The NHL has all but confirmed Las Vegas as a hub city for the Return to Play plan, but the Montreal Canadiens and the rest of the East are still waiting.
Things are starting to move a lot quicker as far as the NHL’s Return to Play plan goes. Phase 2 began not too long ago, with players making their way to their respective training facilities to get in shape. Unfortunately for the Montreal Canadiens, their facility has remained closed as only three players chose to stay in Montreal for quarantine. However, Geoff Molson confirmed in his virtual press conference that it will open this Monday as players start to return to the city.
There’s also been a target date of Phase 3, which would see the start of training camps. The NHL is eying a July 10th start, and if that’s the case, Phase 4 (the restart of the season) could take place at the beginning of August. If so, it would’ve taken five months for hockey to return to our TV screens.
The big issue ties to a single question: where?
The NHL has had its options for cities to use as hubs to facilitate the rest of the season with nothing finalized. That’s why the NBA and MLS have been able to set in stone a return date. They know where they’re playing, the NHL doesn’t.
That was until the report from Chris Johnston Friday night. According to the Sportsnet Hockey Insider, Las Vegas has been confirmed as one of the hub cities for NHL’s return.
There’s not too much to be surprised about here. Vegas was always a frontrunner given its number of hotels, which could facilitate the large groups each team will have with them. This likely checks off the Western Conference’s hub, which will give the Golden Knights an extra boost, seeing as it’s their home arena.
The Eastern Conference still doesn’t have anything set in stone. Johnston wrote in his article that the league would like to have a Canadian team be the other hub city.
Vancouver and Edmonton have been at the lead of this pack. The latter has really been pushing for the right to host the East teams with Kevin Lowe, vice-chairman of Oilers Entertainment Group, saying:
"We have an incredible executive staff. Tom Anselmi, Bob Nicholson — you can’t find two guys that are more experienced, and the guys that work under them on the operations side, they’ve just put an amazing bid in. They deserve it."
Additionally, letters have been sent to both Gary Bettman and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the same cause.
Also, The Province's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw sent this letter to Gary Bettman, outlining her support for Edmonton to be a hub city. pic.twitter.com/zPhHwUwm12
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) May 27, 2020
Alberta is fighting hard for Edmonton to be an NHL hub city. Premier Kenney has sent Prime Minister Trudeau a letter asking for an exception so players can travel. One day after Bill Daly said quarantine rules could mean no Canadian hubs. #yeg pic.twitter.com/K2micYFevv
— Breanna Karstens-Smith (@Breanna_KS) May 27, 2020
As much as Edmonton wants it, Darren Dreger has voiced his belief that it will be Toronto. Hotel space is one thing, but the proximity to the arena from said hotels is something to keep in mind. There’s also the fact that the NHL has offices in the city which could make technicalities on the ice easier to deal with and that Toronto has hosted multi-team events such as the 2016 World Cup of Hockey as well as co-hosting the World Junior Hockey Championship with the Montreal Canadiens in 2015.
What Edmonton does have in its favour is time. The different time zones could help squeeze more games for east-coast viewers. There is the downside of it on the player’s end; however, in that, it’ll be earlier rising times for them to get everything to fit.
Nothing is set in stone, and there are a lot of non-sports complications that need to be resolved. In particular, the U.S. border and the mandatory 14-day quarantine currently implemented in Canada. Perhaps that effects things and pushes the East hub city to a place like Pittsburgh.