With the regular season entering the homestretch, teams and fans alike are beginning to prepare for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the NHL continues its ongoing negotiations with the Canadian government to determine protocols and safety measures regarding not only the Canadian “bubble” but also the conference and potential Stanley Cup finals as well.
As it stands, four Canadian teams from the north division will qualify for the postseason with the number one seed playing the fourth, and second and third seeds squaring off to make up the first round. From there, the winners of each series would play in the second with the winner advancing to the conference finals. This however, is where things get complicated.
In its current format, the border restrictions imposed at the federal level would prevent teams from the States travelling to Canada, regardless of the province. Whether an exemption will be made by the government is a matter of ongoing discussion between authorities and the NHL.
In the event that an exemption is not granted, the qualifying team from Canada would head south and quarantine themselves before starting the conference finals against their southern counterpart. The question however then becomes a matter of venue. Does the American team host all 7 games of the series at their home arena, essentially creating the greatest home ice advantage in playoff history? Another solution may be to find a “neutral site” in an attempt to level that playing field, however, how much unnecessary extra travel this would create may be a sticking point as well.
If the Canadian government allows American teams north of the border for the playoffs, one has to wonder whether that would change the format of the series as well. Rather than moving back and forth between venues several times, would the league consider moving to a 3/4 split to reduce cross border flights? Again, hard to say at this point given the ever changing nature not only of the pandemic, but of the government’s overall implementation of policies which has been nearly as unpredictable as the virus itself.
Whatever the result, one thing which is clear is that from the conference finals onwards, the Canadian team won’t have the benefit of a raucous home crowd like in years past. In even the most optimistic of vaccination modelling, Elon Musk has a better chance of landing on Mars by the weekend than teams have of hosting a capacity arena by June.
In the most recent NBA Finals, LeBron James claimed that the bubble championship was one of the hardest championships ever won in basketball. Yet in that scenario, all teams were subjected to the same environment. In the NHL’s case, whoever comes out of the North will have several factors working against them from travel, to fans, to accommodations.
Canadians have been waiting since 1993 to see a northern team hoist the Stanley Cup once more. Yet looking at the path that this year’s qualifiers will have to take in order to reach the Cup finals, you have to wonder whether they’ll be waiting another year longer.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @dynessports