NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is determined to hand out a Stanley Cup for the 2019-20 season telling a virtual town hall with San Jose Sharks business Alliance that canceling the season is “not something I’m even contemplating.”
Bettman, who has led the league since 1993, believes that with cities and states re-opening a chance to finish the season remains possible even if it’s on a “modified basis”. That could mean a number of different possibilities from cutting the number of regular-season games left to play, to basing standings on points per game, and going straight to playoffs.
According to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, Bettman told the town hall attendees;
“I believe that if the right time comes, and the right circumstances, based on all of the options that we’re considering and our ability to execute them, we’ll get this season done. Canceling is too easy a solution. That means you stop working hard to do all of the things that we’re doing, and I ultimately believe that there will be an opportunity.”
There have also been talks of using hub cities like Arizona and Edmonton to name but a few, however with Canada still enforcing a 14-day quarantine to anyone entering the country this would push-starting dates back even further.
The other stumbling block is something Bettman referred to during the town hall and that is fairness. He said;
“It’s got to be fair, it’s got to have integrity.”
Apart from the handful of teams who are all but out, along with Detroit who mathematically are, what each team is going to deem fair could differ wildly. For instance, if you are the Columbus Blue Jackets who currently hold the final wildcard spot in the East would you think going straight to the playoffs using a points per game method and losing your spot to the Islanders because they played two less games was fair!?! Probably not.
I admire Gary’s determination and am rooting for him to get this season going again. I just feel it’s further away than anyone thinks if it happens at all.
