are reduced to eight teams, have a 5 game series for the quarter finals and the traditional 7-game series for the semi finals and Cup finals. Match ups are based on league standings from 3-30 in round 1 and then highest remaining seeds vs lowest remaining seeds until the Cup final (now round 5). Scrap the "Western/Eastern" conference finals and once there are four teams left, scrap the Wales and Campbell trophy awards, unless the league and NHLPA still want them awarded, they can sort out which bracket gets what if there's an east-west cross over series. If not, then the only trophy awarded this season is the Stanley Cup.

To limit travel, the playoffs would go 3/2 for the quarter finals and 2/3/2 for the semi finals and Cup finals once the first two rounds of single elimination are complete.

The winner of the cup...no one is likely drinking out of it this year.

 

[bucks_oil]

Big brain here. Infect all players now, place them in isolation for two weeks and then re-start the season.

Lol... send the team doctors and some incubators and that would probably work for this particular virus. I have some doc friends who joke (are they really?) that they are going to have a "COVID" party once one of them gets infected, so they can get it over with before the numbers increase and then can safely get back to work.

 

[bucks_oil]

It's not really fair though to the other 8 teams that played well enough percentage wise to earn a playoff berth. Especially in hockey where anyone can win the Cup.

If they have to can the rest of the regular season, I think starting the playoffs say in mid-May if possible would be OK. 16 top teams by point percentage get in.

And in a season where 4th to 8th in conference is a three point spread...

 

[bucks_oil]

Not really sure you can satisfy everybody. I think you have to compromise.

Typical full playoff schedule is 57 days (according to google) and game 7 was scheduled last year on June 12th.

If the goal is to delay as long as possible but finish by June 30th, you could:
1) reduce the first three rounds to 5 games
2) that gets you a total duration of ~40 days, so you can
3) start on May 20th
4) May 20th is ~ 6 weeks later than normal...

So they can go with this plan provided we start up sometime in the next 6 weeks....

 

[ohheyhemsky]

NBA can move their season back by months. It was tabled at their last GM meeting in fact, to start in in January after the NFL season was over.

NHL is a winter sport. There will be no games or playoffs in the summer. Players won’t even want that as there is no prep time for the next season.

NHL will have a drop dead date at which point the season will be cancelled just as they did in the lock out.

And if they can cancel over a lock out you can bet they can and will cancel over a global pandemic.

They're not playing outdoors. The time of the year has no baring on when they're playing. However, I do see the argument for prep time for next season.

The correct way to handle it would be to shorten everything, until the schedule is back on track by December. Shorten the playoffs - 5 game contests. Shorten the off-season, which NHL players have gone on record saying they want to do. Shorten the regular season next season to 60 games.

As long as there is playoff hockey and the Stanley Cup is raised, no one will be complaining about a shortened season next year. Possibly the owners for the lost revenue, but they can suck a dick.