The NHL all but confirmed the city of Las Vegas as its first hub city for the play in and round-robin.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/13/rangers-islanders-are-vegas-bound-for-nhl-playoffs/The NHL is set to make an announcement either before or on June 22nd and Vegas is all but locked in. This move means the Vegas Golden Knights who can’t play at home due to the fact it is considered home-ice advantage will be playing in the 2nd hub city to be named. This also means Vegas will host the Eastern Conference thus sending the Montreal Canadiens to Sin City for a shot to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
There were a lot of mixed emotions when the news broke and let’s look into this a little further as to why that is. First of all this move means the Eastern teams will play on the West coast meaning fans in the East would have to potentially tune in to watch games at 11 pm. On the West, it would be quite the opposite as fans on the West coast would have to get up early potentially to watch games as early as 11 am.
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It’s a complete geographic swap but at this point, my thought is that it’s better than no hockey at all. I am pretty sure everyone involved will have to adjust to the time difference, let’s not forget we are dealing with professionals who have been in the business for a long time.
The 2nd city yet to be named could also potentially be a Canadian city. Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton are still in the running and it seems the NHL is pushing hard to land one of them. The major issue is the mandated 14-day quarantine to everyone who enters the country. Hockey being played in Canada will come down to prime minister Justin Trudeau giving an exemption to hockey players which he didn’t seem to keen on in his most previous update to the country.
Alberta premier is pushing heavily so Edmonton can try and get the job to host 12 teams in what we are calling an isolation bubble. Edmonton in my head sounds good because I have had a chance to research the sports complex and literally everything like hotel and restaurants are walking distance. Same with Toronto but the numbers in Ontario in regards to testing which is a major factor might deter the league.
Back to Vegas I honestly from the start believed it was a slam dunk. From the hotels to the restaurants to the golf courses, it’s a place hockey players love to go and Vegas is a sports town meaning no matter what the time is fans will flock to bars and restaurants to watch their team as they attempt to win the hardest trophy in all of sports the Stanley Cup.
We will have to wait till June 22nd to find out the exact plan and where the 2nd hub city will be as we inch closer to a potential return to play.