NHL now focused on games in league arenas, not neutral sites

The NHL is moving to Plan B if it is able to complete the season.

Commissioner Gary Bettman told Sportsnet the league is no longer considering plans to play at neutral sites and is focused on having games at NHL arenas if the season resumes.

“We can’t play in a small college rink in the middle of a smaller community, because if we’re going to be centralized, we need the back of the house that NHL arenas provide, whether it’s multiple locker rooms, whether it’s the technology, the procedures, the boards and glass, the video replay, the broadcasting facilities,” Bettman said.

The latest plan calls for regional sites centralized by division. There would be multiple games played each day to complete the regular season, which was paused March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The league had been exploring the option of playing in locations, such as Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Manchester, New Hampshire.

Edmonton, Alberta, is the leading candidate for the Pacific Division, according to the multiple reports by ESPN and Sportsnet. Other sites that have been mentioned as possible host candidates are Carolina (Metropolitan Division) and Minnesota (Central Division).

“Maybe it’ll be two cities,” Bettman said. “It’s not something that we can predict right at this moment. But this is part of the contingencies. It doesn’t necessarily have to be by division, although the centralization may be by division.

“But the particular location could be anywhere that isn’t a hot spot and has what we need both in terms of the arena and having practice facilities, because if you bring in seven or eight clubs to a particular facility and you’re playing lots of games on a regular basis without travel, there does need to be ice for practice.”

The self-quarantine period for players and staff runs through April 30.

Bettman said the league and NHL Players’ Association discussed holding a three-week training camp for players to return to game shape.

Also, Bettman confirmed the NHL is looking into conducting its draft remotely in June, similar to the NFL draft that begins Thursday. The NHL draft scheduled for June 26 and 27 in Montreal was postponed.

“It was a trial balloon,” Bettman said. “No decision has been made. And I said as we were getting some feedback, ‘We don’t live in a world of perfect anymore. We’re going to have to make adjustments.’ ”

Holding the event during the summer provides the NHL much-needed exposure but also comes with several obstacles.

The lottery rules and selection order must be determined, while a solution for conditional picks also would have to be finalized. For instance, the Knights received a conditional fourth-round in 2021 for Cody Eakin, but it becomes a third-round pick if Winnipeg reaches the postseason or re-signs Eakin on or before July 5.

Draft-day trades, a popular pastime for general managers, become almost impossible to pull off if there are games still to play.

And what happens if a lottery team in June gets hot when the season resumes and makes a run to the Stanley Cup?

“Ideally from our standpoint — and it would resolve a lot of issues — would be if we could complete the regular season, even if it’s on a centralized basis, and then go into the (Stanley Cup playoffs) the way we normally play them,” Bettman said. “That would be ideal. But that’s, again, one of the numerous models we’re looking at, and if we can’t do ideal, if we can’t do perfect, we’re going to have to figure out what’s next to perfect.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.