The bubble experiment is over and Tampa Bay are your champs. This was a fun way to spend being stuck inside, especially when 8 games of hockey a day was a thing.

Now we look forward to what will probably be a crazy offseason thanks to COVID. The cap is frozen, teams are strapped for cash, and there are a ton of free agents to talk about.

What do you want to see from your team? When do you think the season starts up again? What else do you want to discuss?

We've already got bubble talk for next season:

Tampa won, and next season starts this Saturday HNIC! Just kidding. That would be the regular start to the season if it were not delayed. I really did not watch any of the finals. I lost interest after the Islanders were eliminated. I read a The Hockey News article about how bad the conditions were in the bubble. There were promises that were not kept. Psychologically it is not a healthy environment for your mind, which is why I'm glad the Rangers got the hell out of there. The MLB was able to have a regular season without a bubble. There were hiccups, but it worked out. I don't see why the NHL can't do the same thing especially when next season is months away.

There are reports that the Rangers are buying out Lundqvist. Sad way to end his career in NY. Just one season left I figured just deal with it for one more year instead of having that cap penalty for the next couple of seasons. They have about 20 M in cap space with the trade of Staal. I figure that is enough to resign everyone, and then Lundqvist's contract is off the books after this season.

Going back to the original post. When to the start the season? I would say January 1st. How about an outdoor "Stadium Series" New Years Day with fans (it is outside) to start the season. Three months is the same amount of time between seasons.

A stadium series kick off on New Year's Day would be great.

The NHL could totally pull off what the NFL and MLB are doing, but they're in a funny spot in that they don't make nearly the same amount of money as those leagues do. The NHL relies heavily on gate. Having a season without fans in attendance is going to be a tough thing for them to sell to the owners.

I think they have a season anyway because its better than nothing, but do they come back in a few months or just wait a little longer if it means they can have people actually show up to games? Part of me thinks we don't see NHL hockey until like March or so.

I could see the start of the season in January just so that the following season can start on time. At least a 42 game regular season like the lockout shortened season years ago.

The MLB is allowing a limited number of fans at their playoff games. That is a good sign.

An issue that can come up for hockey is the cross border travel though.

Going to be weird to see Lundqvist in another jersey.

Oct 9, 2020 19:18:40 GMT Zappy said:

Going to be weird to see Lundqvist in another jersey.

Lundqvist in a Caps jersey and Holtby in a Canucks jersey. Weird times.

...

Leafs landed Wayne Simmonds and TJ Brodie. Can't complain about that. Simmonds gets to come home and he's tough as shit. Brodie is the RHD they need to fill a hole.

Unfortunately now they're over the cap and might lose Mkhieyev. I hope he doesn't leave but he's got to get paid, and deserves more than Toronto can give him right now. But I also don't think they're done. They're still going to ship out some wingers to make space, and they might still deal Andersen if they can get the right return and find a replacement.

Fast to Carolina for 3 years $2 M per year. C'mon why can't they resign him for that? Bottom six will be weak.

Oct 10, 2020 21:30:57 GMT Zappy said:

Fast to Carolina for 3 years $2 M per year. C'mon why can't they resign him for that? Bottom six will be weak.

Don't worry. You'll need that money to re-sign Jack Johnson next year.

I honestly don't know. The Rangers are sitting pretty with 19 mil in cap space and only have to worry about Lafreniere in 3 years when his ELC is up. Either Fast wanted to leave or the Rangers are run by morons and are lucking into this rebuild. I don't know.

Oct 11, 2020 0:47:42 GMT RT said:

Oct 10, 2020 21:30:57 GMT Zappy said:

Fast to Carolina for 3 years $2 M per year. C'mon why can't they resign him for that? Bottom six will be weak.

Don't worry. You'll need that money to re-sign Jack Johnson next year.

I honestly don't know. The Rangers are sitting pretty with 19 mil in cap space and only have to worry about Lafreniere in 3 years when his ELC is up. Either Fast wanted to leave or the Rangers are run by morons and are lucking into this rebuild. I don't know.

Jack Johnson will win the Norris, and demand a raise!

I mean these previous salary dumps were to create cap space to sign the rest of their guys? The rebuild has been fantastic with some luck from the draft (some top recent teams had draft luck too). The Blues and Blue Jackets are successful because of JD. Gorton has embraced the draft.

2 M for Fast is extremely reasonable. I don't know this was a head scratcher. I can't imagine Fast wanting to leave. He made a name for himself with the Rangers.

I'm a huge fan of Deangelo, but I hope the Rangers are not gearing up to give him a ridiculous contract after one good season.

Leafs dumped Johnsson's salary to NJ and got Joey Anderson in return. I've been told he's a capable depth player so yay for that I guess.

Leafs also signed Zach Bogosian, which I'm a little uneasy about. If it means Martin Marincin never plays and we have a 7th D that will murder people for fun, I'll take it. Hopefully that's all it is though and they don't treat him like they did Cody Ceci.

Joe Thornton's latest stop on the retirement tour takes him to another spot where he'll never win a cup.*

Toronto.

A one year deal worth $700,000.

*Hopeful of a jinxing

So... who else is excited to watch the Montreal Canadiens this season?

Nov 10, 2020 2:05:48 GMT TA1 said:

So... who else is excited to watch the Montreal Canadiens this season?

Hey!

Honestly they're going to be pretty good. Detroit too, if their goaltending works out.

Nov 10, 2020 2:05:48 GMT TA1 said:

So... who else is excited to watch the Montreal Canadiens this season?

Who is this n00b?! 

Canadiens should be fun to watch. Fingers crossed for an all-Canadian division for next year!

Any thoughts on the new/retro/reverse "give me your money for these new" jerseys?

www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2045297

My favorite is the Ducks.

All Canadian division is cool. But, I can see the games becoming too repetitive. I hope they add a good chunk of northern USA teams. Split the league into two conferences. USA and Canada.

I hate the Leafs jersey. They chose the dumbest logo the team has ever had. I don't know what possessed them to not use the 80s logo. I know so many people (myself included) that would buy a throwback of that era jersey.

Nov 17, 2020 14:23:08 GMT RT said:

I hate the Leafs jersey. They chose the dumbest logo the team has ever had. I don't know what possessed them to not use the 80s logo. I know so many people (myself included) that would buy a throwback of that era jersey.

Yeah.  It's hard for me to hate a Leafs jersey.  But bah gawd, ain't that ugly.

Personally, I find most of those jerseys to be kinda shit. I think the LA Kings one looks great, although the Quebec Nordiques with the Avalanche colours certainly hits the mark as well. Might've also been cool to see an Avalanche jersey with a Nordiques colour scheme. The Wild with the North Stars' colours is great. Always nice to see a Whalers' jersey, but I would've rather seen something more like what what the Wild's was like; a Hurricanes jersey but with a Whalers' colour scheme.

Montreal's doesn't look too bad, just looks so weird seeing blue as the primary colour. I also enjoy that Tampa's has their original logo.

Nov 17, 2020 6:40:01 GMT Zappy said:

Any thoughts on the new/retro/reverse "give me your money for these new" jerseys?

www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2045297

My favorite is the Ducks.

All Canadian division is cool. But, I can see the games becoming too repetitive. I hope they add a good chunk of northern USA teams. Split the league into two conferences. USA and Canada.

I think you don't understand the reason there might be a separate Canadian division. No border crossing

Nov 22, 2020 17:37:51 GMT nazzer said:

Nov 17, 2020 6:40:01 GMT Zappy said:

Any thoughts on the new/retro/reverse "give me your money for these new" jerseys?

www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2045297

My favorite is the Ducks.

All Canadian division is cool. But, I can see the games becoming too repetitive. I hope they add a good chunk of northern USA teams. Split the league into two conferences. USA and Canada.

I think you don't understand the reason there might be a separate Canadian division. No border crossing

That did not stop the two bubble cities in Canada for the playoffs.

Nov 24, 2020 7:26:39 GMT Zappy said:

Nov 22, 2020 17:37:51 GMT nazzer said:

I think you don't understand the reason there might be a separate Canadian division. No border crossing

That did not stop the two bubble cities in Canada for the playoffs.

Not sure if sarcastic or not....

Teams crossed the border once and followed covid protocals.

Nov 24, 2020 16:07:29 GMT nazzer said:

Nov 24, 2020 7:26:39 GMT Zappy said:

That did not stop the two bubble cities in Canada for the playoffs.

Not sure if sarcastic or not....

Teams crossed the border once and followed covid protocals.

It could not be done again?

Nov 24, 2020 20:04:57 GMT Zappy said:

Nov 24, 2020 16:07:29 GMT nazzer said:

Not sure if sarcastic or not....

Teams crossed the border once and followed covid protocals.

It could not be done again?

Yes I'm sure a team could cross the border once and then quarantine for 14 days before interacting with anyone else. Which is why you couldn't have USA and Canada teams doing multiple border crossings a year

Dec 6, 2020 1:20:40 GMT nazzer said:

Nov 24, 2020 20:04:57 GMT Zappy said:

It could not be done again?

Yes I'm sure a team could cross the border once and then quarantine for 14 days before interacting with anyone else. Which is why you couldn't have USA and Canada teams doing multiple border crossings a year

No reason why it would be an issue again. Hockey players are apparently essential in the eyes of those who govern.  

My idea or plan would be to have two separate conferences one in USA and one in Canada, and they play regular season games within their conference only.  How would an only Canadian division work?  7 Canadian teams play each other only for 50 or so games?  That would get old fast.  Really playing games just within a division for a season will get old.  Why not add more teams to the Canadian division, instead of four division's, just two conference's?

With that said, there are idea's of teams staying in a city for two weeks then going home for a week and then going back to work for two weeks.  That would solve the repetition of games, and there would always be games going on throughout the season.  That requires a lot of testing, but with the rapid test results, the quarantine phase is not necessary with multiple negative tests.  NYS permits you to end quarantine with two negative tests.  

With all that said, I see all sorts of sports games going on here in New York regardless of the age group.  Indoors or outdoors.  No bubble, no testing.  If I wanted to I could go to my hockey rink, play a game, leave, and then go on with my life?

Dec 6, 2020 2:31:11 GMT Zappy said:

Dec 6, 2020 1:20:40 GMT nazzer said:

Yes I'm sure a team could cross the border once and then quarantine for 14 days before interacting with anyone else. Which is why you couldn't have USA and Canada teams doing multiple border crossings a year

No reason why it would be an issue again. Hockey players are apparently essential in the eyes of those who govern.  

My idea or plan would be to have two separate conferences one in USA and one in Canada, and they play regular season games within their conference only.  How would an only Canadian division work?  7 Canadian teams play each other only for 50 or so games?  That would get old fast.  Really playing games just within a division for a season will get old.  Why not add more teams to the Canadian division, instead of four division's, just two conference's?

With that said, there are idea's of teams staying in a city for two weeks then going home for a week and then going back to work for two weeks.  That would solve the repetition of games, and there would always be games going on throughout the season.  That requires a lot of testing, but with the rapid test results, the quarantine phase is not necessary with multiple negative tests.  NYS permits you to end quarantine with two negative tests.  

With all that said, I see all sorts of sports games going on here in New York regardless of the age group.  Indoors or outdoors.  No bubble, no testing.  If I wanted to I could go to my hockey rink, play a game, leave, and then go on with my life?

Im not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with the idea of an all canadian division. The canadian government has different ideas on covid protocols than the usa, just because you see people in nyc playing team sports doesn't mean its ok i canada or even other states. Currently british columbia has banned all large group sport events. I think california is doing something similar?

Dec 6, 2020 3:17:49 GMT nazzer said:

Dec 6, 2020 2:31:11 GMT Zappy said:

No reason why it would be an issue again. Hockey players are apparently essential in the eyes of those who govern.  

My idea or plan would be to have two separate conferences one in USA and one in Canada, and they play regular season games within their conference only.  How would an only Canadian division work?  7 Canadian teams play each other only for 50 or so games?  That would get old fast.  Really playing games just within a division for a season will get old.  Why not add more teams to the Canadian division, instead of four division's, just two conference's?

With that said, there are idea's of teams staying in a city for two weeks then going home for a week and then going back to work for two weeks.  That would solve the repetition of games, and there would always be games going on throughout the season.  That requires a lot of testing, but with the rapid test results, the quarantine phase is not necessary with multiple negative tests.  NYS permits you to end quarantine with two negative tests.  

With all that said, I see all sorts of sports games going on here in New York regardless of the age group.  Indoors or outdoors.  No bubble, no testing.  If I wanted to I could go to my hockey rink, play a game, leave, and then go on with my life?

Im not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with the idea of an all canadian division. The canadian government has different ideas on covid protocols than the usa, just because you see people in nyc playing team sports doesn't mean its ok i canada or even other states. Currently british columbia has banned all large group sport events. I think california is doing something similar?

I'm not against an all Canadian division. I just prefer a two conference league instead of the four divisions that are being mentioned. It seems like all the teams will eventually play each other in hub cities, go home, come back as I mentioned before, which can work, and would involve multiple border crossings too. But, if it is just a regular season within your own division for the entire season it is not ideal. Better than nothing, but not ideal, and really not a proper regular season.

So my whole point is if it is just regular season games within a small division then split the league in half. Half in Canada, half in USA.

Yes everywhere is different, but numbers are going up everywhere. NYS is the hardest hit in the country. Most schools are closed here, everything shutdown at 10 pm. But, we can play sports apparently.

MLB completed a regular season and playoffs during the height of the virus when we knew less about it. Now, baseball is certainly different than every other sport, but it is something that should not be ignored by other leagues. It should be a model.

California is shut down again, but you can't really do anything in that state to begin with.

Brian Burke was on the Steve Dangle podcast last week and he's made some interesting points about the new CBA arguments.

The owners are going to lose way more money than they expected which is why they are asking for more of a pay cut. Obviously the players don't like this but it's written right in the CBA that the season can be canceled, and the league has the right to do that, so if there's no agreement soon it isn't looking good.

Furthermore, the reason the owners are doing this is because if there is no season, they lose far less money than if there is one. The amount they lose on ticket sales, concessions, ad revenue, etc vastly outweighs what they would lose if the season is canceled outright.

And they have the players by the balls because they either agree to more of a pay cut, or get paid zero because there is no season.

Dec 6, 2020 16:59:05 GMT RT said:

Brian Burke was on the Steve Dangle podcast last week and he's made some interesting points about the new CBA arguments.

The owners are going to lose way more money than they expected which is why they are asking for more of a pay cut. Obviously the players don't like this but it's written right in the CBA that the season can be canceled, and the league has the right to do that, so if there's no agreement soon it isn't looking good.

Furthermore, the reason the owners are doing this is because if there is no season, they lose far less money than if there is one. The amount they lose on ticket sales, concessions, ad revenue, etc vastly outweighs what they would lose if the season is canceled outright.

And they have the players by the balls because they either agree to more of a pay cut, or get paid zero because there is no season.

That certainly adds another layer to get a season going.  I can easily see the season being cancelled.  It would not be the first lockout in my lifetime.  Hopefully they work something out.

I dont understand the part ive read about players would he needing to pay back owners debt after the season?