What do you think? When will the NHL 20/19 season resume?

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Will they resume to a regular season or straight to Playoffs? and when?

Unfortuanately for me my team NJ Devils won't participate in this playoffs, hope for next year!

 

[Mondayman]

It's tough to say. I think they will do some sort of expanded playoff if they don't call off the entire year. Which they seem intent on avoiding. But I do not believe we are near ready for professional sports to start back up. Still too early and risky for the players. Theres certainly mixed opinion amongst the players as well, and there's no saying if some will refuse to play if they don't feel safe or what.

I'm a Bruins fan and want to see them take another stab at the cup. They have a good squad and good veteran leadership. I would hate to see their strong season go to waste, especially considering Bergeron and crew are getting older

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

It's tough to say. I think they will do some sort of expanded playoff if they don't call off the entire year. Which they seem intent on avoiding. But I do not believe we are near ready for professional sports to start back up. Still too early and risky for the players. Theres certainly mixed opinion amongst the players as well, and there's no saying if some will refuse to play if they don't feel safe or what.

I'm a Bruins fan and want to see them take another stab at the cup. They have a good squad and good veteran leadership. I would hate to see their strong season go to waste, especially considering Bergeron and crew are getting older

Yeah it's tough beating the Bruins in NHL13 in playstation 3...
especially since I play the most difficult level. (wouldn't like it any other way).

 

[George Jones]

Watching hockey is something that my 13-year-old daughter and I do together, and I really miss this. In normal times, we stream Leaf games, and we occasionally attend local WHL (a 10-minute walk from our house) and BCHL games.

Even though I have lived lots of different places, including BC for the last (almost) nine years, I will always be a Leafs fan, as I grew up in a small town two hours from Toronto. Not a city of Toronto fan (lived in GTA for three years), though.

When I lived in Saint John, I watched Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers) play for Saint John in "the Q". My final year in Saint John, they won it all, i.e., the Memorial Cup (Canadian championship).

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Watching hockey is something that my 13-year-old daughter and I do together, and I really miss this. In normal times, we stream Leaf games, and we occasionally attend local WHL (a 10-minute walk from our house) and BCHL games.

Even though I have lived lots of different places, including BC for the last (almost) nine years, I will always be a Leafs fan, as I grew up in a small town two hours from Toronto. Not a city of Toronto fan (lived in GTA for three years), though.

When I lived in Saint John, I watched Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers) play for Saint John in "the Q". My final year in Saint John, they won it all, i.e., the Memorial Cup (Canadian championship).

No boys to play the game?
It's quite an aggressive game, even tougher than American Football.

 

[DrClaude]

I don't understand what the point of resuming the season would be. I think it would be better to do something else, like a tournament.

Would it be fair to award a team the Stanley cup this year?

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

I don't understand what the point of resuming the season would be. I think it would be better to do something else, like a tournament.

Would it be fair to award a team the Stanley cup this year?

Perhaps to go straight to the playoffs without resuming the regular season.

 

[DrClaude]

Perhaps to go straight to the playoffs without resuming the regular season.

I don't think they would do that based on the standings when the season stopped. They would have to have some sort of "wild card" games to allow for teams that were below the playoff line to still participate.

 

[Mondayman]

I think it would be fair to award it. Its such a long slog fighting through playoffs, any team that battles through 4 series deserves the cup. If they do some sort expanded playoff, it will be an even longer battle. It's not like the winner this year will have had an easier route.

I worry about a breakout of Covid for the players. If the lung damage it causes is as bad as I've read it to be, it would seriously affect their playing career, if not end it.

 

[StatGuy2000]

I think it would be fair to award it. Its such a long slog fighting through playoffs, any team that battles through 4 series deserves the cup. If they do some sort expanded playoff, it will be an even longer battle. It's not like the winner this year will have had an easier route.

I worry about a breakout of Covid for the players. If the lung damage it causes is as bad as I've read it to be, it would seriously affect their playing career, if not end it.

As you may be aware, COVID-19 can manifest themselves in many different ways, with a sizable percentage being completely asymptomatic. So the lung damage you speak of may not necessarily manifest themselves in these athletes if a breakout of it occurs (although it is still concerning).

 

[StatGuy2000]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that given that the US is still far from reaching its peak in terms of COVID-19 cases, on top of risks of a second wave of cases occurring, I really don't see much of a chance for any professional sports leagues (NHL, NBA, NFL, major league baseball, etc.) to have a season of any kind in 2020. So I anticipate all sports seasons to be therefore cancelled.

 

[JT Smith]

I think they should do a virtual season, kind of like the race car drivers have been doing. For the NHL they could go to ebay and buy up 1970s era Bobby Hull hockey games:

For the NFL there were games from the same era that relied upon vibration to move "players" around the field in a Brownian motion sort of way. I had one of those games and it wasn't very satisfying. It would be great to see the top NFL stars setting those pieces up, hitting the switch, and wincing as the pieces circled aimlessly toward the sideline.

 

[George Jones]

I think they should do a virtual season, kind of like the race car drivers have been doing. For the NHL they could go to ebay and buy up 1970s era Bobby Hull hockey games:

View attachment 263540

Our family had one of these, though it wasn't a Bobby Hull version; I think we got it in the late 60s.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I'm of the opinion that given that the US is still far from reaching its peak in terms of COVID-19 cases

The data says otherwise:

I think you're just sore that Americans are better at hockey than Canadians.

I looked it up - you need to go back to the last century to find a Canadian...er Canadien team that won the Stanley Cup.

 

[StatGuy2000]

The data says otherwise:

View attachment 263745I think you're just sore that Americans are better at hockey than Canadians.

I looked it up - you need to go back to the last century to find a Canadian...er Canadien team that won the Stanley Cup.

Hey come on @Vanadium 50 ! That was a cheap shot about hockey! (btw, I'm a Leafs fan, so we know all about waiting for the Stanley Cup!)

On a more serious note, I am curious about the source of the graph above. From what I can see, the graph indicates that the number of new cases (or the number of new confirmed cases -- there is still the question about asymptomatic cases that one needs to take into account) in the US is on a gradual downward trend, which is good news, indicating that social distancing and stay-at-home orders are working.

I would be curious to see what the trend in new cases would be like by state, and perhaps even by county.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I am curious about the source of the graph above

Wikipedia. Drilled down from the Covid page.

Back to hockey - fun fact (also from Wikipedia) - no country whose national sport was hockey at the time has ever won the Stanley Cup.

 

[Mondayman]

I think you're just sore that Americans are better at hockey than Canadians.

Haven't caught international hockey since 1996?

 

[Mondayman]

It's unfortunate the players cannot partake in the Olympics any longer. International play is interesting and the rivalries are great.

 

[Mondayman]

If hockey starts up again, it's going to be messy. All to often teams come out of their mandatory five-day break extremely sloppy and slow out of the gates. They've now been off the ice for two months. Plus, as playoffs drag on players take a beating and get injured. Even with a training camp there's bound to be injuries flaring up.

I'm a Leafs fan

As skeptical as I am about returning to sports too soon, another Bruins-Leafs playoff series would be worth watching.

 

[StatGuy2000]

Back to hockey - fun fact (also from Wikipedia) - no country whose national sport was hockey at the time has ever won the Stanley Cup.

The Stanley Cup is not necessarily a great measure of a nation's prowess in hockey, given that almost all NHL teams consist of players from multiple countries, such as Canada, Russia, the Czech Republic (and yes, even a few players from the US. )

A better gauge would be to look at the World Championships, or the Winter Olympics. And Canada has won the Gold medal (and thus beating the US and other countries) how many times?

 

[Vanadium 50]

The Stanley Cup is not necessarily a great major of a nation's prowess in hockey

Perhaps, but I'd argue that it's a pretty good measure of an NHL team.

given that almost all NHL teams consist of players from multiple countries, such as Canada, Russia, the Czech Republic

A very good friend was an English-Russian translator for an NHL team.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

The first games of bubble hockey begin today!
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/29573316/stanley-cup-playoffs-daily-nhl-postseason-begins

Any predictions or thoughts?

As a fan of the San Jose Sharks, I am unfortunately without a team to root for in the tournatment. I may root for the Stars (who have former longtime Shark Joe Pavelski), though I may also begrudgingly root for Marleau on the Pens.