Photo courtesy of NHL.com
An NHL season suspended by COVID-19 is finally set to resume.
In a multi-part series, we’ll be exploring what the changes look like. In the third and final part of the series, we go inside the “bubble”.
Where will the Games be Played?
The playoffs will be held exclusively north of the border this year. Edmonton, Alberta, the home of the Edmonton Oilers, will host the Western Conference qualifiers, round robins and first two rounds. Toronto, Ontario, the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, will host the Eastern Conference qualifiers, round robins and first two rounds. The teams from the East will move to Edmonton for the final two rounds.
This means Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena and Edmonton’s Rogers Place will be the only ice surfaces in North America seeing professional hockey this postseason. The Maple Leafs and Oilers will have home-ice advantage negated due to absence of fans and every team being required to stay in a hotel.
The Bubble
Like the NBA in Orlando, the NHL teams will be kept in a bubble. The teams will be split in two different hotels in each city. The players will be confined to the hotel and the rink for the qualifiers/round robins and first two rounds. Each team’s personnel will get their own floor. Each team will be allowed to carry 31 players.
That’s an increase from the 23 usually allowed. The extended rosters are meant as a safeguard against potential injuries, and the NHL not wanting anyone entering the bubble. Personnel to include players and staff, along with hotel personnel, arena personnel, officials, security and transportation will all be required to be tested daily. There are very strict rules restricting player movement with heavy penalties being imposed on offenders.
Players can only exit the bubble in the case of a death in the family or a birth of a child. Anyone who leaves must be quarantined before re-entering the bubble. Players were given the option of opting out by July 9.
Players will be forced to undergo medical evaluations before training camp to see their risk level for COVID-19. If it is deemed that the player has a high risk of catching COVID-19 or is at risk for further complications, the team’s doctor can rule them out for the postseason. The players reserve the right for a second opinion. Families will not be allowed in the bubble for a month, which may see many players opt out. Families however, may enter the bubble for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Finals in Edmonton.
Daily Game Schedule
According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the NHL will play three games a day in each city. The playoffs begin Aug. 1. Two qualifier games will be played each day at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time. That means the Eastern Conference qualifier games will be played at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET, while the West qualifier games will be played each day at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET.
One round robin game will be played a day at 4 p.m. local time. For those in the East, that’s 4 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. ET for those in the West. Round robin teams may play back-to-backs. When the round robin concludes on Aug. 6, the NHL will then play three qualifiers a day in each city. This could hurt some teams, as many fans will be at work for afternoon games.
Effects of Overtime
There is a risk of a game running over the allotted time. The qualifiers will be using NHL playoff overtime rules. With the round robins, regular-season overtime rules will be utilized. The NHL has different extended time rules for the regular season and playoffs.
In the regular season, teams play five minutes of 3-on-3 sudden death overtime, which is a decrease from the usual 5-on-5 play. If teams cannot score in that five minutes, teams will play in a shootout. The shootout is usually condensed to three rounds, but may be expanded if a round is tied. The shootout rules are similar to soccer shootout rules in which both teams must have an equal amount of opportunities to shoot, unless the first team shooting can gain an insurmountable advantage.
For example, the team shooting first could score on their first and third chances and end the game with the other team only shooting twice, if that team misses on both attempts. This means that extra time is usually concluded within 30 minutes of the usual 2-hour, 30-minute duration of a game. There is no intermission between the third period and overtime or between overtime and the shootout. Rather, there will be 60- or 90-second breaks in between the frames.
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The NHL playoffs are a whole different animal. If a game is tied at the end of regulation, they play 5-on-5 in 20-minute sudden death overtime, similar to regular periods. There are intermissions between the third period and overtime, but it only lasts 13 minutes. Normal intermissions take 18 minutes.
Overtime can theoretically go on forever. After 20 minutes of overtime, if the game is still tied, another 13-minute intermission takes place before a second overtime period begins. This cycle repeats like clockwork until a team manages to score. The longest game in NHL history went five overtimes in the 2000 NHL playoffs between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.
With the qualifiers using playoff overtime rules, there is a risk that a noon game could go past the 4 p.m. timeline. If the noon game overruns the 4 p.m. time frame, the simple answer is that other games will be delayed.
Conclusion
The NHL Playoffs is one of the best displays of entertainment to ever grace the screens. Guys give 300 percent and slug it out brutally on a journey to win 16 games to capture Lord Stanley’s Cup. A qualifying team this year will have to win 19 games to win the Cup. Coming off four months of rest, it will be interesting to see how players adapt to a return to the ice.
Will hockey be played like its the beginning of the season? Will teams immediately go into playoff form? Or will teams play the same way they were? How will this effect the future of the NHL playoffs? It’s hard not to be extremely excited for the playoffs to begin. The Stanley Cup is the most difficult championship to win in sports and this year’s format will only make it harder.